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Chapter Text

Sunlight stirred Levi awaked. And when he opened his eyes, he expected to see the simple cream-coloured walls of his sparsely decorated room. He did not, in fact, expect to wake up to white sterile walls, in what seemed to not be his room. Levi blinked, before frowning when he realized he was in a bed that was definitely not his. The beddings were too rough, not like the comfortable cotton Levi had made Gabi and Falco purchase for him. He did not survive absolute hell to not enjoy what he could of his life, so Levi had been very insistent to obtain the best bed furniture possible. Which were clearly missing from this room.

As Levi looked more closely around him, he realized he was in what seemed to be an infirmary. He had his fair share of hospitals, so he recognized the equipment strewn around the room, but some of them looked incredibly well made. His gaze also fell on a vase full of delicate flowers on a table. Vibrant, pink lilies with a white centre, looking soft to the touch in their full bloom. Levi, strangely, felt a sense of warmth in his chest while staring at them. Obviously, whoever chose the bouquet had good taste, but right now Levi could care less, as he continued his scanning of the room.

The room was well-lit form the sun filtering through the windows, meaning Levi must have slept far later than usual. Why was he in an infirmary? Did he have an accident and did not remember it?

As Levi brought his right hand to rub his eyes, he realized that something was… different. Wait. Levi raised his hand and saw five fingers splayed out. Five whole fingers. On the hand that was supposed to have three fingers.

“What the fuck,” Levi muttered as he flexed his hand, seeing and feeling all his fingers as they moved without a hitch. What the fuck.

Levi sure remembered losing two of his fingers, the pain was quite excruciating. Maybe he was dreaming, he couldn’t possibly have regrown them, or did he turn into a titan himself? Was that possible even now, after everything they had to go through?

Taken aback, he brought his other hand to his face, feeling around his right eye. Levi felt his heart beat faster as he only felt smooth, unblemished skin. Not a single rough scar tissue to feel. What. The. Fuck. Levi also realised that his vision was much better, now that he paid attention to it.

As he started to shift more on the bed so that he could sit up, Levi realised that a needle was inserted in his arm. He followed the tube attached to it to a plastic bag filled with liquid, suspended on a stand. Levi looked at it with suspicion. Was he drugged by some substance, leading to hallucinations? He could feel all his fingers, but it was simply not possible that Levi had seemingly regrown them overnight. Feeling angry, Levi took the needle in hand and pulled it out of his arm. He would not continue to get fucking drugged on whatever was in that bag, thank you very much. He ignored the small pinprick of pain, as well as the trickle of blood coming off the tear. He started to analyse the room more critically, quickly realising that his wheelchair was nowhere in sight, which would make escape difficult.

Levi stopped his train of thoughts abruptly, taken by sudden doubt. Slowly, he started to move his legs, and as he thought, he felt strength in them that he thought he would never feel again. Ok, this was weird as shit. But maybe he could take advantage of that and run the fuck away from here. The problem was that he didn’t see anything that could be used as a weapon to defend himself. Usually, Levi would have no problem using his fists, but he felt sluggish and a headache was pounding between his ears. So he would take any advantages he could.

As he started to get up on the bed, the door to the room opened and a woman in white clothes entered. As she raised her eyes from her clipboard, she startled when she made eye contact with Levi. “Oh, I see you’re finally awake!“ She clapped her hands and a wide smile took over her face. “Such good news, let me call the doctor right away!” She turned back to the door, but before going out, she looked at Levi over her shoulder. “Your family is going to be so relieved.”

She quickly left the room, leaving Levi completely flabbergasted. His family? Who is she talking about, all of them are dead, he thought sombrely. Well, she might have been talking of Gabi or Falco, they did take an important place in Levi’s life these last years. Whatever. He frowned and decided to get the fuck away from here, as quickly as possible. But before he could move, the door opened brusquely, and a man stood dramatically in front of it.

And Levi was now certain that what he was experiencing was not a dream, but a fucking nightmare.

“Oh, you are finally awake! My baby brother was going insane with worry for you, Levi!”

Coming right at him, loudly shouting, was none other than Zeke Jaeger.

“Oh, I’m so happy! My brother will be happy too! We were so worried!” The fucking monkey man closed in on Levi, with his arms wide open.

And Levi reacted instinctively when he saw his bearded face getting dangerously close to him. He threw a punch right at the centre of the monkey’s face, hearing a very loud crack as his hand met its intended target. This man was supposed to be dead, what the fuck.

Zeke was thrown backwards, loudly shrieking while holding his hands over his nose. “Oh my god, why do you hate me so much Levi!” he wailed. “I’ll tell my baby brother about this!”

Levi felt his hand throbbing from the impact, but seeing blood slipping through the other’s man fingers, he felt a sick sense of satisfaction. “Shut the fuck up, monkey. You should be dead. Be glad I don’t have my sword to cut you in pieces,” he growled while throwing the cover off him and finally getting out of the bed.

He stood on unsteady legs and briefly felt his vision blurring from the sudden movement. This was not good news, it seemed he was feeling weaker than he thought. But he was Humanity Strongest for a reason, so he gritted his teeth and looked quickly around him for some kind of weapons, ignoring the wailing and complaining coming from the other man in the room.

His gaze fell on the vase he saw before, and Levi didn’t think much more before going to grab it.

“Oh, my nose is broken, oh my god.” Levi threw a glance back at the whining from the monkey man in the room. “You ruined my beautiful face.”

Levi scoffed and took the vase in his hands. He turned towards Zeke. “Look what I’ll do to your damn face.” He threw the vase right at Zeke’s head with all his strength. It shattered at the impact, exploding into multiple pieces.

The Shitty Monkey yelled and fell to his knees from the collision. He held his heads in hands, folding up on himself. As Levi stepped up to him, to finally give him a good kick, he heard piercing shrieking coming from the door. The previous nurse from before was standing in the doorway, screaming while watching the man on the floor.

“Oh my god, Doctor Jaeger!” she yelled while going to him, stepping on the broken pieces of glass. “Oh my god, what happened to you!”

Levi felt his headache worsening at the sound and decided he had to change his plan of action. He wanted nothing more than to plummet this fucking monkey to the ground and finish him off, once and for all. But he only had his fists, no weapon and he was feeling dizzier as time went by, his vision getting blurrier. Levi was a rational man, and he knew when the odds were in his favour or not. That was part of how he survived for so long in the underground, escaping all the cutthroats in the slums. He was in enemy territory, with no allies and he knew he had to get the fuck away from here very fast. And to make it even worse, he didn’t even have respectable clothing. He was wearing some sort or robe that was completely open in the back. He could feel his ass exposed to the cold air. Who the fuck designed such a useless piece of shit? So, Levi would first get the hell away from here. He walked to the door, but abruptly turned back, making a final decision.

For the hell of it, he aimed a good kick at the monkey’s midriff, hitting his stomach. Zeke howled in pain, the sound sweet music to Levi’s ears. On the other hand, the screeching coming from the woman was piercing his eardrums. Levi ignored her and glared at the man on the ground. “You better stay on the fucking ground, because the next time I see you, I’m going to rip you to fucking pieces, you monkey,” he spat out.

“Oh my god why did you do that! Stop! Security! Somebody calls the security!” the nurse shouted while hiding behind the bearded man, who was busy spitting blood on the floor.

The scene looked actually quite comical, and if he was not in a hurry, Levi would stay to bask in it. But he just threw a glare at the woman, having no fucking patience for this. “You better shup up before you end up like him.” He took pleasure in seeing her face drains of colour and her mouth shuts immediately. He still had his Captain effect going on, at least.

He went quickly to the door and grabbed its edge, as dizziness took over, his breathing too loud in his ears. He cursed is own weakness as he looked out of the room. He saw a large corridor, filled with doors and people. This must be somewhere in Marley, though he was quite surprised by all the cleanliness of the building. He met the startled stares of a lot of persons with the similar white uniform as the shrieking woman, so he considered them all as enemy.

Levi saw that a few of the persons looked alarmed at his appearance. They must have heard the loud screeching from the woman, so it was no surprise. He ignored them when he saw a window at the end of the corridor, stepping closer to it. He saw that it was way too high to jump from it. Levi was frustrated that he didn’t have his ODM gear on, otherwise it would have been a piece of cake. He heard spluttering and whispering coming from behind him, only then remembering that they could all see his ass in all its glory. What a fucking nuisance.

He turned around to find another exit, fed up with all of this shit, when a woman with long blond hair approached him with a big smile. “Sir, are you alright? I heard screaming coming from the room.” She reached her hand to touch him, but before she could close the distance between them, Levi slapped it away. “Don’t touch me with your filthy hands,” he said with a cold voice, making the woman stagger and splutter, an offended look taking over her face.

Before she could utter another word, Levi pushed her away and walked past her. He ignored the call of the different nurses telling him to calm down and stop. He thought they would be reasonable once they saw the murderous look in his eyes, but all these idiots seemed to not care for their life as they started to close in on Levi, trying to grab him. Well, their carelessness for their own safety was certainly not Levi’s problem, so he would not be responsible for his response.

Levi broke into a sprint, forcefully shoving aside anyone who dared to approach him. When a man attempted to block his path, Levi delivered a swift kick to the man's stomach, causing him to crumple to the floor. He paid no heed to the ensuing commotion trailing in his wake, determined to carve a path through the crowded corridor. Really, it was their own damn fault for trying to stop him. The screeching was getting to be a bit much tough, so if they could shut their mouths, Levi would be fucking grateful.

Hopefully, his eyes finally locked onto a staircase further down the corridor. Without hesitation, he took a deep breath and sprinted toward it. The sooner he escaped from this shitty place, the better.

He closed in on the stairs, and started going down quickly, three steps at once. He heard the screams of the nurses behind him, as they grew very agitated at his outburst. Levi heard them calling for security, so he doubled down on the stairs, knowing that he should avoid any soldiers in his current state. He was breathing very heavily when he came down the stairs, arriving in a big open room. It was crawling with people, from all ages and appearances. Levi quickly analysed the place and saw large windows, overlooking on trees. He had finally found his exit.

As Levi started running towards it, he felt everyone’s attention on him, as they stopped whatever they were doing. He heard them talking, pointing at him, gasping when they saw the state of his clothing. He really was going to murder whoever had put him in this stupid robe. His ass was starting to freeze off and his dick hanging about was really not pleasant, especially while running. Levi had other problems for now though, like the men in black uniform starting to notice him and running towards him.

Levi sped up and approached the windows and what seemed to be… the doors? What the fuck were these spinning glass doors? He saw people going in and out of the building with it. Levi could not understand how it worked for the life of him, but he still had to get out of here.

However, he did not trust some weird ass machine. He would not get trapped inside this spinning glass like a useless fool. So, he looked around him and finally grabbed a chair, before using it to hit the windows situated next to the weird doors. Even while using all his remaining force, it took three more hits to make the glass shatter. The window broke into million pieces and Levi jumped out of it, his feet stepping into shards. He felt the cuts starting to bleed but he didn’t stop running.

Outside the building, he saw a round place, with more people milling about. Further, he saw tall buildings stretching towards the sky. Their heights were intimidating, and Levi wondered at the civil advancement this city seemed to have been through. Without his gear, all this height was useless to him though, so he whipped his head around, before finally spotting a familiar sight. Numerous trees were spread in the distance, forming a forest that was a very welcome view to Levi. He could do forests, he had spent a lot of time riding though them while on expedition with the Survey Corps. Even if he did not have any horse or equipment with him, a familiar ground would still give him a slight advantage. Plus, it would help him lose these fuckers that were on his freaking naked ass.

Shit. Fuck this situation. Levi was so mad. As soon as he found something sharp enough, he really was going to kill someone. His head throbbed and his breathing was louder than a freaking horse. All the same, he gritted his teeth through the pain and started running towards the forest. He was Humanity Strongest, so he would get through this. He heard people yelling at him to stop and run after him, so he put even more force behind his feet and hastened his pace. The pain coming from the sole of his feet was horrible, the jagged edges of the pavement digging into his bare skin. He could feel them bleeding and was careful to not slip as he ran towards the more densely packed trees. He had fucking gone through worse, so he would not give up now. Otherwise, all the sacrifices made by his comrades would have been for nothing.

