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levmada · 2 years

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Canal pt.4: Passion and Persistence

work summary » You think the greatest feat of your career is upon you when a mythical creature is stolen from the sea and thrust into your life—then, stubbornly, into your heart.

You both learn there is more to each other than circumstances, and appearances, let on—until an accident threatens to tear you apart. Soon, both of your fates depend on defending everything you’ve worked to build, or setting him free.

ch.summary: Erwin's intentions defy all expectations, which encourages you and Levi grow closer than ever. With just a few hiccups, the rest comes naturally.

Only, when said plan unravels before your and Levi's eyes, the foundations of your relationship are put into question. Levi's true feelings show themselves.

content/warnings: mer!Levi is so cute, unexpected allies, loss of virginity (kind of), imposter syndrome, minor descriptions of blood, misunderstandings, NDE, masturbation, praise, dirty talk, rivals, descriptions of a panic attack, learning to trust, (over)protective Levi

wc: 14.0k

a/n: i did my best in researching for this ch... i know it's long... i also realized some parts feel rushed but this story was supposed to be SHORT......have mercy🥺

anyway until next month time!

previous part・work masterpost・last part

You paced around the private bathroom—because of course a restaurant on a boat had private bathrooms—in a carefully concealed panic.

“So, just to be sure, you saw absolutely nothing.”

“Yeah, that’s what it’ll seem like,” Eren replied.

God, you could slam your head against a wall.

This morning, you had called Eren in a panic about the cameras, being so distracted by Levi that they had never crossed your mind. That wasn’t like you, but then again, Levi made you feel and do many things “unlike” you.

“The tapes were erased,” you stated, expecting an affirmative.

“I never saw them.”

“‘I never saw them’ as in you erased them, or you don’t know where they are?”

Eren said your name through a heap of laughter. “They’re gone. Dead. Thrown out into outer space. Is that what you wanna hear?—Look, I had no interest in… you know, so.”

“...What about Mikasa.”

He coughed. “She’s getting ideas; nothing to do with you. Look, I have to go, but good luck and everything.

“You don’t have to give me more weed—”

“Eren you can’t just say that—”

“—but if you do, cool. Talk to ya later.”

You took a good, many moments to calm down, including splashing water on your face and pacing in a few circles for a while. Eren was a good person, but younger than you, different, and thus: frustrating.

But, he was a good person.

Tonight was the night you and Hange were to confront Erwin on your entire scheme, and to be fair, it didn’t look like it would be a longshot: Levi had recovered healthwise completely, and Hange in their reports went on about how great he was behaving and how much progress had been achieved.

(This was not true based on what Levi said, but they improvised at the best of times, and what was one white lie? ...A lot in your opinion, but the point still stood.)

All your nerve silently shriveled up and died however as you stepped out of the bathroom and spotted Erwin and Hange conversing at your table.

Were they… getting ready to leave? Whenever you went to the bathroom, Erwin hadn’t even arrived!

‘Um’ was the first “word” out of your mouth as soon as you approached. Hange was apologizing to the waitress.

“Erwin?”

He said your name in return, answering nothing for you.

“We’ll take my car!” Hange burst, the waitress scurrying her way back to the kitchen. They looked more frantic than even Hange ever was, which set off alarm bells in your head.

“We should carpool,” Erwin replied, and didn’t wait up.

What’s going on? you mouthed to Hange.

They took your arm, mildly jolting you like a shock of electricity from the sudden contact.

They paid no mind as your feet launched into motion. “You were taking ages in there, and I mentioned Levi once, and all the sudden—”

Your eyes widened.

“—Erwin said he already had ‘plans’ in mind that he needs your permission to conduct, and I’m a marine scientist, not a rocket one, and I think he wants to get rid of Levi.”

You shook your head all the way down the short wooden steps on the dock, reeling to catch up. Warm sea air hit you in the face.

All this, and your stomach decided to growl in-between that tiny moment after you had settled in Hange’s car and before they cranked the engine.

“Why do you think he wants to get rid of Levi, again?” you asked, before they could laugh.

Hange turned the wheel, their head craning in search of Erwin’s SUV. “Because, Erwin’s even smarter than you give him credit for, and he wouldn’t be in such a panic by one word about Levi. He must’ve figured out why we were there, and came up with a contingency plan.

“And so, we’re hurrying,” they sighed lightly. “We all know how you are about Levi, too.”

“How I am,” you sounded out. You decided to ignore that.

For Erwin, you would have called this a panic for sure. If he was anything, it was calm and confident, and to rush out of dinner like that with a sudden plan to meet inside the canal on a Saturday evening?

This couldn’t be good.

The drive was arduous and endless. You could have mistaken yourself for the main character on an episode of The Twilight Zone for how unreal the passing scenery and the hum of Hange’s engine seemed to be, droning on and on, forever.

Your mind was busy with scenarios.

‘Getting rid of Levi’ could lead to a few things, but each path led to an iron fist; say, the government for dissection, weapons’ testing, crap—maybe a museum, even though that didn’t match Erwin’s grandiose style.

You tailed Erwin all the way there, and with the rank he had, he requested access to the front gates with ease. The same could be said of the canal by the time you and Hange had, somewhat begrudgingly, caught up to him.

Your heart was beating like a racehorse in your chest to match your hurried pace, because for all your fear, you weren’t one to back down from much of anything.

All you could think of, in that winding trail through the dark canal, was Levi. The dim light made it easy to picture his visage in your head, or to recall the time he escaped, right in your steps. It made you yearn, oddly, for simpler times.

Erwin brushed the flaps of the canal aside without bothering with safety equipment, you noticed. Nothing hands-on would be happening tonight; nothing… drastic.

“This is far enough.” Erwin abruptly turned, and without skipping a beat, “You two..." He sighed. "I deceived you, just as you deceived me.”

You all stood before the canal, where, many halls away, Levi was either asleep (if he did sleep), or awake, you imagined mourning Isabel and Farlan still.

Your face turned hot. “Yes, well—”

“What do you mean?” Hange squeaked.

Erwin’s lips pressed, solemn. “That restaurant was no place to be discreet.” He seemed to wrestle with a choice. “We’re not seeing Levi. Come with me.”

In tune with your better judgment, you did, and filed into the elevator that climbed up to Erwin’s office. He let you all in, but no one sat. He kneeled behind his desk, and began to pull out files—all on Levi, you guessed. Drawers whined.

Erwin then stood, and said your name. “You were correct, as usual. Your… passion made my plans difficult to carry out, and I worried your persistence would as well. For all our sakes, be glad it didn’t.”

You worried your fingers together and waited, as usual, for Erwin to get to the point. Levi would have hated to have a conversation with him.

“Passion and persistence.” Hange blew a raspberry and finally plopped down in one of Erwin’s leather armchairs. “So what? What do you want, Erwin, uh, sir? Get to the juicy part!”

Erwin’s eyes flashed. “I want the same thing you two do. For Levi, the mer, to be elsewhere. Out of captivity.”

Erwin slid the files towards you. They were reports and email exchanges between him and—

Oh.

“Tell Hange what I’m reading, sir,” you requested, brows knit with focus as you pulled Erwin’s notes apart. By all accounts, his actions had strictly opposed freeing Levi.

“Marie,” Erwin answered, as if that explained it all. It was a name he seemed reluctant to say.

It did, to anyone familiar with Erwin’s wife. Between like-minded people like you, Erwin and Hange, she was a household name for her work in endangered animal preservation and recapture, usually from testing facilities or other companies which could have been dubbed… inhumane.

“Your—” Hange stopped themself. “I see.”

As good enough terms as they were on, Erwin and Marie were not together anymore. The refuge she owned and operated was located in a completely different country, bordering a completely different sea from your own.

This changed things.

“While she and I spoke, and I contracted some… necessary jobs, such as shipment, I needed discreteness. As few minds as possible should’ve been around Levi, who knew as little as possible.”

“Ouch,” Hange retorted.

Erwin smiled ruefully. “My apologies. I don’t mean anything by it, Doctor.”

They waved their hand, rolling their eyes. “Give me a heart attack, why don’t ya.”

“And of course,” Erwin looked at you, “your passion made this operation difficult. You must understand—”

“I do understand,” you cut in without looking at him, and you did. “You had no way to know my intentions, and whether they were true or not.

“Well, they should be obvious now. What do we do next, Director?”

Erwin smiled like a schoolboy.

By all accounts, the complete unexpected was happening. You began to conduct a plan.

You ignored fleeting looks from your subordinates as they passed out of Sector 3, having been given their new assignments this morning.

Considering your reputation, you doubted it had been surprising news, but after the “incident” (so it was called) between you and Levi and your near-drowning, exaggerations stretched the story and lies festered.

It wasn’t a popular choice to issue dismissals from Levi’s case, ironically in the opinion of everyone except those who worked with him firsthand, and thus knew how crass he was.

Either way, a non-disclosure agreement prevented them all, by law, from saying anything.

“You’re still working at a time like this?” you asked Erwin, smirking a little. He stood by the wall, seemingly sketching something in long strokes.

He smirked, too.

Seeing how he had never met Levi in person, you figured he would be in a bigger rush. He was as curious as Hange at heart, if not more, but then again, he wouldn’t be seeing him for long.

You wondered if it was jealousy, Erwin being everything an explorer was, but doing none of the things an explorer did. That would have been a sad role, but for his actions you were thankful.

“You know me,” he chuckled lightly. “Always up to something, hm?”

A shriek echoes from down the hall. You looked around, and you hadn’t noticed, but Hange had disappeared. Erwin looked up as well, the frown evident on his face.

It sounded like one of their happy shrieks, so you jogged faster in the direction it came from, your lanyard bouncing around your neck as you went.

“He spoke to me! He spoke to me!” they yelled as soon as you appeared in the doorway, all to the sight of Levi sat up in that awful tank, ears flared and killing Hange with his glare.

Nothing seemed amiss enough to piss Levi off, but you knew how Hange’s… Hange-ness made him feel.

After his glare darted over to you, it eased a little, but didn’t subside. Things being the way they were, it was impossible for Levi to get in the know with anything as soon as it happened, and that was especially true now.

“What did you say…?” you asked Levi as you wandered over to the specially-designed stretcher which had evidently been shoved aside, and fixed it. Its metal rungs and wheels weren’t unlike the ones for people, except it was much bigger, and dipped in a bowl shape.

(Hange’s design. Orcas and similar whales were always transported using crates, and you planned to run Levi just a couple minutes through hallways. You refused to let him drag himself along before he was even given a choice in the whole matter.)

“Told ‘em to quit touching me with their disgusting hands,” Levi snipped under his breath. He eyed the “bowl” with much reluctance.

Hange pouted, and raised their arms. “I’m wearing gloves.”

“Gloves tainted by disgusting hands.”

“Alright.” You snickered despite yourself. They got along, kind of. “Levi, you’re going to meet Erwin today.”

“The one that bosses you around.”

He wasn’t entirely wrong, but you didn’t like the growing look of disdain spreading across his pretty features.

His nose scrunched. “What’ve you got to be nervous of?”

Hange ushered Erwin inside. “His sense of smell! I forgot. Quick, Levi, what does Director Erwin smell like?”

Levi’s head turned sharply towards the burly man in the doorway, who stood as straight and knowing as a flying arrow.

Levi frowned. “...Can’t tell.”

Your eyes practically bulged out of your head. “You can’t tell?”

So much for Mike calling you out for being Erwin’s “copycat” whenever you were in the same room together. Were you that obvious, or Erwin that surreptitious?

Erwin introduced himself with a cordial nod and held his hand out for Levi to shake. Curiosity shone in his blue eyes. “It’s nice to finally meet you.”

Levi’s eyes reeked with suspicion toward the hand. He grasped it, but slid away before Erwin could grip it.

You got a sense of deja vu, thinking back on the time Levi snatched your wrist and made a decision about your character based on the touch of your hand alone.

“You have soft hands for someone in such high rank,” Levi said.

As usual, it was an odd time for Erwin to smile. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”

Levi narrowed his eyes. “It’s your funeral.”

“Jeez,” Hange laughed. “Alright, enough animosity, let’s get going. Levi, play nice, and you—” Hange pointed in your direction, “—if he doesn’t, make him, please.”

Levi and you matched the same gawking expressions (if his being a little more reserved).

“You aren’t serious—”

“I’m not gonna make him do anything.”

“Enough,” Erwin stated calmly, louder over your both. “Let’s go. Levi, you’re going to stay somewhere else from now on.”

Then Erwin glanced at you. “I assume he’ll go willingly?”

Your brows knit. You didn't like this new-found animosity Levi had sparked between them, one you weren't sure why even existed.

“Of course, sir.”

Levi didn’t seem to trust any of this, but with a reassuring smile from you, he obediently, almost eagerly, shuffled from the tank and neatly slid into the round stretcher. A shallow layer of water would keep him from drying out, and any accidental splashing.

“It’s going to be bigger,” you told him, before Levi had to ask. “Lots of water, and more heat so it’s like being outside.”

Hange joined in. “It’s going to be great.”

Levi didn’t look pleased exactly; he was still eyeing Erwin with some suspicion. Had he somehow sensed Erwin’s deceit from before? The satchel around your middle, the objects inside, weighed heavily.

Still, he didn’t complain beyond Hange’s sloppy pushing as the stretcher rolled into the bright hallway, joined by you. Erwin went first.

“You don’t have to…” Levi stalled. “Tell me more about this place.”

He wasn’t talking to Hange, but they spoke anyway. “I’d love to! Our good doctor once had quite the fascination with albinos! Manatees, seals, sharks, you name it!”

You blanched.

Levi looked at you blandly. “Sharks, huh?”

“A side-project,” you argued, more to Hange than Levi. A sweat had broken out on your brow for all your hard work. “And those animals don’t have long lifespans; they can’t blend in with the rest of their species, so they’re often isolated, and much more vulnerable to predators. Even sharks.”

Before you could observe the growing sullen look on Levi’s face for what it was, Erwin cut in, “Preserving their lives is important for the sake of knowledge, but at the cost of their well-being. If we can learn…”

You were dragged into your head again by Levi, who wasn’t paying attention to Erwin’s noble speech, but neither was he looking at you. Arms crossed, his fingers smoothed over the bend of his tail, thinking something over.

“Tell me what all this is about already,” Levi demanded. “I don’t have much choice in it, right?”

“Not exactly true,” you disagreed.

Levi’s head tilted as Hange gave him a cheshire grin. “Just wait.”

—

This exhibit of yours was not unlike penguin and seal exhibits at some aquariums, but yours was a mirror image of a sandbar belonging to any unnoteworthy cove. Warm, salty water was contained by glass panes taking up the majority of the area in an L shape.

It was nowhere near the size of the wavepool, but it spared plenty of space for sea mammals around Levi’s size; an olympic swimming pool, you would estimate. In order to reach it, you would ascend the platform via a short set of stairs.

The walls were standard for the complex, but areas of water stretched deeply and sloped up to “sandbars” with artificial sand. Ponds dipped into the area here and there, but Levi had the most room to swim here.

He immediately crawled to the end of the “bowl”, sloshing water as the glass doors separated, and you entered. His throat made a shrill chirping noise, causing the one out of two flabby albino seals to bark at him.

In lieu of having any real place to transfer them that would support their needed habitat exactly, and there being a total of four here—two seals, and two manatees—you made a decision.

“Does the company bother you?” Erwin asked Levi, brushing by the two of you and shuttering a switch that would power up the heating lights overhead.

“No,” Levi said. Though it was only a bland quip with his back turned away from you, you noticed his tail waving slightly and bit on a smile.

Hange pushed off of the cart and stretched their arms behind their head. “Hot damn, you’re really heavy, Grumpy, you know that?”

Surprisingly, Levi didn’t entertain the jab. He only scoffed in the water's direction before pushing himself up and cocking his head over his shoulder at you, waiting for your word.

After rounding the “bowl”, you gestured to the glass wall before him, as thick as a cinderblock. The top was level with the top of his head. “Hop up here for me.”

Levi ducked away from your eyes and shifted around, lifting his backside up on the glass. Even though he would be scandalized to accept any help, you kept your hands outstretched a tad just in case.

One hand fell into the water and waved around. His nose scrunched before he chirped, you thought in approval.

Your brow quirked. “Is it to your standards?”

“Repeat.”

“Is it good?”

Levi hummed.

His wet tail flopped as he maneuvered over the edge. The water tore apart as Levi dunked in, shaking his hair out and then, naturally, abandoning you all to explore his new (temporary) surroundings.

Glancing back towards Hange, they were practically swooning. Once they caught your eye, their hand slammed down on their chest, dramatically professing, “O, be still my beating heart! How could I ever compete?”

And then, again serious, they turned to Erwin. “Kicking them off Levi’s study was the only wrong decision you’ve ever made, hope you know. Sir.”

Erwin frowned. “As I said, it was for a good cause.”

“Have you ever heard a joke before?”

Erwin deadpanned.