Unfortunately, even with all his determination, Levi felt that his body was nearing his limit. His vision was going blurry, and he felt like his heart was soon going to beat out of his chest. He heard the guards closing on him quickly, and he felt desperation at the feeling of being caught soon.

He cursed under his breath and thought about turning around to face the guards. Levi estimated he had a good chance of fighting and taking some of them down. But he was weak, and largely outnumbered, he would not be able to escape. He was starting to think, fuck it, and at least go down with a bang, when he saw an immense tree in front of him. It stood out from all the other trees, its huge size imposing.

Levi then saw a lone man facing it, his back to Levi. The man was tall, with broad shoulders. He struck an imposing figure, softened by his brown hair tied into a bun, a few strands flying in the wind. Levi would describe the scene as calm, serene even. The peace was soon broken by the loud calls of the guards and the man turned around to see what was going on.

When he saw his face, Levi sucked in a breath and felt his heart stop in his chest.

He would recognize those piercing green eyes everywhere.

And suddenly, all the exhaustion Levi felt disappeared, and a mix of anger, fury and resentment took place in his heart. His feet started carrying him towards the man, with renewed speed. He didn’t know why dead men seem to have been brought back to life, but Levi would take this opportunity to give some deserved punches.

When Eren saw him, his eyes visibly widened, and a smile started to take over his face. His whole face lightened like the fucking sun and Levi felt a sudden pang in his chest, like he had been physically hit by Eren’s brightness. This only irritated him more, because how dared he? How dared Eren look so happy, when he was the reason Levi had lost all of his most close friends?

“Levi,” Eren said so sweetly and with such relief that Levi staggered in his steps, taken aback. What the fuck. Levi glared at him and continued to advance on him. “Eren,” he said with cold fury, the venom in his voice startling Eren. His face started to morph from happiness to apparent confusion. Eren widened his eyes in alarm as Levi sprinted at him.

“Babe, what are you doing, what is go-” he was interrupted by Levi’s fist on his jaw, the punch so brutal, Eren’s face swung in the opposite side. Eren stumbled back, his hand going to his face, and Levi saw split skin, blood already trickling through. He felt satisfaction at the sight, tinged with an unsettling knot in his gut as he observed Eren's stricken expression. These drugs must really have done a number on him, his brain was getting all kinds of conflicting emotions.

"Levi," Eren's eyes held a deep hurt that stirred an inexplicable urge in Levi to comfort him. Why was Eren gazing at him with such confusion? He knew full well what he had done – he had stripped Levi of everything dear to him. With clenched fists, Levi couldn't contain his anger any longer. "You fucker, why are you looking at me like that? You ruined everything!" he spat out, fixing Eren with a withering glare, as if willing him to burst into flames.

Eren took his hand off his face, revealing a red cheek and a nasty cut on his lip, trailing blood on his chin. He frowned at Levi. “Babe, what are you talking about?” He seemed genuinely confused and kept on calling Levi babe. What. The. Fuck.  

Levi was filled with such unspeakable wrath at that reaction, prompting him to push forcefully against Eren’s chest, “Don’t play fucking dumb with me, you shithead,” he snapped. His finger jabbed towards Eren’s face with each word. “You know very well what you did. You started the Rumbling!” The resentment in Levi’s heart surged, fuelling his desire to pummel Eren’s face into a pulp.

As Levi prepared to throw another hit to that stupid face, Eren’s hand abruptly came up to grab his wrist, blocking him. “You… you remember.” Eren voice sounded so freaking miserable, and his green eyes suddenly dimmed, similar to a sudden summer storm. Levi was astonished as he watched anguish take over the other man’s face. Eren suddenly looked dead to the outside world, very similar to the last time Levi had seen him, all these years ago at Marley.

And Levi. Levi felt that something was terribly, terribly wrong. It was as if every fibre of his being was shouting "wrong-wrong-WRONG-WRONG, fix-it-fix-it-fixit-FIXIT-FIXIT." He sucked in a feeble breath, feeling such a visceral reaction to Eren’s despair that he was momentarily stunned. This was completely absurd, why did he feel such sadness, when he should feel happy that Eren was being punished for his acts.

He took advantage of Eren’s new placid face and got his hand free, preparing to throw another punch. But he felt someone unexpectedly grab him from behind, a strong iron grip around his middle, lifting him up in the air. He yelped and kicked to try and free himself, but Levi was soon thrown on the ground, his arms wrenched back. The breath was knocked out of him as a knee pushed unforgivably on his upper back, pinning him effectively to the ground. “Don’t move!” a man yelled over his head.

And Levi wanted to go fucking mad. He had forgotten about the guards on his ass, fucking shit. How could he have been so distracted? As he turned his head, pressing his cheek on the cold ground, Eren appeared on his line of sight and he thought, Oh right, I ran into a supposed dead man.

Levi let out a groan of pain as the man above him pushed more roughly on his back and the sound seemed to send an electroshock through Eren. The man startled and took in the scene in front of him. He glared at the guards, approaching them with big steps. “Hey, leave him alone! Let him go—Hey!” he shouted at them with furious eyes. Levi was confused at the sight. Why was Eren so angry?

“Sir, this man is dangerous!” one of the guards assured Eren, raising a hand to stop him. “He assaulted several people at the hospital.” One guard went to Eren to try and restrain him, as he grew more agitated. Eren only pushed him away, spitting out, “I said let him go!” Levi felt shudders run down his back at the cold voice. He was sure the guards were not faring much better.

“Sir, we can’t just let him go!” the guard pinning Levi to the ground said, sounding firm in his belief. However, Levi felt a tremble go through the man’s body, up to the hands holding him down. When he looked back at Eren’s face, he understood why.

There was nothing close to warmth on the man’s face. His green eyes were dark with fury, his lips pressed together. Levi saw a muscle flicker in Eren’s jaw before he opened his mouth. “For the last time, let my husband go. Right now.”

Levi’s brain stopped working.

Wait, what? Did… did he just say husband? Levi must be hallucinating; his day was just getting weirder and weirder. He just wanted to come back to reality, for God’s sake. Maybe he had ate something weird last night and now his body was conjuring some freaky hallucination, this could not be real life.

The guards did not seem to be appeased with Eren’s voice, however, and they continued to protest. Eren slapped their hands away when they tried to grab him, glaring at them even more fiercely. “My name is Eren Jaeger, and I will fire every one of you if you don’t get off him in the next five seconds.”

And impossibly, with the simple mention of his name, it worked. Levi immediately felt the man above him get off him, and he sucked in a deep breath, feeling winded. He wanted to get up and fight his way out, but he didn’t have any more strength. Levi felt bone-tired and worn out. He just laid on the ground, while he heard all the guards step away from him, giving him a wide berth. When he looked at their faces, Levi saw that they seemed fucking terrified of Eren. Huh, Levi had seen such faces before, and he hadn’t thought he would see such expressions again because of Eren fucking Jaeger.

Levi gathered his last forces to turn himself over, and exhaled roughly when his naked back met the cold dirt. Right, all this time, his bare ass had been exposed. Fucking fantastic.

In the next breath, Eren was suddenly above him. His face was wrinkled with concern and worry. And weirdly, Levi wanted to press his finger between Eren’s brows, to smooth them over. He frowned at the intrusive thought. “Levi, are you ok?” Eren asked while raising a hand to Levi’s face. Before Levi could spit venom at him in response, Eren sighed and shook his head. “Of course not, you are not well.” He brought his hand back to his side, before fixing Levi with a sad look. “You must be so confused.”

And for once, Levi totally agreed. Though, confused did not even begin to describe the utter madness of this situation. The tender softness taking over Eren’s face was bewildering him even more, even if he felt his body go lax at the attention, as if it had acquired its own free will when Eren was nearby.

“I know… I know you probably don’t want to see me,” Levi saw Eren swallow, before continuing, “but please. Please, you’re hurt, and I just want you to be safe.” Eren’s voice was so freaking soft that Levi wanted to smash something. But Levi felt his heart stop in his chest when he saw green eyes get watery. Was… was Eren going to start crying? Once again, what the fuck?

“Please, just do me that favour, Captain.” And that made something inside of Levi melt. Eren didn’t seem to notice the change in Levi, seeming to have difficulties getting his words out. “Just let me take you to somewhere safe and after… after you won’t have to see me, if that’s what you want.” He whispered the last sentence with a broken voice, a tear starting to fall on his face. Levi wanted to wipe it away, but his arm wouldn’t move up.

Eren should not have looked so stunning while being heartbroken, yet Levi found himself captivated by the sight. The sharpness of his jawline, the concern in his lips, and the shimmering intensity of his tear-filled green eyes. An irresistible urge coursed through Levi to hold that face in his hands and shower it with kisses. A longing to be closer to Eren welled up in his heart. Amidst the whirlwind of confusion and exhaustion from the ongoing ordeal, Levi reached a point where he simply thought, "Fuck it."

So, Levi nodded at Eren and was rewarded by a sigh of relief and a small smile. “Thank you.” Eren’s shoulders unwound. He took his jacket off, before gently grabbing Levi’s shoulders, lifting his upper body from the ground. Eren slipped his jacket around Levi, wrapping him in a warmth that made all the tension in his body melt away. The jacket was long enough to cover enough to preserve Levi’s modesty, if some of it had remained after flashing his ass to the whole world.  

“I’m going to carry you for now, okay? Your feet are bleeding a lot, so just bear with me for a bit longer, please.” Eren pleaded as he held his arms out. And he was right. Now that he paid attention to them, Levi’s feet were throbbing in pain. So even if he hated it, he would let Eren carry him. He stayed silent and when Eren saw no objection from him, he slipped one hand under Levi’s knees and the other under his back, before lifting him effortlessly from the ground. Levi was pressed against Eren’s firm chest, feeling the muscles shift as Eren adjusted his hold. Levi’s head was pressed so close to Eren’s heart, he could hear the steady thumps of it against his ear. The sound seemed to unravel Levi even more, his body associating it with warmth, safety, home.

And Levi knew he was in a bad position. He seemed to be in enemy territory, with no allies or equipment. And the only known face was the madman that killed 80% of the population. But then, Levi couldn’t understand why he felt all his muscles relax when he looked into those green eyes. Why Eren’s smell, a mix of fresh grass with hints of citrus, made Levi want to stuff his nose in the borrowed jacket and inhale greedily. Why the feeling of strong arms around him seemed so familiar. Why Levi felt Eren’s warmth seep into their points of contact and warm him to the bones.

So, Levi decided to trust his guts, because they had saved his skin many times in the past. When Eren asked him if he was okay, Levi just nodded and closed his eyes, burying face in Eren’s chest. He heard Eren’s voice, soft as a cloud, “There you are, sweetheart, just a bit longer and you’ll be fine.” Levi felt warm lips press a gentle kiss to his forehead. And against all odds, Levi felt himself go lax, as his mind drifted away into darkness.

☀︎   ☀︎   ☀︎

The next time Levi regained consciousness, he felt an odd warmth on his face, like a personal space-invading torch. He frowned at the sensation, puzzled and mildly disgusted, before opening his eyes.

His entire field of vision was consumed by a pair of colossal eyes, magnified by glasses, their unwavering gaze staring right into the depths of Levi’s very soul. He blinked, not sure if he was dreaming or not, and the eyes did not budge. Then the crazy eyes leaned back, and a grin stretched around a positively mad looking face.

“Levi! You’re finally awake!”

At the high pitch yelled, he swore, his arms automatically coming up to push the face away from him. Levi used more forced than he thought, and the body that was hovering over him tumbled to the ground, with a yell of indignation.

“Oh my god, Shorty! Why did you do that, it hurts!”

Levi hitched a breath at the nickname. Only one person had called him that. It couldn’t be possible.

Disbelieving, he looked at the person whining on the floor, his mouth hanging open.

Brown hair tied up in a ponytail, bangs framing a pointy face, with giant stupid square glasses taking over half of the face. Hanji Zoë was pouting at Levi from the floor, making a show of rubbing her ass and dusting herself off as she got up to her feet.

“Man, you’re always the most overdramatic Levi, I swear. I was just waiting for you to wake up!”