You snorted at them both and walked around to the steps that led to the platform, followed by a small gate.

Hange followed, while Erwin idled around the glass edge. He was so tall that he could comfortably rest his arms and watch from afar. He reminded you of a movie director.

The floor was made of poorly-concealed planks that functioned more like metal. It groaned under your feet as you propped an observation chair near the edge. Hange was retrieving a bucket of fish for the manatees.

At your arrival, one with patches of grey over blinding white blubber idled along the surface.

It randomly occurred to you that it would be fun to tell Levi that story about early accounts of mermaids by English settlers: they had mistaken manatees for mers. His reaction would be cute.

Levi glided seamlessly through the water, as if he was made of water itself, before surfacing. You were almost disappointed to see it happen.

Levi blinked. “So.”

“Not all is as it seems,” Erwin begins, startling the rest of you. “Levi, there are alternative plans for you that I have kept hidden up to this point. The question is what you’ll choose.”

You cut in, “Director—”

“What’s he speaking of?” Levi snipped. “Can’t you say it to make sense?”

The manatee rolled over in the water as a fish snack pelted the water, disrupting the whole argument.

Erwin didn’t look discouraged, but conflicted, surely.

“I’ll explain,” you said evenly.

Levi seemed to fully understand the ramifications of what the government keeping him would mean; his jaw tightened with a frown, and then, as you launched into an explanation of Erwin’s idea, it deepened.

“Preserve.”

“Like a shelter,” Hange chirped from beside you, cross-legged on the sandy floor.

From one of the many lapels on their coat, they swiped a baggy of dried seaweed, and handed it to you. You nodded your thanks.

“Yes. My wife, Marie, she takes care of it,” Erwin joined in. He rubbed his chin in thought. “You would be treated well there, Levi.”

He would have, you had no doubt. The caveat wasn’t even that he wouldn’t see the deep blue ocean again—a portion of the coast was fenced and reserved by Marie—and it was guaranteed that he would have no worries for the rest of his days.

And, he wouldn’t be alone.

Levi eyed the seaweed, but was motionless otherwise. “Where is this?”

Your lips pressed. “On the other side of the sea.”

Now he quieted. As it persisted, other than the whir of the water and Hange’s slippery rummaging with the fish, you plucked a piece of seaweed from the baggy and held it out in front of you.

You were hard-pressed to make your opinion known to Levi, let alone the entire room. If you had had things your way, nothing would change except for this conflict to resolve, to be erased, somehow.

The caveat was you would never see Levi again. For very good reason, Marie's preserve didn't allow visitors; those rules especially wouldn't change due to what Levi was.

Levi waited on you, though, without reaching out for the treat. You leaned down, but he pushed away, and on the other side of the stream, pushed his backside up and onto it.

He brushed his wet bangs off his forehead. “A cage for a cage, is that it? And through life-ruining efforts.”

Erwin looked indignant. “I would not risk such a thing if I had no confidence we would succeed.”

Levi’s knuckles curled over the pool’s edge as Hange remarked upon the reason you vanished for some time; because of Erwin. Levi’s sharp eyes shot to the man in question.

“Levi—”

“You shitty bastard,” Levi seethed.

“Levi,” you tried again, “it’s okay now; it was all for a good reason. We’re all here now, aren’t we?”

Even Hange seemed put-off by Levi’s behavior. You too remembered how much you had agonized when you thought you would be separated from Levi for good, but you understood what good it did in the end; Erwin couldn’t have been caught.

But Levi either didn’t understand, or didn’t care.

Levi glared at Erwin and said your name pointedly, like a blow. “You won’t deceive them again. While you got the rest of us racing in circles, you’re going through the trouble just for a prison. And trouble for you. You seem more obsessed with your work than them.” Levi nodded towards the frown on your face.

“No. Forget that plan,” Levi went on, glancing at you demurely. “I would rather something else was done.”

“...I see.”

You swallowed. “What do you think, then, exactly?”

“Who knows,” Levi replied, a little too quickly. He finicked with his fingers just slightly, a tell that he was nervous. “Maybe I could think with some fucking privacy.”

Hange hummed, slow and thoughtful, then launched to their feet just as one of the albino seals dove into the water. “Request granted.” They beckoned you and Erwin towards the doors.

Erwin had officially checked out of the larger conversation some time ago, but he nodded now as if he had always been listening. “I understand, but don’t waste time; there isn’t much of it to spare.”

“Got it.”

Officially sullen, you rose to your feet, only for Levi to hiss softly and gesture with his head. Down.

“I’ll stay a little longer,” you told Hange, voice as light as air. You were pleased Levi trusted you so, but you were hard-pressed to admit what you wanted before he could give you an idea of his own.

Smiling, Hange clapped you on the back. The baggy was also shoved to your chest. “Get ‘em, tiger.”

Levi made a face.

Hange hopped down and thrust the cart in the direction of the double doors, and once the doors beeped brightly, you were well and truly left alone.

Levi clicked his tongue. “Come here.”

You plopped down cross-legged on the edge. “I’m wearing dry clothes. You come here, hm?”

His brow puckered at the request, followed by the swooshing of the water as he dropped into it, and appeared again on your side. Water in streams washed down his scaly cheeks.

You found it in yourself to smile, and slid the seaweed over, but your real focus was on taking his jaw, feathering your thumb across his cheek.

A hand plopped down on yours, neglecting the snack and making your heart jump. He leaned into the touch.

His eyes searched yours avidly. “What do you want?”

Sighing softly, you leaned down and pressed your lips to his.

He pushed up in a quick response, as if he was waiting for permission. As a hand slid over your nape, the other that was just holding yours squeezed your knee.

He massaged his lips with yours, making your breath to shake. Your head tilted, deepening the warm exchange.

You, you wanted to say. I want you.

As his tongue slid over your warm lips, you all but keeled over to indulge. Heat licked your bottom half at the same time he licked into your mouth, and the inside of your cheek. Your tongues mingled.

Both his hands were on your legs, you fleetingly noticed. But you bypassed his tail entirely and pawed for his bicep. You bit back a shiver.

“Levi, I,” you murmur into his lips. “I want—” you. “I wanna talk about this.”

He turned a bit timid again, his hands sliding away.

“I don’t want a whole other shitty cage,” he rasped, and plucked up the seaweed, but with it a shiny silver coin that hadn’t been laying there before.

This, he nudged in your direction, absentmindedly scratching the surface of it.

Your brows raised. “For me?”

“Who else around here?” he retorted, sour. “The seal?”

Neither albino seal was anywhere near him; they slept on rocks. Cheeks warm, you picked it up: a dime, and in pristine condition.

You frowned as you got to wondering how it could’ve possibly got here.

He finished dousing the seaweed in water, but stopped with it raised to his chin. He looked… frustrated.

“It’s not the gift—it’s sweet, thank you.” You wetted your lips. “I just don’t know how it got here. I always keep everything clean.”

He blinked. “Of course. I took it.”

“From me?”

“From Glasses. Don’t get pissed,” he said quickly. “There’s nothing else to give, anywhere.”

You shook your head, dazed. He wanted to give you a gift that badly?

You didn’t condone him stealing, but would you give this back to Hange? No. Would you shove it in your coin purse?—Of course not. It was from Levi.

As a sign of good faith, you kissed your forefinger and pressed it to the coin’s surface. Levi looked pleased with himself, maybe even smiling a tiny bit.

“...I don’t want another cage for you, either,” you admitted. “It would be… better, but everything has pros and cons, right?”

He swallowed a piece of the green seaweed. “Some outweigh others.”

“It’s the ocean, isn’t it?” You asked this before he could scarcely finish speaking. “Wouldn’t you be more… at risk by yourself?—Like you said.”

He scoffed.

You gathered your nerve. “I don’t want you to be backed into a corner with this. Neither option is perfect, everyone is at risk—”

“One option is much more better than the other."

You stopped.

"I would rather not be across the world, away from someone as clingy as you. You might fall apart.”

You scoff, aghast. “Might I?”

“...You might. As I said, you’re soft.”

You laughed. It was easy, then, to reject Erwin’s plan, because the truth was, he wasn’t wrong about you… and it was clear he would be unhappy, too.

Levi’s gift reminded you. You tugged your satchel around your middle and dug inside of it. “I have a way for us to communicate more often—if that’s something you’re interested in.”

He was thoroughly done with the seaweed now, and dunked his head underwater by pushing the edge, swished a little, then pushed himself up and onto the edge, gills flexing.

Even though your clothes would get speckled with water, you found yourself scooting nearer without realizing.

Then you plucked the device out. The walkie-talkie (A two-way radio, you went on to explain, whose name Levi didn’t snort at this time) was deeply black with a speaker and a red button that would allow its user to speak into it for the other person to hear, and reply back.

Levi cocked his head and reached.

You yanked your hand away, chuckling nervously. “This can’t get wet. I’m leaving you some towels for this reason.”

His lips parted in understanding, but in lieu of having any towels around right this instant, you rubbed his wet palm on your leg before setting it in his hand. Levi’s cheeks were pink the next time you looked.

“You got wet anyway,” he told you frankly. Things were suddenly unbearably awkward.

You shook your head. “...You’re welcome anyway.”

Levi examined his gift more closely. “Thanks. But what use is this junk to me?” he questioned. “You need another, right?”

You replied, “Yeah, and I do,” before pulling yours out. Tugging the antenna on the top caused static to crackle through the speaker, which also caused Levi’s eye to twitch.

After showing him how to do what you just did (in lieu of any thorough explanation about radio waves; not your expertise), you said into it, smiling, “Hi, Grumpy. Over.”

A reaction he couldn’t help: Levi’s eyes blew wide with wonder, having heard your voice two ways. He held it up to his lips, forefinger on the button. “Why are you over?”

You snorted. You couldn’t help it. “Why am I what?—Over.”

He glared at you over the radio. “Why are you over?”

“That’s what you say after finishing a transmission. A message. Roger?”

His brow puckered. “Repeat.”

“Roger. Over.”

His angular ears twitched as he set his down rather calmly, before tearing yours out of your hand and surging forward for a kiss deep enough to drown in. You imagined those romantic Hallmark movies where the man swept the woman off her feet, and tilted her backwards into the kiss.

You gasped into his mouth, soft like velvet.

It was just heating up when he pulled back. “No more talking your shit,” he snipped, lips searing against your jaw. He licked a long line.

“I—” Your arms tightened around him despite what you were about to say. “I-I have to go.”

The shift of mood was palpable. He pulled away, but tilted his head. “What’s wrong?”

You considered telling him the truth, but your tongue felt like a chunk of cement in your mouth all the sudden.

Dinner with Hange was the excuse you used. It was Friday, and Levi knew about that little ritual, but it was nowhere near that time.

You felt horrible for lying.

Thirty minutes later, you were clambering into your car when, from your satchel, came a gruff stacky sound, followed by muffled speech.

You yanked the radio from its depths and spoke Levi’s name into it. “Yes? What’s wrong?—Over.”

You were greeted by abrupt silence for the next couple of moments.

“Wanted to make sure this thing wasn’t bullshit.”

You bit down a smile as you turned your jangly keys into the ignition. “Is that all? Over.”

“I’m not gonna talk to you when saying that dumb word. It makes no sense.”

As the air conditioner gusted against your face, you kept silent on purpose. The point of it was to know when the other person was finished talking; of course it was repetitive.

When Levi said your name next, he sounded antsy.

“Yes?” you replied. “Over.”

“...What're you doing?”

“Just teasing you,” you replied, leaning against the center console.

If Levi wanted your attention, he was going to get it. Maybe talking to each other like this was some novelty that would wear itself out, but right now, it sure didn’t feel like it.

Some static crackled the radio when he sighed. “No. I mean what’re you doing?”

Your brows shot up. Just when your lips parted to reply—

“Ridiculous. Nevermind.”

“No, wait!” you exclaimed, but the static abruptly cut off, severing the connection. If he closed the antenna, he wouldn’t be able to hear you.

You let the radio drop to your lap, frowning.

He… wanted to know what I was doing?

It had only been thirty minutes since you left, so you struggled to come up with any reason why he wanted to know. Maybe he was bored.

Your purse slumped onto your coffee table the next time you fished the radio out. The only thing on TV you were vaguely interested in right now was the news, and you were on it for your actions, plus a “secret project”. As such, your phone was off.

As you pulled up the antenna and found the frequency, you absentmindedly started up your coffee maker. All it took was muscle memory.

Surprisingly, you were met with static. He must not have left the antenna shut long.

“Hi,” you spoke, a little lamely. “Um, I’m making coffee—you wanted to know what I was doing, right? I just got home.”

You didn’t really expect him to reply. With the radio set aside on the counter, you poured in some rich beans and let the machine do the rest; no boiling water required.

(God bless modern technology.)

Then, the walkie briefly spilled static. Levi’s voice was surprisingly low, even reverent. Maybe sad. “What’s home look like?”

The steamy smell of roasted coffee drifted away as you plucked the radio up. A warm, but heavy feeling spread over your chest.

“Let me tell you about it.”

You and Levi spoke on the “phone” throughout the week just as much as you did on the weekend when you didn’t come in to work.

Most times, you were the one talking, explaining to him things he wanted to know. Usually this turned into long, intricate conversations about the mechanisms of things like a washing machine, but also world history. Politics, even.

“Why can’t any of you people be decent to each other?” he had retorted, evidently while munching on something. “Do what you like without all the rape, deceiving, and killing.”

As far as those conversations went, he came to accept that you didn’t have a helpful answer. No one really did, as far as you were concerned.

You also discovered that no matter how well Levi liked someone, he was very hesitant to talk about himself as it had to do with… anything. Unfortunately, you weren’t too different from him, and you two could only deflect off each other for so long.

“Stupid soft talking” was reserved for late nights, you under your blankets and eyes closed, him slumped in the shallow shore of some artificial rocks. As you expected, he was careful about not drowning his walkie-talkie.

It was convenient, because as final as that discussion with Erwin and Hange was, you had ceased to speak about it while smaller details were ironed out, like ordering the proper equipment and getting a groundwork of the pipe network underneath the facility.

As the canal could be sealed and flooded, escaping through the piping system was the most practical method to escape. You tried to be willing, but it was a work in progress. You didn’t discuss it with Levi much.

The scary, movie-like… illegal activity had entered a sort of lull. You dared to call it normal.

Tonight, even with your AC cranked up and two fans whirring on in your bedroom, the air remained muggy and thick while a thunderstorm came down outside. It did no favors for your damp hair, but being dressed down to an old tee and just shorts helped.

“Did you have a bucket of coffee before bed?” Levi was asking down the other line, making you snort. “I hear you squirming.”

“I’m surprised you can hear anything over my fans.”

“Answer.”

“It’s dumb.”

He snuffled. “Answer now.”

It really was dumb, though. After slaving away in the tub to shave your legs, the skin was left smooth and soft, so rubbing them together was… satisfying.

Levi was just plain fascinated. “Like rubbing your arms together? Or what?” Water swished in the background. “Does it feel that good?”

“I mean—” you laughed softly, “—I don’t think you’re missing out on much, besides… walking.” You sucked in a gasp. “Did you know that the most painful bone to break in the human body is the femur?”

“...If you’re trying to convince me to envy you, it isn’t working.”

Just from his voice, you knew he was smirking.

You curled up in your thin sheet. “Yes, it feels good.”

But then the silence makes you rephrase your answer. “Not in that way; satisfying.”

“In what way?”

You turned hot. At least he couldn’t see (or smell) you getting flustered. “Um.”

“Look, I’m not an idiot,” he scoffed. “It’s less fun to tease you because you’re so oblivious…”

His voice grew a little low “But I don’t see how you could avoid it, rubbing between your thighs. That must feel better, doesn’t it?”

You found yourself squirming despite your heart, which had jumped to your throat. Of course, it felt good.

“Oh?” You were surprised by how breathy your voice sounded. “That makes you so deprived.”

He huffed softly. “Does not.”

You bit down on your lip so hard it pinched before responding, “...Prove it.”

To some extent, admittedly, you did know. It was impossible not to, given the purely scientific x-rays and scans on Levi’s part, but that was it. He was so different, too, in that way especially.

But naturally, the reasons for your curiosity this time were completely selfish.

“I—” Levi faltered. “Fine.”

“You’re the one who brought it up.”

“And why do you think I did, sweetheart?” he retorted, but with no attitude whatsoever. His voice teetered on the edge of a whisper, growing raspier.

“S-Sweetheart?”

“You’re sweet.”

Could you argue with that? You swallowed, your heart beginning to pound—not only in your ears, but between your thighs as well. “...No reason?”

“Do I ever do anything for no reason?”

No. Heat in your lower half bloomed and twisted, and you yearned, then, to see him. The next best thing was to listen, but all you had were his soft breaths.

“Tell me how you do it, sweetheart,” you encouraged.

A heavy huff. “I’m not—Th-That’s embarrassing.”

“Tell me.” You copied him from earlier. “Now.”