Levi felt an intense heat gather behind his eyes at the sound of her voice, at the cadence of her words, so familiar it hurt. He must be dreaming, right? They must have drugged him again with something. At his blank face, Hanji frowned. Her expressions were so similar to what Levi remembered, that it tore through his heart. This vision was really well done.

“Hey, Levi, are you okay? Why are you looking at me like that?”

As Hanji got closer to him, Levi got a whiff of her scent, the familiar smell of oil grease from her tinkering and the smell of spices from her favourite blend of tea, one that Levi had personally recommended. Levi felt like somebody punched him, feeling it difficult to breath, his throat going dry. What… what was happening?

“Han-… Hanji?” he whispered, incredulity spreading through him, the impossibility of the situation making him go numb.

“Oh woah, okay, something is wrong if you’re calling me Hanji like that.” She put the back of her hand on Levi’s forehead, her skin warm, soft, making Levi inhale sharply. He was feeling frayed at the edges, feeling close to getting unravelled. “Oh, you do feel a bit hot, maybe you have a fever! I should go find a nurse.”

As Hanji was about to turn away, Levi’s hand shot up without thinking, grabbing her wrist, and stopping her in her tracks. She turned surprised eyes to him, but Levi could not get a single word out of his mouth. His brain was blank, he could not process what his eyes were seeing, what he was hearing and feeling. The wrist in his hand was a solid, tangible weight, nothing like a figment of his imagination.

“Hanji, is… is this real?” The words came out weakly, his voice shaking. Did Levi finally die and join his friend in the afterlife? Was this what was happening? Hanji could not be standing here, looking at him with her wide eyes behind her stupid glasses. She had sacrificed herself for them, to give them more time to escape Eren’s destructive path.

Levi had felt a part of his soul died that day, saying goodbye to his last true close friend. So how was she here?

Hanji put her hand in Levi’s one, grasping it tightly, a smile taking over her face, the sight sending a violent nostalgic pang through Levi. “Hey, you’re alright, you just need to rest a little.”

She got closer to him, trying to reassure him, and Levi couldn’t stop himself anymore. He tugged harshly on her hand, making her stumble and fall on him with a surprised squeak. He then brought his arms around her and squeezed tightly. Hanji, to her benefit, didn’t protest the sudden hug, and just put her own arms around Levi, pressing her cheek next to his temple. At feeling her warmth pressed against him, her comforting smell, Levi felt his eyes tear up and he closed them tightly as he pressed his face into Hanji’s neck, breathing shakily.

He didn’t understand what was happening, how dead people were seemingly back to life. But if it allowed him to find his dear friend again, then he would take advantage of it, as long as he could. He breathed in Hanji's presence, taking a long, deep breath, and sensing something in his chest calm, as though he had just reclaimed a fragment of his shattered soul.

“If I knew you’d get sappy like this, I would have asked someone to record it, otherwise no one would believe me,” she snickered into his ear and Levi let out an amused huff.

“Shut up, shitty four-eyes,” he scolded but did not budge from his position, tightening his arms around her. Her chuckle resonated against him, and it felt as if a long-broken part of him was finally finding solace and healing.

Then Hanji pressed on his side, and he jolted at the sudden pain he felt, letting out a hiss. Hanji withdrew and Levi instantly missed the comforting touch.

“Oh shit, you’re actually hurt. I really should get a nurse.”

As she made to leave the room, Levi couldn’t help the sound of protest leaving his lips, his hand reaching out to her. He was terrified that if Hanji disappeared from his sight, the illusion would shatter and Levi would lose her, again. Hanji noticed his distress, but her only response was a smile.

“Don’t worry, I’ll be right back, Shorty!” she assured him and disappeared without waiting a second longer, leaving Levi at loss for word.

He was so scared that she would not reappear again. Would his brain be so cruel? As to show him Hanji in so many excruciating details, just for him to experience her loss all over again?

Before Levi could spiral down further, a man appeared at the door. And just behind him, Hanji stepped into the room and Levi felt like he could breathe again.

“Ah, Mr. Ackerman, you’re finally awake. You gave us quite the scare!” the man said in a jovial tone, approaching Levi. He clicked his pen as he looked at his folder, a serious look taking over his face. “I’ve never seen someone being able to run that far in such a weak state, you really are built different…” he muttered to himself.

He then looked at Levi. “Do you have any memory of what happened?”

Levi thought back to his wild wake up, his run through the hospital and forest, seeing dead people again, one of them being Eren fucking Jeager, and then losing consciousness, surrounded by warmth.

Oh gods, did he really let himself be carried by Eren? Eren, who called Levi his husband?

He was mortified and so confused. He was losing the plot, for sure.

He glared at the doctor. “Where am I?” Levi needed answers, and while Hanji’s presence was a balm to his soul and frayed nerves, he could not abandon his honed instincts telling him to always be on guard.

The man only gave a small nod to himself, before answering him. “You’re at the hospital. You’ve been unconscious for a while, after an accident on the road. While you did not suffer too many wounds form your accidents, you still were in a coma for one week.“ He made a pause and chuckled. “I didn’t think you’d have so much energy when you’d wake up. You made quite a show, running away like that!”

“Yeah, Levi!” Hanji interrupted, stepping near the bed and leaning closer to Levi, making him feel more relaxed by her presence alone. “Who runs around buck-ass naked, huh? You didn’t even wait for me to be here and film it! I was so sad to have missed it!” she lamented, while Levi felt his cheeks go red with embarrassment at the reminder of his previous… lack of clothes.  

“And you even punched Zeke! While I was not here to enjoy it!” wailed Hanji, putting a hand on her forehead in her dramatics.

The doctor cleared his throat, before addressing Levi again. “Yes, well, Dr. Jeager seemed to have recovered from it and didn’t want to make a complain, fortunately. And luckily, your husband found you quickly after that.”

Levi scowled at that. “I am not married,” he stated curtly.

Both the man and Hanji stayed silent, while staring at him. Why where they looking at him like that?

“Heh? Levi what do you mean, you’ve been married to that man for three years already!” Hanji exclaimed, raising both hands in the air. “You just had a party for your anniversary last month!”

What the fuck? Three years? This was not possible.

Levi then knew that something was not right. He was missing vital information about what was happening here. The doctor seemed to sense his confusion. “Mr. Ackerman, do you have any recalling of your accident?”

Levi pondered the situation, racking his brain, but he couldn't recall any recent accidents in his life. The most excitement he experienced would be when Gabi grew tired of his self-imposed isolation and dragged him out to the monthly gatherings with their friends at a local bar. In front of them, he would wear a placid facade, but each time he left, he couldn't shake the melancholy that washed over him, a constant reminder of the absent faces in the crowd.

So, Levi's life had settled into a monotonous and predictable routine. He would wake up, savour his tea, go through his morning rituals, and then lose himself in a book until Falco and Gabi arrived for his daily strolling out. Occasionally, he allowed the brats to lead him on small adventures, but overall, he found comfort in his established pattern and the solitude it brought. After all he had endured, Levi was weary, a bone-deep exhaustion that penetrated both his physical and spiritual self. His body bore the scars of battles, mirroring the damage to his heart. Nevertheless, he persevered, determined to preserve the memory of his fallen comrades. Some days proved more challenging than others, when he preferred to stay in bed and shunned Gabi and Falco's company. But on sun-kissed mornings, when the warm rays gently touched his face through the window, Levi felt a surge of energy, like a gentle nudge between his shoulder blades, urging him to face the day.

Therefore, it was safe to say that witnessing resurrected people was far from being a part of Levi's everyday life, leaving him understandably dumbfounded by the fucking surreal events taking place here.

Levi realised he stayed silent for too long, lost in thought, when he saw the doctor looking at him with worry.

“No, I don’t remember it,” Levi finally said.

The doctor hummed, writing on his notebook. “It seems the concussion caused by your accident lead to some memory loss. Can you tell me what you remember last?”

Levi opened his mouth to tell him about his boring life, but he suddenly stopped when Hanji’s face came closer to him and he realised something. Hanji had both of her eyes, she looked healthy, so full of life, nothing like the last moments they had spent together. It was as if she had been untouched by all the stuff going on with the titans. Levi swallowed. Did he end up in some sort of parallel world?

This was why he looked at the doctor and said, “I just remember waking up here and being attacked by a bearded monkey man.”

Hanji snickered at that, and the doctor’s mouth quivered, suppressing a smile.

“Well, we’re going to make some exams to make sure everything is good with you, but I have to reassure you. Feeling confused and lost in these situations is normal, you were in a coma for quite some time. You should just leave your mind to rest and I’m sure the memories will come by themselves.”

Levi was not feeling that reassured at his words, but he nodded regardless. It was not like he could do much more anyway.

“Right, then I will send someone to do a check-up with you and I’ll get in touch when we will have your results. In the meantime, try to not get discouraged at not remembering everything yet. You should be patient with your brain, it can take days to weeks, or even months.”

At not hearing any complaint form Levi, the doctor finally nodded at him and went to leave the room. “I trust that Miss Zoë will help you with your memory loss, but do not overdo it,“ he warned, before finally leaving them alone.

Levi stayed silent, still feeling confused at the situation, trying to make sense of everything, with no avail. He looked up as Hanji grabbed a nearby chair and brought it close to the bed, before sitting on it.

“Well, Shorty, seems like your little brain has been wiped clean, huh?”

She had that particular gleam in her eyes, the one she got when she had a new theory about titans that she wanted to test. It should scare Levi to be subjected to it, but he thought he would never see it again, so he just felt a pang of nostalgia at witnessing it.

However, Levi had one question in particular that he had to ask.

“Am I really married to Eren?”

He could not get his head around it. How could Levi marry him, in any kind of world?

Hanji laughed, with her whole body, her arms holding her stomach and her hand slapping against her knees, as if Levi had told the greatest joke ever. When she realised that Levi was just continuing to stare at her seriously, she stopped and gapped at him.

“Oh my god, you really don’t remember,” she muttered, disbelief clear on her face.

Levi raised an eyebrow. “Should I?”

Hanji seemed offended by the mere thought. “Of course, you should! You are crazy about this man! You couldn’t wait to marry him! How could you forget!” she exclaimed, more and more worked up.

Levi blinked at her, not being able to process the words. Him? Crazy about Eren? There was no way.

He started to shake his head, before Hanji poked him rudely on his forehead. “Don’t let Eren hear you say such awful things, it would break his poor heart,” she admonished him. “He was so worried about you, too! Stayed by your side all day-long, even begged the nurses to sleep next to you. And of course, the one time we managed to convince him to take a break, you chose to stop your sleeping beauty act,” she pointed her finger accusingly at him.

Levi wanted to refute it but before he could open his mouth, Hanji let out an amused giggle. “Although, you still managed to run right into his arms in the end, huh? I swear, the way the two of you seem to find each other anywhere is incredible. It’s like you’re connected somehow.”

Levi frowned at that. “Don’t be stupid, this is ridiculous. I am not connected to him in any way.”

Hanji just gave him a pitying look and Levi wanted to smack her face upside down. Yeah, this was Hanji, no doubt. Only she could make his blood boil so quickly.

She made a cooing noise, patting Levi’s hand. “Yeah, you tell that to yourself, you fool. You’re so in love with him, it’s disgusting sometimes.”

“I am not in love with him!” Levi protested loudly, feeling a vein throbbed on his forehead. Gods, he did not have energy to deal with this stupid shit, he wanted to know how he arrived here. Not how he was supposedly head over heels in love with Eren. Damn brat.

Before he could start to chew Hanji out, a knock from the door came. Hanji and Levi both turned their head towards the sound, as the door opened and Eren himself stepped in.

At seeing him, Hanji jumped up from her seat, clapping excitedly. “Oh, Eren! Good, good, you are here. You got to put some sense into your dumb husband, he is all lost.” She crossed her arms and shook her head, acting all disappointed at Levi.

However, Eren did not seem to take the bait. In fact, he said nothing to Hanji, his stare fixed on Levi, drinking him in. Levi met his eyes dead-on, not one to be intimidated by some annoying brat. And this was when he noticed the dark bruises under Eren’s eyes, the way his skin appeared pale despite his sun-kissed complexion. The bruise on his cheek from Levi’s punch was even more visible against his paleness, the skin raw and red. His eyes seemed to have lost all life in them. His hair was haphazardly tied in a bun, strands falling from it. Eren seemed gaunt, like he had not eaten enough these past days. And Levi should not care, but his mind was running on an endless loop of This is wrong, wrong, Eren should smile, always, be happy.

And when the fuck did Levi start to care about such stupid mushy stuff? Where did that come from? Especially about someone like Eren.

Levi came back to the present when he realised that Hanji was still rambling on to Eren, accusing Levi of being useless and other very nice compliments.

“Hanji,” Eren’s voice cut through Hanji’s words, silencing her immediately. “Could you please leave us alone a moment?” His voice was soft but held no trace of emotion.

“Ooooh, yeah, I should leave you two to catch up! But please, don’t get carried away and keep it in your pants! We don’t want to scare the staff any more with Levi’s naked ass,” she cackled as she patted Levi on the head, then left the room in a whirlwind before he could react at her jab. Her absence left the room in a suffocating silence.

Levi would not be the one to break it first, however. He just took the opportunity to continue studying Eren. He was taller than he remembered, his frame also more filled out. This was not a scrawny teenager screaming about killing titans. This was also not the person that would leave a trail of brutal destruction in his wake. The man in front of him was more mature, the lines of his face more defined, his jawline looking sharp enough to cut. There were also faint hints of laughter lines beginning to form around his eyes. This Eren was older than Levi remembered, which should have been impossible, since he had been killed.

Eren sighed heavily, before closing his eyes for a moment, taking a deep breath, seemingly gathering his forces. Levi just observed how Eren’s chest expanded at the action, how his own body seemed to yearn to touch it, to feel the ribs move under his fingers. Why would Levi want to do that?

As he scowled at the thoughts of his stupid brain, Eren opened his eyes, a determined look in them, and got closer to him. Levi sat straighter in the bed, staying alert. A hurt look passed through Eren at that, and Levi wanted to fucking punch him again. Did he think Levi would jump in his arms, the way people here seemed to be convinced of? Well, tough luck.

Eren pressed his lips together, a muscle flexing in his jaw. “So, I guess you must be confused.”

“Oh, you think so?” Levi sneered, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

Eren winced at his tone, his mouth thinning to a small line.

“Right. Of course,” he mumbled to himself. And for some damn reason, Levi wanted to press his thumb between his furrowed eyebrows, smoothing them out. Could he stop having these intrusive thoughts, for fuck’s sake?

Eren sighed loudly, then looked at Levi again. “We are not in the same world you remember,” he announced calmly, as if he were talking about the weather. And not turning Levi’s world on his head.

“What are you saying?” He continued glaring at Eren, enjoying the way his stare made the man fidget, restless.

“I don’t… I don’t know what you remembered last,” Eren started, “but after the… after everything was done, I saw Ymir again. And I made a deal with her.”

Levi raised an eyebrow at that but stayed silent. Eren bit his lower lip and absurdly, Levi wanted to tug it out of under his teeth and maybe even run his tongue across it. He scowled, this was not the time for such thoughts. It would, actually, never be the time for that!

Eren started pacing around the room, making back and forth in front of the bed. He ran a hand through his hair as he continued talking, messing it up even more, not seeming to be conscious about it. “I guess I was a bit… unhappy at the way things ended and I kind of took it out on her. Then she-… she proposed a deal to me. She said she would give us a second chance.” He paused, took a breath, before looking at Levi, his stare piercing through him. “She said she would give all of us a second chance at life.”

Levi was left speechless for a moment. “When you say everyone…”

“Yes,” Eren assured, “everyone is alive and well in this life. I made sure of it this time.”

Levi couldn’t believe his ears. Was it really that simple, that easy? Could he really just see his friends again, live a happy life in a world without titans and walls?

As Levi stayed deep in thoughts, trying to turn his mind around all these new possibilities, Eren grew agitated. “I know you probably don’t want to see me right now, and I understand it, but I just had to see you. And to try to explain things.”

Eren closed the remaining distance with purpose, suddenly grabbing Levi’s hand, his gaze filled with sincere desperation, imploring Levi to have faith in him. “Levi, please,” he pleaded, his voice tinged with remorse. “I need you to believe me when I say I never wanted to harm any of you. I… I had no other options, but I deeply regret having to go that far,” he said sadly, his mouth downturned.

At the reminder of Eren’s past actions, Levi suddenly came back to himself. He slapped Eren’s hand away and made a disgusted face. “Don’t touch me, you did horrible things, and you say you had no choice?” he spitted out, ignoring the stricken look on Eren’s face at his reaction.

“Does anyone here know what you did? How you killed so many people?” Levi accused, feeling something rotten in his gut, something sour, a vitriol in his blood that asked for some form of retribution for all the pain Levi had to go through.

Eren staggered a step back, his mouth agape, and his eyes welled with a profound sadness that transformed their hue into a deep, mournful green. “No… no I’m the only one who remembers.” He swallowed and gave Levi a sorrowful look. “And now, you, too.” His voice went lower, almost inaudible, like he himself couldn’t believe the words.

And Levi. Levi found himself entangled in a complex web of emotions. He was consumed by a potent blend of sadness and fury, a relentless desire for retribution coursing through his veins like a poison. But amid this storm of emotions, Levi also felt an overwhelming pain as he beheld the anguish on Eren's stricken face, witnessing his suffering. A part of him wanted to go and hold Eren in his arms, whisper sweet words of reassurance in his ear. Why was his mind so damn conflicted? Eren did not deserve an ounce of comfort from Levi.

Eren then clenched his hands by his sides, his face serious. “I know you will need time to gather yourself and reconnect everything with this new life. But I wanted to be here for it, if you’d let me.” He gave Levi a self-deprecating smile. “After all, I am your husband.”

Levi scoffed loudly at that, getting out from the bed, unable to stay still. “Right, like I would ever marry a monster like you,” he hissed out, his face contorting in a vicious snarl, his finger pointing at the man.

Eren made a wounded sound, holding a hand to his chest, over his heart, like Levi had stabbed right through it. His mouth was hanging open, as he stared at Levi with wide eyes. Levi could see a sheen to them, and he felt a vindicative satisfaction at the vision. “It seemed you fooled everyone around you, but it won’t be the case anymore. You took advantage of me being ignorant of the past, tricked me into this farce of a… marriage, but let me make myself very clear.”

He stepped closer to Eren, feeling himself boil over with an anger that had accumulated over time, dormant but still present, with suffering that had only soured with the years, mixed with resentment.  Tears welled up in Eren's eyes, but his gaze remained locked on Levi, as if his entire world was crumbling before his eyes. And even with the knot of consuming negative emotions in his chest, Levi still felt a tendril of tenderness stubbornly emerge through it. He felt the need to hold Eren’s face, to comfort him and make him smile by any means necessary.

Levi grew increasingly irritated by these persistent, conflicting, sentimental thoughts, and his anger surged even further within him. He closed in on Eren, jabbing his index finger forcefully into the other’s chest with each word. “There is not a single chance in hell I’d ever love someone like you, Eren.” The man let out a choked sob, but Levi pressed on, his words seething with tightly controlled rage. “In this life or any other, I will never, ever love you.”

Eren reeled away from him, tears glistening on his cheeks, as he struggled to hold back silent sobs. His breath hitched, and his face bore the weight of pure and profound sorrow.

Levi only shot him a look of utter disgust. “You say you made a deal with Ymir, but I’m sure you manipulated her into it, cause that’s all you know how to do. Manipulate people for your own benefits, treating them as nothing more than puppets,” he snarled the words out with viciousness, and that appeared to be Eren's breaking point.

Eren let out a wet chuckle, before grabbing his hair with both his hand and curling in on himself, trying to protect himself from Levi’s poisonous vitriol. He then seemed to lose control of what was left of his mind, starting to laugh manically. Levi felt shivers run down his spine at the sound. He could feel raw despair through it, and it made something inside of him ache.

Eren then stopped, his laugh getting more controlled. “Right.” His voice was ice cold. “You’re right.”

Levi then felt a chill go through him as Eren lifted his head, meeting his eyes. His once vibrant green eyes were cold, like a frozen forest, all life in them lost and ruined. Eren’s face smoothed out, all emotions of his previous despair being wiped out, hidden behind thick walls. And it was the most awful thing to witness for Levi, he was feeling like his stomach would drop to his feet.  

“You really know how to bring a man down with words, captain.” His voice was emotionless and sent a punch through Levi’s gut. For once, he did not feel an ounce of satisfaction at seeing his words attain their intended target, only growing distress.

“All this was too good to be true anyway, right?” Eren’s mouth lifted into a mocking rictus, and the sight of it seemed to make Levi’s stomach churn at the wrongness of it.

Eren took his eyes off Levi, as he smoothed his shirt out. Levi stood there, stunned and breathless, struggling to comprehend the situation. Why was he overwhelmed by such a profound sense of powerlessness? He had intended to inflict pain on Eren, to make him suffer just as he had made Levi suffer. So why did this emotionless version of Eren make him feel a nauseating churn in his heart?

“I promise you won’t have to see me again. So, I wish you a speedy recovery. Captain,” Eren added, almost as an afterthought, with disdain written all over it.

Levi was still left scrambling to make sense of his confusing feelings as Eren turned around and walked to the door without looking back once.

As Levi watched Eren disappear from his sight, he couldn't help but feel that he had made a terrible, terrible mistake.

☀︎   ☀︎   ☀︎

Chapter Text

Sunlight streamed through the lush leaves, forcing Levi to squint as he observed the house in front of him.

Well. House. It was more of a modern cottage, made of dark wood and big bay windows that gave teasing glimpses of the inside. It sat tucked between trees and greenery, like someone had dropped it right into the forest on purpose. Levi could see the beginnings of a massive garden, bushes heavy with blooming flowers, their scent thick and sweet in the air. Birds chirped somewhere above. Wind rustled the leaves. Far off, he could hear the low rush of what might be a river. The sun sat high over it all, wrapping the cottage in warm light.

Yes, everything was the picture-perfect image of a lovely house.

And it was, supposedly, Levi’s house. Right.

He crossed his arms, still critically analyzing the building, when the loud slam of car doors broke the quiet behind him. He didn’t turn. Hanji’s voice carried easily anyway.

“Man, why do I have to carry all the heavy stuff?”

Levi gave her a side-eye over his shoulder, unimpressed by the armfuls of grocery bags she was wrestling. “Because I’m a weak, recovering patient who must not overwork himself,” he said dryly.

Hanji scoffed. “Yeah, as if. But if I let you do anything tiring, Eren will have my skin, so I’ve got no choice.” She grumbled as she stomped up the steps, bags bumping against her knees.

Levi frowned at the mention of Eren. It seemed the man had kept his promise.

After his visit in Levi’s hospital room and the vicious words spewed out, Levi had not seen him again. And to be honest, he wasn’t really sure how he was feeling about it. One part was satisfied that he had managed to hurt and pushed away the man responsible for so much of his suffering.

The other part, much bigger than he liked, kept pricking at him. Kept wondering if he would see those green eyes again. Kept missing a warmth he didn’t want to name.

Annoying.

Levi had stayed in the hospital for a few more days after Eren’s visit, the doctor insisting on monitoring his memory loss. That part was its own brand of torture.

His mind was a jumbled mess. Memories stacked on top of each other like someone had swept two completely different lives into the same cluttered drawer. He hated mess. Hated that he couldn’t crack his skull open and sort everything into neat little boxes.

Yet with each quiet day of rest, his thoughts began to untangle. Slowly, fragments of a different life surfaced. It was a painful process, a bittersweet reconciliation with the reality that, in this new world, titans were non-existent, and the only battles were those of daily life, such as paying bills.

It felt overwhelmingly mundane for Levi's taste, a stark contrast to what he was used to. The absence of life-threatening situations, impossible choices or sacrifices for humanity's sake felt strangely surreal.

In this new life, the most adrenaline Levi experienced came from his work. After enough insistent rambling from Hanji, he remembered…or learned. It was hard to tell the difference.

He was a private detective in this world.

He’d spent years as a police officer, apparently good enough at the job to climb the ranks. Then he’d gotten sick of the bureaucracy, the endless meetings, the idiots in charge. So he’d split off, opened his own agency, and dragged Hanji with him.