“You should be able to experience for yourself,” he retorted, immediately followed by, “There’s a slit, in the middle. To coax it out, you have to touch me.”

“Touch you?” Your eyes shut. “Where?”

“My chest, my hips,” he whispered back. “Like you’d get wet, I’d get hard.”

You swallowed a whimper as your palm crept down to your breast, trying desperately to imagine his soft pecs, and his pink nipples which you always saw, growing red and raw from pinching, rubbing, licking. A sweat broke out on your forehead.

His cock sliding out from his slit, swollen. It slapping against his pelvis and making a mess, oozing his cum. It throbbing on your tongue.

You matched his heavier breathing. “Levi, I’ve never done this before. That’s why I left earlier, I, I’ve never done this.”

You squeezed your eyes shut, holding onto a string of hope that you hadn’t ruined the mood.

“I understand those nerves,” he said softly. Levi, soft. “Do you want to stop this talking?”

You blanked, and searched your feelings. Fuck, were you nervous, but fuck, were you wet. “...No.”

“Good, then,” he murmured. “Will you tell me something?”

You rolled onto your back, properly massaging your soft breast through your thin tee. “Uh-huh?”

“How easy is it to make you wet? Dip your finger in your slit. Tell me.”

You pinched your nipple, and bit back a whimper. That hand drifted down, nudging the crotch of your shorts aside, lips parting to find your pussy soaked. There was barely any friction.

“I’m… I’m so wet,” you answered in a small voice. “I can’t even… How hard are you?”

Finally, you get a hushed groan through the speaker, nudging your cheek. “Me too. Wet.”

Pushing your finger through your folds was only a drop of what you needed anymore. Your jaw dropped, until what he had said registered.

“You are?”

“I told you; it comes from my slit. Everything is wet. And it’s fucking—” A harsh sigh. “—I-It’s sensitive. Tight.”

A moan tumbled off your lips. “Let me touch my clit. Please.”

“Let you?” A low, husky laugh combines with the static. “Are you that eager to please me?”

“Yes,” slipped off your tongue before you could stop it. You can flick your thumb across your nipples, and squeeze your legs, but the ache only worsened.

Levi gasped. He said, “I’m fucking my hand. Use your fingers and tell me how tight it is. Tell me what it tastes like. T-Tell me…”

Knowing how badly he wanted it, just as you did… You kicked your shorts down and all but flung them across the room. Seeing how forward he was being, maybe it was your turn.

Your hips all but jerked as your palm slid over your clit. “Fuck.”

Levi moaned, low and gravelly. “Filthy word, for you. What could you possibly be doing?”

“I know,” you sighed. Your grip on the radio went strangled as finally, your pussy sucked in two of your fingers, and involuntarily tightened around them.

“It’s tight, so wet, it’s easy to…to—”

“To fuck yourself,” he finished. “Is it full enough? Do you need more?”

By the question alone, your pussy quivers. You fuck them slow, but deep, allowing your clit to rub up against your palm on every downstroke.

“Need more. Even if I went faster—” you curled them, and moaned, “—not full enough. I’ve never… Never felt full enough. Tell me what you're doing?”

You knew Levi was picking up the pace by his hastening panting. A whine slipped through as you finished talking, dissolving into a thick groan.

“I’m fingering myself.”

“Fuck, Levi.”

“Never, at all? Never been fucked full of cock before?”

“No,” you squeaked. “Levi… I’m.”

“Never felt a tongue on your clit? Never… felt your legs being kissed? No one’s ever gotten to taste you?”

Your fingers slammed in now, and curled. “No.”

Frantically, you bullied in a third, and shivered out a moan. “I want it to be you.”

“Yeah?”

“I want you.” You were too aware of your closed eyes now, of the distance. “Wanna kiss you, wanna fuck you, w-wanna make you come.”

“You’re already making me come,” he groaned. “Fuck… I want…A-Ah.”

“Tell me,” you whimpered, fingers curling. Your climax was right there. On the very edge.

“...Everything. E-Everything.” Then he whined, your name stammering out. “I’m gonna, fuck, I’m gonna.”

The tiniest moment of silence dissolved into a heavy moan on his end, sounding like it came from low in his throat, and rose higher.

God, you wanted to see. You wanted to catalogue all his sounds to memory, photograph them, or stuff them in a bottle so they were preserved the exact way you heard him now—that normally harsh, sour tone gone soft and strained as he came undone for you. His panting echoed in your ears.

You intentionally slowed to hear all of him. Imagining his terse features drawn loose and full of bliss, the blush stretching down his neck like the first time you kissed. Hands balling into fists, his head thrown back.

Slowing down didn’t matter. A faint cry shattered the air, your back bending into an arch. You shivered, fucked yourself hard. His name fell off your lips without a second thought, only this time he was capable of hearing it.

“Yeah, fuck your cunt for me. Come all over your fingers,” you heard through the buzz. “That’s a good girl. Keep saying my name.”

And you did. You did—until it was the only word you could come up with, and you shuddered from the sweet shocks when the sweet shocks made you slow.

In the glowing aftermath, your breathing slowed. You worked your fingers out with a small whine, and laid your hand on your stomach. Vividly, you sensed your hands shaking.

What could you say after that? Not even a moment had passed, and your belly was already light with embarrassment.

Levi’s voice was a heavy rasp. “Gonna see you tomorrow. You’re going to come here.”

Tomorrow was Sunday. You didn’t come in on Sundays, it was completely unheard of for you. Even when you were neck-deep in work, you allowed yourself at least one day of rest—

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” you replied.

Early that next morning, you felt the sweat clinging to your skin before you were even conscious to be totally aware of your phone ringing; you pressed the call button before registering Hange’s name, even.

Their voice burst in your ear, “We have a problem.”

Your body, heavy from sleep, vehemently disagreed with shooting up in bed, but you did it anyway, stumbling to your closet. (Good thing you dragged yourself out of bed last night to shower.) Hange never sounded so urgent.

“What is it?—Y-You’re up before me?”

“I got a call from Erwin, who works too much to sleep. Now listen. I’m sure you heard that storm last night.”

The events of last night slammed into you with vicious clarity, so much you dropped your belt, stammering, “Y-Yes.”

“Well, it’s gonna get worse before it gets better.

“I mean, they’re not calling for an evacuation, don’t worry about that!” they exclaimed. “But it’s supposed to be this way all week, so the team the state sent out is grounded ‘till Friday.”

As Hange said this, you whipped open your curtain, scowling. The sky was blanketed by a dirty bluish-black, full of foreboding. Rain smeared the glass, making the world beyond a giant smudge.

“They can’t use an airport?” you snapped. “Aren’t they…”

“Grounded.”

You shut your eyes, trying to remember. Erwin scheduled this evaluation for Wednesday. It would be unusual for such an early evaluation, if only this wasn’t Levi.

“So it’s happening today,” you surmised, barely breathing.

“I’m afraid so.” An engine turning over rumbled in the background; Hange’s Jeep didn’t have doors. “So we need to go. Stat. Erwin never leaves work, so at least he’s ahead!”

You shot downstairs and whipped your phone off your ear to check the time. It was so stormy, you couldn’t tell if it was morning or not.

It was late, later than you tended to wake up, but still early. This would be close, but…

You told Hange, “I’ll meet you there,” and hung up.

The last thing you did was shuck on your raincoat and snatch your keys. No time for your earrings (Dad’s gift. Lucky. You told yourself that that was a myth for now) or any coffee.

But, Levi’s coin weighed heavily in your pocket.

All the way past the main desk—nodding to Petra (who had ended up there after being relocated from Levi’s project), scanning your keycard, keeping a suspicious eye out for anyone in suits—you walked calmly, your head held high.

It was only when the heavy metal block, the door to the canal, wandered open before you could get to it did you hurry. That must have been Eren.

Incredible, you thought. The power of persuasion.

To your surprise, inside the canal, Levi was already leaned up on one hand in the lowered stretcher near the Director, who was crouched and finicking with the wall-mounted spout. Given it was dismounted, water from the underwater tunnel system would pour in.

Levi perked up at once and tilted his head at you, as if measuring you up.

Cheeks warm, you nodded to him. “Good morning. Are you ready?”

A subtle pink even rose to his cheeks. Reaching, he pet your hair down before diving into fixing what a haphazard brush through it missed.

“...What a stupid question,” Levi said.

“A meaningless one, yes,” Erwin agreed, though it didn’t seem like he was paying attention.

Moving past Levi, you crouched and yanked the navy tarp covering your equipment away. Looked good.

“No matter what happens next, there’s no turning back now,” Erwin went on. “Very good, Levi.”