Even here, in a different world entirely, they’d managed to find each other.
The thought planted a small, stubborn warmth in his chest.

But it also split his mind cleanly in two.

One half was crowded with horrors that didn’t belong anywhere near fluorescent hospital lights. Titan teeth. Screaming. Smoke. Blood thick enough to choke on. The other half held snapshots from this peaceful, civilian life. Chasing cheating spouses, stakeouts in shitty cars, Hanji bribing him with coffee to help in the lab, the familiar weight of a gun at his back.

Both halves coexisted uneasily, neither fading to make space for the other.

Yet, the most jarring thing remained seeing people he had watched die.

Sitting up in his hospital bed to see those faces approach, alive, laughing. They were whole. They were happy. And they were oblivious. It felt like getting punched and hugged at the same time.

Their personalities had shifted, too. Less jagged edges, fewer haunted eyes. Levi supposed it made sense. Not having titans trying to chew on you daily could do wonders for a person.

The contrast was sharpest with Hanji. The wild energy was still there, but the frantic, manic desperation from the old days was gone. This Hanji was loud, touchy, but grounded. Less like she was always one loss away from breaking.

Maybe not seeing the world end in slow motion did that to you.

One day, Jean and Connie shuffled into his room, and Levi had to admit it felt… right, somehow.

Hanji had told him that back when he was still working as a police captain, both idiots had been in his squad. Of course they had. Even in a new life, the brats had gravitated towards him, orbiting like the annoyances they’d always been.

They were still the same spirited morons now, standing awkwardly by his bed. Levi’s brain stalled, though, when someone stepped around them with a huge grin on her face.

“Captain! You have to try this!”

Sasha Blouse all but shoved a plastic container of food into his hands. Levi stared, throat suddenly dry.

“Come on, it’s going to help you heal faster,” she urged, wriggling the food temptingly. Levi still hadn’t processed her being there. Breathing. Smiling. Alive.

“Sasha, calm down. He’ll try it later. Let him rest,” a man’s voice chided gently, guiding her to a chair. “And be more careful,” he added.

Levi shifted his gaze to the man, being sure that he knew the face and those chestnut curls. Yet, Levi's mind stalled once again as he saw Sasha's hand gently run along her stomach. A stomach that was notably larger and more rounded than normal.

“Oh, don’t be such a worrywart Niccolo, the baby isn’t going to pop out anytime soon,” Sasha dismissed with a casual flip of her hand.

Right. Niccolo. The Marleyan. The one that had been devasted by Sasha’s death. The same person who now gazed at her with a tender smile, unmistakable love in his eyes.

Levi blinked, exhaling roughly. It hadn’t occurred to him, until that moment, just how far this second chance might stretch.

In this world, members of his squad could live normal lives, fall in love, and start families. It was a revelation that caught him off guard.

Yet, this realization also sparked a warm feeling in Levi's chest. Finally, somehow, they could have this second chance at life.

“Captain?”

He looked up to see Jean and Connie watching him anxiously.

“So what Hanji said is true, huh?” Connie asked, voice small. “You really don’t remember us?”

Levi huffed out a short laugh. “I would be so lucky to forget your ugly, damn faces.”

Their jaws dropped. Levi rolled his eyes. “Did you come here to yap all day long or what?”

The weird, hesitant atmosphere snapped. Connie spluttered. Jean started bickering. Sasha laughed through a mouthful of food while Niccolo scolded her. Levi leaned back against his pillows and let their voices wash over him.

He listened as they rambled about their lives, about how things had changed since he left the police, about how he was a pain in the ass but a good captain. Niccolo pushed a plate of food at him, and Levi ate without thinking. The flavors were rich, familiar somehow, and that little seed of warmth in his chest grew, unfurling slow and stubborn.

Day after day, familiar faces appeared. Faces that, in his other life, he’d watched as they hardened and broke. Here, they were relaxed. Smiling. A little older, but not worn down.

Each visit lifted another layer of fog from his mind.

He began reclaiming fragments from this new life, letting them settle alongside the memories of titans and blood. Neither set of memories erased the other. They just… coexisted, crowding his skull.

Little by little, Levi felt like he was piecing himself back together. A version of himself who lived in the present, but carried the weight of a past nobody else remembered.

Not entirely nobody.

Because the glaring blank in all of this was Eren.

Every time Levi tried to reach for anything related to Eren in this life, he ran into a wall. It wasn’t just blank, it was like his mind refused to even approach it. A missing chunk he could walk around but never step into.

It left an ache. An absence that felt too specific to be random. It left him untethered, like an intrinsic piece was missing.

And it was very frustrating because everyone around him kept mentioning goddamn Eren.

Everyone else talked about him like he was simply… there. Normal. Part of the furniture of Levi’s life. They mentioned him in passing, grinning about “how worried he’d been” and “how much he loves you, Levi”, and for Levi, it felt like the ground was slipping away beneath his feet every time it was brought up. The dissonance between their perceptions and his reality left him grappling with the mystery of his past choices and emotions.

His own memories of Eren were sharp and vicious: cold eyes, a lifeless expression, the skeleton of an impossible monster trudging across the world. The wild, naïve boy who’d screamed about freedom. The man who’d crushed the world under his heel.

Nothing from this Eren. The one Levi had supposedly married.

The entire situation formed an impossible enigma that consistently provoked painful throbs in his head. The doctor had told him not to force anything. “If it hurts, stop,” he’d said. “That means your brain needs more time.”

Levi hated that. He wanted to grab the missing pieces and shake them back into place. He needed to understand how the hell he’d ended up tying his life to Eren Jaeger of all people. Marriage? Him? What was he thinking? The very idea seemed incredulous to him, that he could bind his life so closely to another, especially when he had always envisioned ending up alone.

Hanji had tried to shove pictures and videos of their wedding into his face. Levi flatly refused. The idea of watching himself be soft and lovesick over someone he currently wanted to strangle made his skin crawl.

On top of that, nobody said anything bad about Eren. Ever. They were all… grateful. Fond. Like he’d never been a monster at all. Like Levi’s memories were just some nightmares.

Whenever Eren’s name came up, Levi’s mouth snapped shut. Eventually people learned. Conversations would skid awkwardly away from the topic, leaving him alone with a pounding headache and that same gnawing confusion.

Even absent, Eren kept shaping Levi’s life. He’d apparently arranged everything with Hanji. Every now and then she’d show up, cheerfully announcing, “Eren said to do this,” or “Eren organized that.” Levi wanted to dunk his head in a bucket.

One morning, she bounced into his hospital room with a grin. “Good news, Shorty. Doctor says you’re free. We’re going home this afternoon.”

He almost asked, Is he coming? but Hanji had always been annoyingly perceptive.

“Eren won’t be here,” she said calmly. Levi felt his shoulders loosen despite himself. “He gave me the keys and everything. Said to take good care of you and that he had to leave for business.”

Her eyes narrowed. “He also told me not to get upset by anything you’d say about him.” She raised a brow. “Which makes me very curious about what happened between you two.”

“It’s none of your business,” Levi muttered.

To her credit, she let it drop.

They’d left the hospital then, Levi gratefully trading the drafty gown for proper clothes. He tried not to think about how many people had seen his bare ass during his glorious escape attempt. Never again.

Now, standing at the threshold of the cottage, he let out a slow breath and stepped inside.

The effect was immediate. His body loosened, muscles unknotting without permission. The smell of wood and tea and something faintly citrus hit his nose. It felt… familiar.

His brain, on the other hand, scrambled to catch up.

He followed an invisible path to the kitchen, feet carrying him like they’d done it a thousand times. Hanji was there, grumbling as she bent to pick up a bag that had slipped off the counter. A box of eggs had gone down with it; yolk and shell splattered across the tiles.

Levi made a face. “Really, four-eyes, can’t you be more careful.”

He opened a cupboard without thinking and pulled out a bottle of tile cleaner and a rag, hand closing on them automatically. He froze.

He knew where they were. Not logically, not by deduction. His body just… remembered.

A warm hand settled on his arm. “Hey. You okay?”

“Yes,” he said shortly. “I’m fine. Just have to clean up your mess.”

He took a breath, pushed down the unease, and knelt to wipe the floor. The small, mundane movement soothed him, even as his mind buzzed.

Afterwards, they put away the groceries. Levi made tea because his hands clearly knew exactly which jar held which leaves. The cupboard was stuffed with options, black teas, green, herbal. A wealth of choice that would’ve been unimaginable in the Underground, or even in the Corps. It almost felt obscene.

He shook the feeling off and carried two cups to the living room, where Hanji was sprawled across the couch flicking through channels on the huge TV.

“So,” she said, taking her cup, “still no memory of your ardent love for your husband?” She watched him carefully.

“No,” Levi snapped. “Stop asking. It won’t make it come back.”

“But you won’t even let me tell you how you met or how you fell in love at first sight,” she whined. “Levi, you were so smitten with Eren, it was incredible to see.”

“I was certainly not like that.”

“Sure thing, Jeanne.”

“Who’s Jeanne?”

“Nobody.” She gasped. “Oh my god, I have to teach you all our inside jokes again? And show you all the vines and TikToks? My best friend cannot be an uncultured boomer, Levi, I have standards—”

“Hanji. Shut the fuck up.”

She snickered. “At least the accident didn’t damage your shining personality. Really a wonder Eren can put up with it.” She wiggled her eyebrows. “Although you go all mushy when he’s around, so I guess it balances out.”

A pillow hit her square in the face.

They settled after that, letting a nature documentary play while they drank in companionable silence. Levi let himself look at Hanji from the corner of his eye, drinking in the sight of her healthy flushed face, at the way she hogged the blanket, at how alive she was. Relief tugged at something deep in his chest. Having Hanji near him, her familiar, comforting aura surrounding him once again, Levi felt at peace or something really close to it.

But a voice inside his head still wanted to probe and question. Did she really not remember their past life? Nothing of it?

“Hanji,” he said quietly, “do you believe in reincarnation?”

She startled. “What? Where did that come from? You never care about stuff like that.”

Levi shrugged, waiting.

She tapped her chin. “I’m not sure. Maybe? There’s no proof, but the universe is weird enough.”

Levi looked down at his hands. At fingers that shouldn’t exist.

“Do you think it’s possible to remember past lives?” he asked, the words tasting strange.

Hanji’s smile softened. She seemed to hear everything he wasn’t saying. “Well,” she hummed, “who knows. Maybe. Stranger things have happened, right?”

A spark of hope flickered in his chest. “Do you…” he started, then swallowed the rest. Coward.

She went on anyway. “Sometimes I get these dreams,” she admitted. “I’m flying through a forest. Trees everywhere, green as far as I can see. There’s wind in my face, and I’m moving fast, so fast. And I feel…” She smiled, eyes distant. “Free. Like I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be. It feels familiar. Like I’ve already done it.”

She shrugged it off. “Then I wake up and I just keep the feeling. The energy. It’s weird that I’ve had the exact same dream more than once, but that’s all.”

Levi’s heart tripped over itself. For a second he could almost smell the horses, hear the thunder of hooves, feel the sway of ODM gear pulling at his waist. He could see her silhouette ahead of him, cape whipping, laughing into the wind.

Then the moment passed. Hanji’s dreams were just fragments, scraps of sensation. No real memories, no pain.

Good.

Levi slumped back, disappointment and relief twisting together. He hated that he was the only one carrying the weight of both worlds. But he was grateful she’d been spared. She didn’t have to bear the weight of the horrors of her past life or even her death. He felt relieved that she got to live a happy life, only filled with the small inconveniences of daily life. She deserved it, as did everyone from the Scouts.

For the first time, he understood—truly, painfully—how lonely this must have been for Eren. To walk through this peaceful world with ghosts in his head nobody else could see. To look at people you’d buried and watch them smile at you like nothing had ever happened.

No wonder the brat had looked so wrecked.

Levi finished his tea, now lukewarm, and forced himself to look away from that line of thought. He didn’t want to dwell on Eren more than necessary.

The house itself was impressive. Good furniture, sturdy and comfortable, like the armchair swallowing him now. Clean, too. Almost gleaming. That made him feel more at home than anything else. There were framed pictures on the walls, shelves of books, little trinkets here and there. It was lived-in without being cluttered.