“I wasn’t talking to you. And I’m no seal. Don’t praise me,” he refuted, tail flapping.

You could hear the smile in Erwin’s voice. “Certainly not.”

The full-body spandex suit was as blue as the tarp, and the hardest to peel on over your clothes. Easier was the slim pair of gloves. Then you shucked your shoes off in exchange for the flippers (Levi watched avidly as you did this, contrary to his ordinary brand of watching), followed by your diving helmet. Tubes connected it to the fat tanks you strapped onto your back.

You assembled your rebreather. It was a much more sophisticated device, incredibly expensive, too, because it recycled all the air you breathed out in exchange for a much larger supply of oxygen.

It was almost magic, if not for the dangers of being underwater, be it too deep, or for too long without surfacing. The descent wasn’t anything to worry about, though, and with your route, you didn’t plan to be underwater long enough for it to fail.

That was the plan, at least.

Parts clicked. While your focus remained steadfast on this, you briefly thought of Hange. They were your distraction; it was up to them to hold Theo Magath and his men up for as long as possible, giving you and Levi precious time to escape. Erwin would eventually join Hange.

Finally, your tool belt. Along with a knife, a round flashlight, and your oxygen gauge, a slim navigation computer joined your supplies. It shut like an accordion (These things always astounded you. You wondered what face Levi would make when you opened it), and when closed looked like an ordinary pole.

You clipped that flashlight to your chest, and turned your radio to Hange’s frequency. Whenever, for whatever reason they or Erwin needed you, you would be there.

With a sigh, Erwin rose to his feet, hands on his hips. “It’s ready to flood,” he said, almost reverent, but mostly awkward. “Good luck, Doctor. You as well, Levi.”

Why did this feel so… final?

“Luck is a scam,” he muttered, but took the pat on his shoulder. “...But thanks.”

You smiled.

You and Erwin worked around your equipment—especially the helmet tucked under one arm—to share a half-hug.

(Levi made a face.)

You were thankful that Erwin reminded you to radio Hange once you made it to Anchorage Cove, your destination. If you didn’t know any better, you would think this was your eulogy.

Levi would be on his own after that. Despite knowing you would see him again, a sense of loss punctured you. Nothing would be the same; he had the world to himself again. Really, how could you compare?

“Understand?”

You nodded. “Will do.”

Erwin left you. As soon as the heavy door grinded shut, you slipped into a crouch and shielded your face before popping off the spout. A gush of cold water roared into the canal, then poured and poured.

“You know what this means,” Levi spoke over the bombardment. He leered over you.

You pinned your tongue between your teeth, trying desperately not to smirk. If this was the time to talk like that, you could breathe underwater.

“It means we’ll have a proper goodbye, until next time?” you guessed.

He leaned over and flicked your forehead. Then his fingers feathered down and tilted your jaw up towards him. He looked remarkably fond.

“A proper ‘see you later’,” he corrected you.

“You’re right,” you breathed. You kissed him lightly, only for salt to spread over your tongue as you were dragged even closer.

When Levi grunted, you pulled away so you weren’t reminded of similar noises you heard him make the night before.

“Cute,” you scoffed.

“I know.”

Shadows off of it casted shimmery lines across the walls, and the air became more briny than ever. It reassured you an enormous amount (to your embarrassment) to sense Levi plop down nearby.

Metal off the nearby grate, already unscrewed, whined as it was popped off its hinges. You didn’t doubt that Levi insisted on helping Erwin with that, before.

Biting down a smile, you performed a final check of your equipment, and stopped at the glassy gauge that monitored your current oxygen levels.

“Levi,” you said tonelessly.

He was already smushed against your side, glaring. “It’s not full.”

“Yeah.” You blinked, struggling to believe. “I know.”

Things moved so fast before; the tanks must not have had enough time to be filled. Some random person on the nightstaff was to blame—you couldn’t do anything about that—and it was too late to turn back, so what could you do?

Levi seemed to understand the gravity of what was happening much faster than you. He took your wrist and shook it gently. “What now? Huh? I can’t just breathe into your mouth.”

“No, you can,” you murmured, still taken with the gauge. Between the thick green line labeled ‘FULL’ and the glaring red ‘REFILL’, the ticker idled perfectly in half. How much wiggle room did you have?

Vaguely, you registered flat water rising up and swallowing your calves.

Levi slapped your flipper. “Do you plan to tell me while you can still talk?”

“I’ll be able to talk,” you replied, again, toneless. Your mind raced.

An eerie calm settled in your blood as you went about explaining CPR to Levi. It was like anxiety’s swift fire, but tamed by an invisible force, and you didn’t know what. You could only take advantage of it while it cooperated with you.

You didn't have time to teach Levi “Stayin’ Alive”—the perfect, and easiest, rhythm to learn that CPR is performed in—but you could explain enough until the water overtook your chest.

Thirty seconds between firm, not rib-breaking, chest compressions, then exhaling into your mouth. When you rushed to explain the part about 90 beats per minute, Levi’s head cocked and upturned. It floored you how well he understood math.

“But that’s just in case. If I ration my air, we should be fine.” You shot your arm out for a pipe embedded in the stony wall in order to stay rooted to the floor. The water rushing in had other plans. “But we can’t stop. Not for anything.”

Levi wasn’t affected by the urgency lacing your words. He only nodded and rose up on his palms, following the water with his tail’s natural buoyancy.

Your rebreather hummed to life as you popped your helmet over your head (staying mindful of your hair), the air hissing as it sealed. A thick, fixed tube supplied your air from the two tanks strapped to your back.

You glanced down at your oxygen gauge obsessively as water engulfed you completely. Your suit’s tech blocked out the chilly temperatures.

Levi either didn’t notice the cold water, or made it seem that way. He glanced at you fleetingly before pushing off the sides of the gaping grate first, of course; his tail accounted for how much bigger and faster he was. All by himself, he possessed the strength to tear that grate off its tight hinges, if it came down to that before.

With much less grace, you followed. The quick, controlled flaps of his tail was your only sight, even with the small flashlight attached to your chest… unless you counted the rusting walls above, below, and on either side of you, that was. It was disgusting, and by Levi’s quickening pace, you bet he thought the same.

Before you ended up at a crossroads, you stretched the flexible display of your computer open. In lieu of any additional light, the map built in was more analog. It reminded you of Pac-Man, where your location was outlined by the fat white dot blinking in the top right portion of the screen. Sector 3.

Every pipe, outlet, and path of the facility was laid out before you in green borders, like a maze. You imagined hundreds of canals, just like the one you knew so well, laid out before you. Paths.

A few avenues laid ripe for the taking, but not all were made equally. There was size to account for: the fastest routes and the dead-ends. Water was carefully filtered down those paths so, excluding the reservoir you needed to make it to, fresh water circled back to all areas in an endless loop.

These, to be concise, were walls. You couldn’t be sucked in, but hitting one would mean turning around while fighting the current, which meant wasting oxygen—a privilege you didn’t have.

You squinted as the pipe began to extend and widen around you. The new space let Levi push against the water, joining your side.

He had to slow, though. His tail meant the only advantage you had was kicking your flippers. Your lungs strained.

Both his arms stayed extended far in front of him while he squinted over your shoulder at the strange device. No comment.

“I have to slow down for you to keep up,” he spoke. Bubbles wafted up from the corners of his mouth and got trapped by the rusted ceiling.

He bent his elbow just slightly. “Hold onto me.”

With a grunt, you locked your elbow with his. Your hand scrambled back to the computer’s rubber handle before a squeak (Please let him not hear that.) was torn from you at the sudden increase in speed.

High-quality equipment like yours was a blessing; no buttons stood in the way of your voice and Levi’s hearing.

“Levi, slow down!” you yelped. “I need time to plan a cohesive route!”

“I don’t know ‘cohesive’. Either way, you breathing is more important than that.”

You floundered. At this rate, he would soon be dragging you.

“A good route,” you spelled out for him. “If we don’t have that, we’ll get stuck, and then air would be an issue for sure!”

He growled, actually growled, like an animal. “Why didn’t you make sure?”

You had been asking that yourself, kicking yourself over it, too. All you could say was, “I can’t plan for everything! I wish I could!”

“Don’t yell!” he yelled. “You’re wasting it!”

Obediently, you shut your mouth. The first crossroads was nearing, anyway, and you needed to focus.

You reached the sharp split in the passage in what felt like no time with your eyes on the computer and Levi all but racing. His halting hit you so sharp that you could have jerked miles back if it weren’t for his hold on you.

“Left,” you ordered. “Lev’, slow. Down.”

His sidelong look at you is long and sharp. It wasn’t just that he feared for your safety any longer, but… as if you were locked on the stand awaiting a damning sentence. You didn’t know how to get it across any clearer that it wasn’t your fault. Guilt is a long-fought enemy of yours.

“I’m sorry,” you hissed. “S-Stop looking at me like that.”

His lips pressed. “I’m not blaming you.”

While his arms pushed through dark waters, he eyed the computer over your shoulder. Only the distant yellow flashlight and the occasional white blip washed his face in a flash of light.

You followed his eyes to the computer screen. Your dot flashed adjacent to the dead center of the maze.

“We really don’t have that long to go,” you explained.

“But what of your air,” he snarled. “You’re too relaxed about your own death. Did you enjoy drowning before, and want it again?”

All you could do was shake your head and squeeze your fists in efforts to manage just that: your dwindling supply of air. The darkness smeared your vision of the gauge, but you knew the signs: light-headedness, anxiety, confusion… If only you wouldn’t hit empty sooner by falling into a panic because of Levi’s incessant griping.

You heard him. In fact, you were all too aware of the pathetic barriers of spandex and glass from suffocating water.

Claustrophobia would eat you alive, but only if you let it.

Be brave, Dad would say. Don’t get wrapped up in a bunch of complicated advice. You know what to do, so be brave, and do—

“Stop breathing so fast.”

Your shoulder knocked his, gasps growing. The blood pumping through your veins lifted into a vicious wind.

“‘m not doing it on purpose,” you snapped. Your suit constricted your chest tighter, it felt.

“How to stop it? You’re wasting your air.”

“You’re making it worse!”

Now did his race between him, you, the baggage, and the water idle some; your heartbeat throbbed in your elbow when his grip slackened. He had held you that tight.

Levi’s eyes flashed through the inky water. “I’m sorry.”

You coughed out a sob, blinking through your tears at the computer. Another choice was just around the bend, quite literally.

“Tell me what to do. What can I do?” he went on. The order was the same, but too soft to be defined as anything other than begging. “I don’t want you to die.”

Here, you hit the wall. Your voice shook after you cleared your throat and spoke, “Right. We take a right, here.”

Strings of dark hair, made brighter still than blackness like this, waved about Levi’s head, but he didn’t move. His right hand braced the rusty bottom of the passage.

When you turned towards him, your light exposed his expression for what it really was: fear. His eyes wide and searching below his furrowed brow, jaw so tight that the veins in his neck popped out.

“Levi,” you begged him breathlessly. You glanced at your wrist. “We don’t have time for this.”

“Don’t be like th-them. Or like him.” His temple knocked your helmet. “Don’t make me helpless. Take deep breaths, so I can keep you from… being like them.”

His friends… Dad?

You gaped softly, blinking at him through the dark haze. This was no time to get embarrassed, but you certainly didn’t believe Levi was being driven this crazy over you. In your mind, getting him out was all that mattered. All that really mattered.

A moment of stillness soothed the anxiety, but Levi was still waiting on an answer.

“I need you to trust me,” you told him, determination renewed. “What you think is best isn’t always the best choice. Okay?”

His lips pressed, frustration evident in the furrow of his thin brows. If you knew anything about Levi’s bad sides, it was that he always believed he knew what everyone was thinking. That his way was best.

Underwater, the odds were certainly in his favor, but not all of them.

A hand feathered down around yours through your glove, and squeezed. Finally.

“...I trust you,” he said.

An invisible weight flew off your shoulders. “Then let’s keep going.”

And so you did.

A pressure system was in place to pump out any undesirables that might have gotten trapped in the tunnels, like dead fish or garbage, and the further from the center you moved, the more you saw. Soda cans, candy wrappers skirting along the tunnel’s rusted bottoms, or floating listlessly in your path.

Levi batted these away with growing irritation, the gills on his neck flexing. Since the last time his nails were trimmed, they have retained some of their talon-like sharpness, and you flinched whenever he happened to shred a piece of litter.

You became accustomed as you approached the third and last—

You glared at the tablet, not entirely believing your eyes. The kicking of your flippers faltered, and Levi noticed.

“What’s wrong?”

You blinked. Your clear, calm exterior again completely masked what you truly felt.

“We’re going the wrong way,” you stated blandly. “It’s my fault.”

Your eyes squeezed shut. “Shit. Fucking fuck. Goddammit, if I wasn’t in such a rush before…”

Levi’s eyes went a touch wide; you had never cursed so much in front of him.

But, his voice came to you eerily calm. “We go back.”

“Retrace our steps, yes,” you said, then coughed. A cursory squint at your wrist made for an even filthier string of curses.

He was seemingly nonplussed. In fact, an entirely harder brand of determination fell over his expression. “You should hold onto me. I’m not stopping.”

You shucked the computer shut and shoved it into your toolbelt. With a nod, you took his arm with both of your own, but Levi shook his head. He took his arm back and instead bullied himself underneath you.

“Don’t get cocky or anything. I’m not some pony… Just hold on to me.”

An image flashed in your mind of a rollercoaster. Oh, god.

Acting cocky was the last thing on your mind.

You floated up behind his back and locked your arms around his middle, feeling flustered for a reason beyond you. Someone needed only to look at Levi and shrink away from his imposing presence, so clinging to his muscular back was intimidating, even knowing him as well as you did.

“Tighter.”

“O-Okay.”

You forgot about his uncanny sense of smell. You earned a tiny scoff for your embarrassment before he lurched forward with a sudden shove that yanked a cry of surprise out of you.

Bubbles rushed by your ears in an eternal cacophony of noise. There wasn’t a moment of reprieve, not one where Levi’s strong tail bumped your knees, forcing them into a tight bend that made your thighs burn.

Thanks to your helmet, your eyes could remain open, if your only view wasn’t wisps of Levi’s hair plastered to the glass, and darkness. This was where, evidently, his special night vision came in handy, like a cat’s.

Turns lurched your body one way, like a bull intent on bucking you off, but Levi never let you even have the chance of straying too far. The powerful whips of his tail would occasionally stutter so he could reclaim your grip with a snap to hold on.

You could have argued that his speed was bordering on supernatural, but you were too busy trying to hold on to be snarky.

Levi’s navigation must have been supernatural as well. You didn’t doubt his ability to stop, and right before you hit the split in the passage where you once were—one way forward, one way right further back the way you came—he paused abruptly, nearly bucking you off for the nth time.

You plopped your chin down over his shoulder, while in front, you unfurled your computer. The light planted you above the center, like before. The way out was straight right.

“We were supposed to go right, so go straight,” you said.

Levi didn’t reply, but he didn't hesitate, either. You couldn’t decide if this was a good or bad thing when you narrowly had enough time to shut the display in order to hold on for dear life. It didn’t help that you could no longer tell if the thinness in the air was a lack of it, or his speed.

Did that even make sense? You risked flying off if you pulled your wrist away to check.

The passages were slowly constricting again. If you were still beside Levi, you would have been forced to swim behind like before—a snail’s pace compared to what he could do. Every few paces, more and more often, the divots of a metal air vent would pass overhead, the bubbles wobbling in your wake.

Almost there. You commanded your arms to stop aching and hold steady.

By the time tiny groups of tiny fish whirled past—you flew by too fast for your flashlight to even fall on them to tell you their color—you knew you were heading in the right direction: towards the reservoir.

You tucked your head down as much as the helmet allowed and told him so. Your next breath in filled the bottoms of your lungs, but it felt like nothing.

“How long?” he shouted over the current. Even he was out of breath

“There’ll be a reservoir,” you gasped. “And light. That’s how we’ll know—” gasp, “—that, that we’re out.”

Levi tilted his head upwards, and slowed.

“What’re you doing?” you asked over the noise.

He slowed and slowed. As usual, he pried your wrist off from around his middle for you, and glared at the ticker wobbling over the red line.

“Is your head light?”

You blinked and sputtered, not understanding the question. It was like a cord in your mind that was progressively stretching longer and longer, halting any sensible train of thought.

“Yes,” you said. When you spoke, you closed your eyes, and got the uncanny feeling of your mind alone floating above yourself in a tight squeeze. A head above clouds. In outer space.

Levi stopped below a vent, and gently shrugged you off so you were forced to brace yourself on the unforgiving metal wall. It knocked against your helmet.

Nothing was making sense. Weren’t you supposed to keep going?—You were nearly out!

“Levi!?”

He shot you only a brief sidelong glance, as his arms were held above his head, fingers skirting over the vent. “You’re going to pass out before we make it.”

He sounded so final.

“...Um, it’s…” You went to rub your face, but knocked the helmet instead.