Everything screamed money. The kind Levi had never had, never trusted.

“Hey, shitty glasses,” he called out, deciding to directly ask his nosy friend. “What job does Eren have?”

Hanji’s head snapped around so fast he was half-convinced something in her neck cracked. “Ohhh, now you’re asking about Eren?” Her eyes gleamed. “You’re finally getting curious, huh?”

Heat crawled up Levi’s neck. He scowled into his tea. “Just answer the damn question.”

She laughed, delighted. “Fine, fine, don’t get your knickers in a twist. Our sweet Eren is a lot of things, but I guess people would call him a businessman.” She tapped her lip, thinking. “Successful one, too.”

Levi stared at her flatly. “That doesn’t mean anything.”

“You’re so demanding,” she huffed. “Alright. He owns a couple of things. Clinics. Hospitals. Health centres. That kind of stuff.”

Something ugly twisted in Levi’s gut. “What?” he croaked.

“You didn’t know?” She looked delighted by his shock. “Yeah, he owns the hospital you were in. That’s why all the staff were freaking out when you punched Zeke. You assaulted the boss’s brother and they still treated you like royalty. Totally unfair, by the way.”

Images clicked into place: the way the guards had backed off the second Eren said his name, the deference in the doctor’s tone when he mentioned Dr. Jaeger, the way everyone had looked like prey when Eren raised his voice.

Of course.

Of course Eren would build himself into someone like that. Someone who said “let him go” and people obeyed.

“So he’s rich,” Levi said, his voice coming out colder than he intended.

“Rich is an understatement,” Hanji snorted. “Filthy rich. Disgustingly rich. I’m pretty sure he’s got businesses even I don’t know about. He just smiles and says he worked hard, then changes the subject.” She jerked her chin at the room around them. “You really did well bagging that rich cutie, Shorty.”

Levi stared, brain stumbling. “What do you mean, ‘bagging’?”

“I mean this.” She waved an arm at the house. “The car. The vacations. The fact that when you get hurt, he basically buys a wing. Your man spoils you rotten and you throw a fit every time. It’s adorable.”

He felt like the air had been sucked out of the room. He looked around properly this time—the quality of the furniture, the big windows, the stupidly cosy armchair he was sinking into, the way everything felt solid and expensive and carefully chosen.

Levi Ackerman didn’t live like this. Not in any world he remembered. He hoarded pennies in the Underground and rationed tea in the Corps. The idea that he’d let someone spend this kind of money on him—

“I don’t want his money,” Levi muttered, more to himself than to Hanji.

“Yeah, yeah, we know.” Hanji waved him off. “You say that every time he buys you something. Then you try to return it, he sulks, you both get all touchy, and it ends with you making terrifying heart eyes over a toaster or something. It’s disgusting.”

Heat flared in his cheeks. “I don’t—”

“You do,” she said smugly. “You once marched into his office with a receipt because he bought you some fancy watch, remember? You lectured him for fifteen minutes on ‘wasteful spending’ and then wore the damn thing every day for a year.” She cackled. “He looked like you’d handed him the sun.”

Levi’s chest clenched so hard it almost hurt to breathe. He didn’t remember. He could picture it, almost. A blurred image of himself standing in front of some big desk, Eren behind it, his stupid green eyes shining at him like Levi hanging onto a watch was the most important thing in the world.

Nothing concrete surfaced, just a phantom weight on his wrist and the echo of Eren’s laugh somewhere behind his ribs. His head throbbed in warning.

He snapped his gaze away, shutting the feeling down. “You’re annoying. Shut up.”

Hanji only grinned into her cup. “Whatever you say, lover boy.”

The teasing rolled off him this time. Underneath the banter, confusion gnawed at him, sharp and insistent. Eren wasn’t just a ghost from a ruined world anymore, or a brat with blood on his hands. In this life, Eren was money and safety and walls and roofs and signed documents with Levi’s name on them.

It made him feel boxed in, trapped in a life someone else had chosen for him. Someone who shared his face, his name, his body… but not his memories.

Levi shoved all of it into a mental box and slammed the lid shut. For now. He could pick that fight with his own brain later.

That night, Hanji stayed over. Levi was grateful for it. He didn’t want to be alone in this half-familiar house. Most of all, he didn’t want to step into the bedroom he supposedly shared with Eren.

Hanji didn’t make him ask. She dug out spare bedding, made up the couch, and shoved a bundle of sleep clothes into his arms. “There. We can have a sleepover. Like when you got shot that time and refused to stay at the hospital.”

He gave her a look that said don’t push it and a nod that said thank you. She understood both.

They stayed up talking until stupid o’clock. Eventually his eyes grew heavy. As he drifted off, listening to Hanji rambling about some documentary, he had the strange thought that maybe—just maybe—this new life wouldn’t be complete shit.

☀︎   ☀︎   ☀︎

The next day, Hanji lingered through lunch, sprawled in the armchair now like it belonged to her. Levi packed away dishes, moving around the kitchen on instinct.

“I’m sorry, Shorty,” she said eventually, “I’d have stayed longer, but…” She flashed him a cheeky smile. “I have a date tonight.”

Levi arched a brow. “Oh, do you now? Who’s the poor bastard stuck with you?”

Hanji squawked. “You’re so mean! Moblit is a sweetheart.”

Levi’s eyes widened. Of course. Even in a world without titans, people circled each other the same way. He huffed. “We’ll see if he survives the night.”

She rolled her eyes and slapped his shoulder. “You should be more grateful after I spent all this time with you, ungrateful shit.”

As she tugged on her coat by the door, she suddenly froze. “Oh! I almost forgot.”

She dug through her bag, then lobbed a small plastic pouch at his face. Levi caught it on reflex, glaring, before it could slap him in the face.

“I know Eren told me to keep it and only give it to you if you asked, but I’m terrified I’ll lose it,” she said, shivering dramatically. “And I really don’t want your man angry at me.”

Levi looked down.

A golden band rested inside, catching the light.

His breath stuttered. “Hanji, no, take it—”

But she was already halfway out the door. “Take care, don’t die, bye Shorty!” she yelled, flapping a hand as she barreled toward her car.

The door clicked shut.

Fuck.

Levi stared at the plastic in his palm. Every muscle in his body screamed to throw it as far as he could. Into the trees, into the river, anywhere. Feed it to a pig maybe.

He should. He didn’t want to see it. Proof that he’d really stood somewhere and said vows with Eren Jaeger. That he’d slipped this thing onto his own finger and thought it was a good idea.

His fingers tightened, crinkling the plastic.

But at the same time…

He exhaled slowly, pried his hand open, and slid the ring onto his palm. The metal was cool against his skin.

It was simple. A thin, elegant band, the kind you picked if you hated anything gaudy. It looked sturdy despite its delicacy. Levi could see faint engraving inside, almost too small to read. He brought it closer to his face and squinted.

In this life and all the others.

His heart lurched. His head started to pound, a slow, heavy throb that made his vision blur at the edges.

It was just words. It was just a ring.

It shouldn’t feel like a punchline.

The words burned under his skin, mocking him. In this life and all the others.
Funny, how easy it had been to look Eren in the eye and swear there wasn’t a single life where he’d ever love him.

He shoved the ring back into the bag and stalked into the kitchen. Out of sight, out of mind. He stuffed it deep into an upper cupboard behind a stack of tea tins, somewhere he wouldn’t accidentally see it.

His head throbbed harder. The doctor had warned him this might happen. “Memories returning can cause discomfort,” he’d said. “Don’t push yourself.”

Levi pressed his fingers to his temples. Whatever. He had other things to do. Like finally taking a shower that wasn’t in a sterile hospital bathroom.

He made himself walk down the hall. His feet found the bedroom without hesitation, turning the right corners without any conscious effort. That bothered him more than he was willing to admit.

He stepped inside and forced his eyes away from the bed at the center—the bed he and Eren apparently shared. Shared. Past tense. Whatever.

The wardrobe was exactly where his hands expected it to be. He opened it, and neatly folded clothes greeted him. His clothes. He knew which drawers held shirts, which held pants.

On one side, an expanse of empty space yawned between hangers.

Eren’s side. Levi knew it the way he knew where his knives belonged.

Something dark and slick slid through his chest at the sight. He clenched his jaw. Good. The brat had taken his things. That meant Levi wouldn’t have to see him here.

He grabbed clothes, marched to the bathroom, and stepped under the hot spray. The scent of soap, pleasant, washed over him. His headache eased under the warmth.

He braced his hands against the tiles and let the water run over his head, trying to breathe.

It was too much. Too many lives, too many gaps. Too many pieces of himself that knew how to move in this world while his mind stumbled after them.

He’d survived worse. He’d get through this, too.

☀︎ ☀︎ ☀︎

A routine settled, of sorts. Levi refused to sleep in the bedroom. The couch was good enough. He’d wake up stiff and grumpy, move through the kitchen as if on rails to make breakfast. After a few days, restlessness pushed him outside.

He started jogging along the paths that wound into the forest, enjoying the crisp air and the satisfying pull of muscle and tendon, legs strong again beneath him. Every step was a reminder that his body was whole. It was… nice.

He stayed away from the city. Too bright, too loud, too big. The forest was easier. Trees he understood.

The house, less so.

The framed pictures on the walls started to grate. Every time he caught a glimpse, he saw Eren. Eren laughing. Eren holding him. Eren looking at Levi like he’d hung the stars himself.

His chest fluttered treacherously every time. He couldn’t stand it.

One afternoon, he went from frame to frame, flipping them face-down. The silence afterward felt brutal but cleaner.

A week passed. Loneliness crept in at the edges, gnawing when the house got too quiet. He ignored it.

Hanji stopped by to check on him, arms full of snacks and gossip.

“Nuh-uh, no way, Shorty,” she said when he mentioned going back to work. “You need more time to rest and get that brain of yours in order. I need you in top shape, not half-assed.”

She hesitated, looking him over. “And your husband explicitly told me you needed to take it easy.”

Levi scowled. “Didn’t know you were his loyal watchdog now.”

She groaned. “Still no memories. What a waste. How am I supposed to bully you about being sickeningly in love if you don’t remember being sickeningly in love?”

“You sound like a broken record, idiot.”

He raked a hand through his hair, intending to end the conversation, when Hanji suddenly gasped so loud Levi almost jumped out of his skin.

“THE TATTOO! I forgot about it!” she yelled, pointing at him.

Levi glared. “What the hell are you screaming about now?”

Hanji scrambled off the couch and practically launched herself at him, fingers already reaching for his neck. “The tattoo, dumbass! The one you got for Eren. How does that not scream ‘sickeningly in love’?”

His heart was beating way too fast. “You’re making that up.”

“Am I?” she sing-songed. “You got all sappy, going on about suns and Eren and ‘never again wasting time’ and—”

That was enough. Levi slapped her hand away and stood up so abruptly the mug on the table rattled. His pulse roared in his ears.

He didn’t even remember crossing the house. One second he was in the living room and the next, he was in the bathroom, flicking on the light with more force than necessary.

It struck him only then. He hadn’t really looked at himself in a mirror since the accident.

Not properly.

He’d avoided it every morning, keeping his gaze low while he shaved or washed his face. The sight of smooth, unscarred skin had felt uncanny, like looking at a stranger wearing his features. No reminders of battles that had carved themselves into him.

So he’d avoided it. Avoided himself. Avoided anything that might confirm he wasn’t in the world he’d bled for.

If he hadn’t been such a damn coward about mirrors, he would have noticed any changes long ago.

He swallowed, jaw tight, and slowly lifted his eyes to the glass. It felt like pulling teeth. He braced his hands on the sink and forced himself to turn his head, to look past his own reflection and angle his neck toward the spot Hanji had touched… And then he saw it.

Black ink stared back at him.

For a long, suspended second, Levi couldn’t process what he was seeing. His mind simply refused it, like the mirror was lying, like someone else’s neck had been grafted onto his body.

But the shape was here.

A sun. Small and precise. No larger than a coin, its centre a dark circle of ink, haloed by fine lines that radiated outward. Some of the rays were solid, some dotted, some breaking into tiny points like stars. It sat so close to his hairline that only someone intimate with him would ever see it.

His chest tightened violently and his vision tunneled. His fingers lifted automatically, hovering just shy of the tattoo, not quite daring to touch it.

It was beautiful work. Clean, delicate, the kind of thing you only entrusted to an artist after obsessing over it for months. The kind of thing you did when you wanted something permanent. When you wanted something that would stay even if everything else was ripped away.

His stomach lurched.

No. No, this wasn’t-

He wouldn’t have done this.

He wouldn’t have let anyone close enough to mark him. He wouldn’t have chosen something so… exposed. So permanent.

And yet.

There it was. Burned into his skin. As real as the fingers he’d once lost and somehow regained.

Proof of a choice he couldn’t remember making.

Heat pricked behind his eyes, sharp and unwelcome. He squeezed them shut, but that only made it worse. Behind his eyelids, flashes of sensation flickered. Warm breath against his neck, a deep laugh by his ear, calloused fingers brushing that exact spot and a voice murmuring, “Looks good on you, Levi. The sun suits you.”

The echo hit like a punch.

White-hot pain stabbed through his skull, sudden and brutal. Levi hissed, gripping the sink until his knuckles bleached, vision fracturing at the edges. His breath stuttered.

Don’t force it, the doctor had said. Memory returns slowly. Pushing will only hurt you.

No shit.

He swallowed hard, forcing the phantom sensations back into whatever dark corner they’d crawled out of. When he opened his eyes again, the man in the mirror looked pale, hollowed out. There was a sun inked into his skin and Levi had no idea when he’d decided to put it there. No idea what he’d said, what he’d felt, when that needle first bit into him.

“What the fuck,” he whispered to his own reflection.

This, plus the ring, plus the way his body relaxed when Eren was near… it was too much. Too much proof that there had been a version of him who hadn’t just tolerated Eren, hadn’t simply forgiven him, but had loved him so fiercely he’d wanted that love branded onto his body.

Part of him wanted to scrub it off. To grab a cloth and soap and scrub until the skin went raw. Until the sun blurred into nothing.

He didn’t move.

He stayed there until the headache ebbed from stabbing to throbbing. Then he turned away from the mirror and walked back out.

Hanji was hovering in the hallway, worry written all over her face. She straightened when she saw him.

“Levi,” she started, quieter than usual, “I… uh. Maybe I shouldn’t have dropped that on you. The doctor told us not to overload you with information. Eren was very clear about taking it slow. I just—”

“I’m fine,” Levi cut in. His voice came out flat and cold.

Hanji paused. Her eyes flickered over his face, noticing his clenched jaw, the palor, the faint tremor in fingers he’d thought he’d hidden. She took a slow step closer, voice dropping.

“Are you sure? Because we can sit down, talk it through, or I can stay.”

“Don’t.” Sharper this time. A snap of frayed nerves. “You’ve got a date.”

She blinked, thrown. “Levi, I can cancel. It’s really not a big deal, I can stay-”

“Go.”

The word cut the air cleanly. Too cleanly.

Something wounded flickered across her face, the kind of quick, quiet hurt Hanji rarely let anyone see. She opened her mouth, probably to joke, to defuse, to be the steady presence she always was. But whatever she saw in his expression stopped her.

In the silence, Levi felt the burn of the tattoo behind his ear, the pounding in his skull, the weight of a ring hidden in a cupboard. Too much. All of it too much.

Hanji swallowed. Her voice, when it came, was soft. “Okay. I’ll… text you later, alright?”

He didn’t answer.

For a moment she just stood there, studying him like she was searching for a crack in the armor he’d slammed back into place. Finding none, she grabbed her bag quietly.

“Take care, Levi,” she murmured. “Really.”

The door clicked shut behind her.

The house exhaled into silence. Heavy, suffocating, too large for one person.

Levi stood there in the empty hallway, the echo of her footsteps fading outside, the ghost of ink burning under his skin, and for the first time since waking in this world, he felt truly, blisteringly alone.

☀︎ ☀︎ ☀︎

Days blurred into each other after that.

Levi forced himself back into a routine. Wake up. Make breakfast. Run the forest path until the cold air burned clean through his lungs. It helped, gave him something physical to focus on while his brain tried to piece itself back together. His body stopped aching. His bruises faded. Strength returned to his legs, the sure, familiar kind he’d spent a lifetime honing. The cottage became familiar in a way he didn’t entirely trust: the quiet, the filtered sunlight, the predictable creak of the floorboards. Even catching sight of his own reflection no longer startled him as much; he was getting used to the smooth skin and the unfamiliar calm in his features.

All of that made sense.

Everything else… did not.

He stayed close to the cottage, rarely straying beyond the tree line. The rest of the world felt too large and too alive for someone still adjusting to the idea of peace. Here, surrounded by trees and silence, he didn’t have to confront the gaps in his memories or the strange too-soft ache beneath his sternum. Here, the past life that haunted him stayed quiet long enough to breathe.

After a few weeks, when the worst of the aches stopped flaring and the headaches dulled, Levi finally abandoned the couch. The bed was too comfortable to ignore forever, all soft sheets and cloud-like mattress. It felt wasteful, almost disrespectful, not to use it. At first it helped. His sleep deepened, and he woke without a crick in his back. It felt like progress.

But he’d misjudged.

Because sleeping there began to stir things he wasn’t ready for. Small, quiet sensations, like cracks forming in ice. Some mornings he woke convinced there had been warmth at his back, the faintest pressure against his spine, the echo of a breath that wasn’t his. His hand reached out automatically toward where a shoulder should be, expecting resistance, expecting solidity. Instead, he found nothing but cold sheets and the pathetic dip in the mattress beside him. The drop in his stomach felt ridiculous, and yet it happened every time, a hollow ache settling under his ribs before he could stop it.

He started hugging a pillow at night, pretending it was just practical. When his face pressed into the fabric, he occasionally caught a fading scent. Warm spice and something comforting he couldn’t name. One that made the back of his throat tighten with a longing he didn’t understand.

His hands betrayed him in the mornings. He would set out two plates before he realized what he was doing, staring at the empty chair across from him as if it were supposed to be filled by someone who had simply stepped out for a moment. The tea tasted wrong on those days, flatter, like it had lost its sharpness.

Even when Hanji visited, bringing her chaotic energy and enough snacks to feed a platoon, the phantom absence lingered. She’d say something stupid, something that would normally make Levi scoff, and his instinct would be to glance to his right, to share the exasperation with someone beside him. When his gaze landed only on the blank wall, a small, precise pain stabbed through his chest. It was like his body remembered a presence his mind could not grasp.

He pushed it down each time. Phantom habits, nothing more. He blamed the head injury, the stress, whatever. Anything but the truth nibbling at the edges of his thoughts: that he had lived more than one life, and the echoes of the previous one were still clawing at him.

One evening, the restlessness became unbearable. He’d run far too long, cleaned every surface within reach, reorganized the tea cupboard twice, but the agitation stayed under his skin like static. He wandered into the bedroom, ignoring the bed as he made his way to the wardrobe. All he wanted was a shirt, any shirt, so he could distract himself with some pointless task.

His fingers brushed soft cotton that didn’t belong to him.

He paused, pulling out the shirt. It was simple, neutral in color, a little too big. Worn in the way clothes get when someone uses them often. It didn’t smell like Levi. The faint warm spice clinging to it tugged at something deep inside him, a recognition he couldn’t explain.

He should have put it back immediately. He should have shoved it into the far corner of the wardrobe and slammed the door. Instead, he stood there holding it like an idiot, chest too tight, heart thudding far too loudly.

Somewhere, just at the edge of conscious thought, something flickered.

A different room. A different world. A laugh in the dark. Hands brushing his hips. A shadow leaning against him, warm and steady, whispering something he couldn’t quite catch.

The memory dissolved before he could grasp it. He swallowed hard. He should put the shirt away. He should.

But a minute later, Levi found himself lying on the bed, lights off, wearing the damn thing. The fabric sat too loosely across his shoulders, dipping low at the collarbone. It was comfortable. Of course it was. Infuriatingly so.

He buried his face in the neckline once. Just once, just to check if it needed washing, that was all. He inhaled a scent that felt like a word on the tip of his tongue. Something familiar. Something important. Something that hurt.

He didn’t understand why. He didn’t want to understand.

But he finally slept.

And for the first time since waking in this new world, he didn’t dream of running.

☀︎   ☀︎   ☀︎

Levi was a man of few words, never dramatic. But right now, he was dangerously close to bliss.

“That’s it, sweetheart… relax.”

Eren’s voice brushed his ear, warm and low. Levi shivered, tightening his grip around him, clinging to bare skin like it anchored him.

Thoughts slipped from his grasp. All he could focus on was Eren’s hand moving over him. Steady, sure, purposeful, each stroke on his cock winding Levi tighter. A sound escaped him before he could swallow it down.

“Fuck, Eren… just like that.”

Eren’s mouth trailed along his throat, slow and reverent, teeth grazing just beneath Levi’s jaw. Right where the sun tattoo rested. Levi gasped, the sensation lighting up his nerves. When he bit back another noise, Eren tugged gently at his lower lip with a thumb.

“Don’t hide from me,” he whispered. “I want to hear you.”

Levi’s body reacted before his pride could interfere, a needy sound pulling free of him. Eren rewarded him with a firmer stroke and Levi’s breath stuttered, fingers digging into Eren’s back.

Then everything stopped.

“Eren-” Levi’s voice cracked, humiliatingly raw.

“What do you want?” Eren murmured against his neck, lips brushing warm paths along Levi’s skin. “Use your words.”

Levi growled, refusing to beg. Until Eren’s touch on his cock teased him again, slow enough to be cruel. “Fucking brat… move.”

Eren only smiled, brushing his mouth over Levi’s cheek, his jaw, his lips. “Tell me properly,” he coaxed, each kiss making Levi’s chest tighten, molten heat pooling low. “Don’t you want to be good for me?”

Levi’s resolve wobbled dangerously. He shut his eyes, breathing through the storm building in him, fingers sliding up to grip Eren’s shoulders. This goddamn stubborn man.

“Fuck,” Levi cursed, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. “I’m so gonna fuck you after this, you brat,” he spat out, opening his eyes and feeling his heart give a pathetic thud in his chest at the smile illuminating Eren’s face.

“Of course, sweetheart. Anything you want,” he said cheekily, speeding his movement around Levi’s cock, pressing his smile into Levi’s cheek. “Now, be a good boy and tell me what you need.” he punctuated each word with a hard thrust, making Levi moan loudly.

Levi broke rather quickly after that.

His words crumbled into pleading, raw and breathless. “Please, Eren- just… touch me. I need-” His voice hitched, frustration and desire blurring together, eyes stinging with intensity he couldn’t contain. His whole body shook, wound so tight he thought he might snap apart.

Eren’s hands came up, cupping Levi’s face with a gentleness that undid him further. “Hey… it’s alright,” he soothed. “You’re doing so well for me.” He kissed him softly, sweetly, grounding him. “I’ve got you.”

Levi felt himself melting, helpless to the warmth of Eren’s voice and the steady touch moving over him, coaxing him toward the edge. Eren kissed down his chest, lingering, tasting, worshipping, until Levi was trembling.

Eren guided his hands down, lacing their fingers together, grounding Levi even as the world around them blurred. His lips brushed Levi’s knuckles, gentle, reverent. A contrast to the hunger burning in his eyes.

“Look at me,” he murmured, voice low and rough. “I want to see you fall apart.”

Levi did. He couldn’t have looked away if he’d tried.

Eren lowered himself slowly, deliberately, never breaking eye contact. Levi felt the warmth of his breath first, then the soft press of lips against sensitive skin that made his entire body jolt. The sensation hit him like a wave. Hot, dizzying, impossible to brace against. His fingers spasmed around Eren’s, clutching back.

“Eren,” he gasped, his voice cracking helplessly.

Every move Eren made was slow and sure, like he was savoring him, like he was tasting something he’d been starving for. Levi’s breath stuttered, his chest tightening with the pressure building inside him. Each pulse of pleasure pushed him higher, closer, until the room seemed to tilt and pulse with his heartbeat.

He couldn’t think. Could barely breathe.

The only things that felt real were Eren’s hands holding his, Eren’s hair brushing Levi’s thighs, Eren’s eyes lifting to meet his, dark, intent, worshipful. His mouth, his heat around Levi’s whole length. The unrelenting rhythm Eren was set to keep.

Levi felt something unravel inside him.

Heat coiled low, sharp and urgent, gathering fast. His hips jerked up without permission, chasing more, chasing everything. He heard himself. Small, broken sounds tearing from his throat.

“I-, fuck, Eren, I’m-, I’m so close,” he whined as he looked into those green eyes. Feeling their intensity go straight through him.

He couldn’t finish the sentence. Couldn’t think it.

Eren squeezed his hands, murmured something low and encouraging, and the sound alone nearly pushed Levi over. His whole body trembled, breath hitching as the pleasure crested to a point so sharp it was almost painful.

Just one more second. One more touch. He was going to–

Everything whitened–

–and Levi jolted awake.

His body seized forward with a strangled gasp, heart pounding, breath shuddering. The sheets were twisted beneath him, his thighs trembling, heat still pulsing through his nerves like aftershocks.

He blinked in the dim room, disoriented, breath scraping harshly out of his throat.

The remnants of the dream clung to him. Eren’s hands, Eren’s voice, Eren’s mouth. Vivid enough that Levi’s stomach dropped when he looked down and saw the mess spread across his lap and the sheets.

For one long, disbelieving moment, he just stared.

Then the shame crashed into him. Hard. Suffocating. A wave straight to the gut.

“Shit,” he whispered, dragging a shaky hand over his face.

But the worst part wasn’t the mess. It was how real the dream had felt. How he could still feel phantom heat on his skin, breath against his ear, the ghost-pressure of fingers on his hips. How his body still ached, for someone who wasn’t there.

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” he muttered, disgust burning through him. A wet dream. Like some teenage idiot who couldn’t handle himself.

It had felt… real. Too real.

“It was just a fantasy,” he told himself out loud. “Brain soup. Nothing more.”

The lie tasted bitter.

Fuck. Fuck.

The sheets were sticking to his skin. His underwear was uncomfortable. Fine. He’d take a cold shower, scrub himself off, reorganize his thoughts, then drown what was left of his dignity in tea.

That was the plan.

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It was not a good plan.

The water was icy enough to make his teeth chatter, and still his body reacted like it hadn’t gotten the memo. Every time he squeezed his eyes shut, the dream replayed itself in cruel high definition. Hands on his hips, guiding him. A tongue in his mouth. A voice in his ear telling him he was good, so good.

He wanted to bash his head against the shower wall. This was ridiculous. His body was a weapon, honed and disciplined. Not some needy, trembling mess at the mere idea of Eren fucking Jaeger.

“Pathetic,” he told his reflection afterward, toweling his hair with short, rough motions. “Get a grip.”

He stepped into the living room, intent on tea and denial.

The sight of the sofa stopped him cold.

For one dizzying heartbeat, it wasn’t empty.

He saw himself there. Shirt rumpled, legs parted, breathless. Eren kneeling between his knees, grin bright and mischievous, fingers curled in Levi’s waistband like he owned him. Levi heard his own laugh, low and helpless. Felt phantom hands tug him closer–

Then it was gone.

The room was quiet again. Just a couch. Just a coffee table. Just Levi, standing frozen in the doorway, pulse thudding in his ears.

He swallowed, throat suddenly dry. “The fuck,” he muttered, and forced his feet to carry him to the kitchen.

The same thing happened there.

One moment the counter was neat and ordinary.

The next, Eren was sitting on it. Legs bracketing Levi’s waist, bodies pressed chest-to-chest. Levi’s hands at his hips. Eren’s fingers tangled in his hair, tugging just enough to make Levi’s breath hitch. Levi’s mouth dragging along Eren’s jaw, neck, collarbone. And that soft, breathless laugh. One Levi felt in his bones.

Heat flared under his skin so sharply his knees almost buckled.

The vision vanished. Levi found himself gripping the counter with white-knuckled force.

“Brain damage,” he said flatly, just to have something logical to cling to. “Has to be.”

It didn’t sound very convincing. And his heart didn’t believe it at all.

In the days that followed, the house became a minefield.

Every room detonated something inside him. Not full scenes, not quite. More like shards of glass glinting in the sun. Sharp, quick, cutting.

The hallway mirror: himself pinned to the wall, mouths fused, Eren’s hand gripping the back of his neck as Levi tugged his hair and kissed him like he’d starve without it.

The bathroom: steam and laughter echoing off tile, Eren half-dressed and soaked as Levi dragged him beneath the spray, their bodies sliding together, warm and familiar.

The bed…

Levi didn’t let himself look at the bed long. Even a few seconds made his stomach drop.

Bodies intertwined, breathless and unguarded, moving together like they’d learned every angle, every instinct, every way to bring the other home. Soft sounds. Gentle touches. Tenderness Levi had never allowed himself to imagine he could give or receive.

The more he tried to suppress the images, the more they dug in. And they weren’t just heat and skin.

It was quieter things.

Eren’s smile lighting up over something stupid Levi muttered. A warm hand on the small of his back guiding him through a crowded street. A thumb brushing circles over Levi’s knuckles in a dark movie theatre.Eren’s breath on the back of his neck as he whispered something sleep-slurred and soft.

His body didn’t react like these were fantasies.

His body reacted like it had been here before.

Levi stumbled into the bedroom, meaning to sit before his knees decided for him. But the mirror caught him instead.

And for a heartbeat, his reflection split.

His reflection overlapped with another version of himself. Sitting on the edge of the bed, hair mussed, lips swollen with kiss-bruises. Eren behind him, arms banded tight around his chest, chin hooked over Levi’s shoulder. Both of them staring at the mirror with matching dazed looks, flushed and fucked-out and content.

Levi blinked hard. The image cracked like glass and fell away, leaving only his own pale, shaken face staring back.

His knees dropped out from under him.

He hit the floor with a rough exhale, one hand pressed to his sternum. His heart was hammering too fast, too uneven, too raw.

They weren’t fantasies.

These were fucking memories.

The realization punched the breath form his lungs.

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Once that thought rooted itself, everything else surged forward.

He remembered the exact shade Eren’s eyes went when affection and desire tangled together. Adeep green, soft at the edges, warm enough to burn. He remembered how Eren’s skin felt under his palms, the way the muscles in his back flexed when he laughed, when he tensed, when he finally let himself go limp and trusting in Levi’s hands.

He knew the little sound Eren made when Levi kissed just below his ear. The way his fingers always curled in Levi’s shoulder at the first drag of teeth. The way he’d tuck his face into Levi’s neck afterwards and breathe him in like a man coming up for air.

Those weren’t thing you invented. They were things you lived.

And woven through every flash. Every heated tangle, every soft domestic moment. Levi saw something worse. Something better.

Love.

Stupid, blinding, all-consuming love.

In the way Eren looked at him like Levi had hung the damn stars. In the way Levi’s own hands softened automatically when he touched him, like he was handling something precious.

His throat tightened. A lump rose, hot and unwelcome.

Another memory surfaced, gentle, steady.

Eren standing in front of him, shirt rucked up, cheeks flushed, grinning nervously as he showed off fresh ink along his hip. Levi sitting on the bed, faintly stunned.

Three pink lilies bloomed over Eren’s right hipbone, their centers a soft cloudy white.

“Lilium levi,” Eren had said, voice a little hoarse as he looked at Levi. “They’re named after you, you know. Levi lilies. They’re for… love. And rebirth.”

Levi remembered scoffing, because it had been the only thing keeping his chest from splitting open. Rebirth had sounded like sentimental bullshit.

It didn’t anymore.

Eren had etched Levi into his skin. Levi had marked himself with the sun. They had walked willingly into permanence.

Something wet slid down Levi’s cheek. He blinked, irritated, only to realize he was crying. Quietly. Without noticing.

Eren’s devotion had always been overwhelming.

In every touch, every kiss, there had been urgency. Like Eren was afraid Levi would vanish if he wasn’t held tightly enough. Like he was afraid to lose him again.

It tugged at places in Levi he hadn’t known existed.

He remembered mornings now. The way sunlight would spill across Eren’s face, turning his hair almost golden at the edges. The sleepy rasp of his “morning, Levi,” against his ear, sending shivers down Levi’s spine. Coffee-bitter kisses at the kitchen counter. The sight of Eren stirring something on the stove when Levi came home late, turning with a blinding grin that made the whole room brighter.

He remembered warmth. Safety. Home.

His breath hitched sharply and he pressed a palm flat to his sternum. His heart thudded violently beneath it, each beat too loud, too raw.

Oh god.

Oh god.

How had he forgotten all this? How had something this bright been swallowed whole by darkness?

His fingers drifted to his lips, brushing them lightly as though expecting Eren’s kiss still to be there.

Eren wasn’t just some brat from a past hellscape. He was like the sun to Levi, and he would happily orbit around him forever, till they would crash and burn together, if it came down to it. He was the one person Levi had let past every wall without realizing it was happening.

He was Levi’s… everything. His anchor in this life. His home.

And Levi had looked him dead in the eyes and called him a monster.

No wonder Eren’s gaze had died in that hospital room. No wonder the warmth had drained out of his face like someone had flipped a switch.

Levi’s hand brushed against something on the floor, snapping him out of his spiral. A frame, lying face-down, knocked off the dresser at some point without him noticing.

He picked it up. The glass was cracked, a spiderweb line running from corner to corner.

It was a photo of him and Eren. Their wedding photo.

Levi in a suit, Eren beside him, tie slightly crooked, grin wide enough to split his face. Sunlight filtering through leaves behind them. Their hands joined. The ring, that ring, glinting faintly on Levi’s finger.

As he stared, a voice echoed in his skull, clear and warm and devastating.

“I promise to love you, in this life and all the others. I’ll always find my way back to you.”

Eren’s vows.

Spoken with that fierce, unshakable conviction he’d always carried. The same conviction that had once decided he’d destroy the world if that’s what it took.

Levi’s chest tightened painfully. He folded forward, elbows braced on his knees, breath shuddering out.

And then his own voice echoed back. Cold, sharp, poisoned by panic and old wounds.

“There is not a single chance in hell I’d ever love someone like you, Eren. In this life or any other, I will never, ever love you.”

His grip on the frame tightened until shattered glass bit into his palm. Blood welled up, bright and stinging.

Fitting.

Eren had trusted him again. Fully, unquestioningly. He’d walked up to Levi, handed him his heart and said: here. It’s yours. Do what you want with it.

And Levi had crushed it.

His chest ached, a deep, hollow ache that made him want to claw it open and rip the feeling out with his bare hands. He wanted to rewind time and grab himself by the throat. Drag those words back before they could cut Eren so deeply. He wanted to scrub the look off Eren’s face from that hospital scene, wipe it clean, replace it with the smiles from these photos.

Because for all the destruction Eren had caused in their old world, he had also given them this one. A gentler place. A second chance. A life where their brats were alive, dreaming, growing. He’d apparently spent this life working himself to the bone. Finding them, helping them, setting them up, making sure they were okay.

The kids in the hospital hadn’t been lying. Eren had appeared when they needed him. Funded what needed funding. Pulled strings when strings needed pulling. Always in the background, never asking for anything back.

Levi had benefitted from second chances. Underground garbage to Humanity’s Strongest. Dead on a battlefield to alive in a warm house with clean sheets and ten fingers. Who the hell was he to decide Eren didn’t deserve one?

He let out a shaky breathe and set the picture gently on the nightstand, away from the broken glass. Then he wiped his bleeding palm on his shirt.

Enough.

He wasn’t going to sit here and drown in guilt.

He wasn’t some weak-ass coward. He was Levi fucking Ackerman. He solved problems. He cleaned messes. His own most of all.

Eren Jaeger was his husband. His light. The sun inked into his skin. The warmth his body had been searching for even when his mind had forgotten why.

He’d broken something precious. So he was going to fix it.

Even if it meant talking about feelings. Even if it meant apologizing. Even if it meant getting on his knees.

Even if it meant asking help from the one bastard he despised in every lifetime.

Levi flexed his fingers, feeling the sting in his palm, feeling his heart settle into something fierce and solid.

“I’m coming for you, Eren,” he said into the quiet. His voice didn’t waver. “And I’m not leaving without you.”

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