This appeared to be the only answer Levi needed.

Silence, besides the drumbeat, your heart, beating in your skull, was thick until what sounded like a metal beam cracking rang through the water. It happened once, then again, then once more before it even occurred to you to look at Levi.

His biceps were straining, matching the twisted grimace on his face. Metal twisted, followed by the grate slowly wobbling its way down. It was shoved away, causing a clang that rocked the inside of your skull. Blood in thin strings wandered in its wake from his busted knuckles.

You gaped, stupefied. The world wobbled ungracefully, like a slinky falling upwards as you were grabbed and thrust through the new entrance at the top of the passage.

Levi finicked with your helmet until the clasp released. Your hands were just stuttering up to help when a sudden rush of sour air swallowed your head. But to you then, it might as well have been a fresh breeze.

You gulped in air with abandon, arms flailing. Unbeknownst to you, he held you up; his hands were sloppily bullied around your waist, tight. Over your shoulder, clammy hair touched your temple.

“There,” he huffed thinly. “Good. That’s good. Take your time.”

God, you did. With a cursory spin of a dial, your air shut off so you wouldn’t waste more, and then your head fell back, simply taking in what you had been deprived of since your lungs decided it wasn’t enough.

You coughed and gasped until it felt like you had your head together again. The throb in your skull and the squeeze in your chest abated, then vanished.

His voice was in your ear. “That’s better.”

You were much more aware of your closeness. All you could do was shiver. “Thank you.”

You touched his hand, but he only batted yours away.

“I’m fine compared to you,” came his low voice. “Tell me how many minutes the screen says.”

“Fine,” you sighed, not feeling that way at all.

From your belt, you bullied the pole out and unfurled it. Droplets fell over it in rivets when you raised it above the water.

“A few minutes,” you replied. “I can make it to the reservoir, but after that I need to surface as soon as possible.”

You wished you weren’t so weak. “This wasn’t supposed to…” You shook your head, slightly blocked by Levi’s.

“There’s nothing we can do now,” he settled. “I’ll get you there.”

You nibbled on the inside of your cheek, and tilted your head slightly to rub his temple. “I-I trust you.”

Levi was not one to crack under pressure.

After a series of vents, busting his sore knuckles, your precious, hurting gasps for air, you made it to the reservoir. No sun shone light from the sky, making the water a blue blackness only he could see through, even inkier thanks to the boats overhead.

The Officials, Levi so thought of them in his head, had come. Thunder shook the earth as he whipped through the water, and he shivered, chilled by the water, then chilled further when those gasps ate at his racing heart once again.

He didn’t have the privilege of slowing; he merely tossed you the words, “Don’t let go of me!”

Not a response came, only strained gasping crackling in his ears. It was like tearing, like ripping a fragile thing open, like you were dying and there was absolutely nothing he could do for you besides hurry more. Hurry until his heart exploded. Hurry until he, too, couldn’t breathe.

That would be fair.

Levi dipped deeper into icy night, raking his memories. Many years of belonging to this area, and many many many living in water itself offered him a memory of a cove nearby—Anchorage, you called it—with lots of rocks. You could survive there.

Survive, he thought, as your grip on his middle slackened, then went limp.

“No,” he spoke aloud, veering left. Ache latched its piercing talons into his muscles, especially his arms. He finally glared over his shoulder at that look you were wearing, and regretted he did.

He put his eyes towards the rising sandbank instead. What to say—How could he convince you, in that state?

By the time the nearest rockwall shielded you and he, he popped up from the turbulent waters dragging you, and winced as slimy edges dug into his tail on the fattest rock in the area. To say he ripped the suffocating helmet off your head would be a severe understatement.

Only, you didn’t wake up then.

“Hey,” Levi panted, and all but dropped his quivering hands on your cheeks, shaking your head from side to side. He patted your cheek, and slapped, but you just—

No help would come, he knew that, and so he drew and snagged the zipper on your suit’s front; that’s what you told him to do. To fix it. To give you air.

Were you breathing? A cursory hand falling over your lips told him that that meager breath was coming from you, not the wild breeze blowing his hair.

Your heart. His head fell down on your chest’s right side and waited.

A rough crackling broke the breeze. Hange’s voice yipped your name. “We have a problem. Over.”

Levi screwed his eyes shut, and all but nestled his ear close, searching for a distinct pounding over the cacophony of noise. Rain pelted his back like bullets.

“...Levi? Are either of you there!?” Then quieter, “Please tell me something is wrong with this thing…”

“Shut up.” Levi clamped his hand over his other ear, then jerked as a gloved hand fell on his back, patting like a dying thing would.

The radio growled, and growling himself, he ripped it off your hip and knocked it aside, not too far it’d fall in the water, but uncaring if it did. You were breathing so weakly it sounded like crying, and so he climbed and bullied his hand under your shaking back (every bit of you was trembling).

For as harshly as the coughing shook your chest, your eyes stayed closed.

“Cough,” he ordered. “Now!”

The radio went on neglected while your coughing, your retching, came thicker and rougher with each heave your chest made. It was dry; no water.

He frowned, now full of doubt how much you being awake meant now. The smallest chance of you falling back under, or worse, leaving him just when relief was rearing its head was unthinkable.

He doubled forward and reached around you, as he had done before to encourage your lungs, but you dragged his wrist down to your belly instead. He was pinned.

“What do I do?” he asked by your ear, eyes wide and wild. “T-Tell me what to do. Just tell me, and I’ll get us out of this. You don’t have to do anything anymore if you just tell me what to do, I....”

The only way you responded was by shaking your head. “Jus’ need to adjust.”

“Repeat.”

You coughed, coughed, and coughed.

He sent a cursory look around the cove, but all that walled your surroundings were rocks, bushes, and shallow pools. Not having a vantage point bothered him.

You were clutching your belly, or his hand, hard. While you panted, he rubbed gently, causing you to huff.

Your eyes opened, shut. “I’m okay, Lee. CO2 poisoning. Just need to breathe.”

CO2? He frowned.

“Okay,” he replied. He trusted you.

Seemed you were getting your bearings finally, but he didn’t relax yet. A seagull crooned overhead.

The radio rumbled once more from beside him, and finally, you perked up a little.

“Hello? Levi?—I need to talk to your other half, urgently this time. Over.”

Glasses again.

You hiccuped. “Please, Levi.”

He picked it up and pressed the button. “Yeah. They can hear.”

“I don’t have much time to talk; Erwin is covering for me,” Hange said, sounding more grave and more serious than Levi thought they were capable of. “With Levi and you missing, Theo… upped security. Federal agents are here, and they plan to conduct a search.”

Because you ran out of time. Because Levi wasn’t fast enough.

Clutching your temple, you leaned over and tilted the radio towards you, but your mouth opened and closed, useless. To be fair, Levi didn’t know what to say, either.

“I wouldn’t—” Hange’s voice cracked to add to the uncanniness. “Listen, tell me you’re okay. Tell me you’re fine?”

“I’m fine,” you ground out.

Levi looked down at the lumpy rocks, brow drawn, and a stone in his chest. “Go back.”

Hange cut in, “Levi, you need to get out of there. I bet ships have already showed up—”

“They have. We’re past them.”

He told you, “Say you went after me, but failed.”

This… poisoning, was his fault, and in the first place, he shouldn’t have pushed you so hard before. You did all this for him; that Blondie included, and Glasses.

You would be fine. This was the plan.

He had much to feel guilt about, and he struggled, very much struggled, not to regret his actions. At least when it came to Izz and Farlan, circumstances had been beyond his control.

“Levi,” you coughed, head shaking.

He imagined you being thrown into a situation like he was. A soldier like Eren, and the murder machine in his hand, and outright nausea turns his stomach. His jaw stammered uselessly.

The radio crackled, which put Levi immediately on edge. Hange said with some reluctance that they had to go, and, “they’re gonna be tracking this frequency, so for now, you need to get somewhere safe.”

They paused, clearly wrestling with something. “Hey, Levi?”

He grunted, stomach churning.

“...Nothing. You know what?—Nevermind.” Then they said your name. “Stay. Safe. You hear me? I’ll get back to you as soon as I can; or Erwin, but probably me,” they spoke in a flurry.

You sounded the same. “Yes, yes, I hear you.”

But did you?

The radio crackled and died, and after that, quiet permeated except the waves washing over rocks and sandy shore. Levi hadn’t even processed the fact that he was home again, until now. It felt very alien to him.

Inevitably, his eyes wandered to you, who looked better, if a little clammy, your pallor sick-looking. Seemed you were processing, blinking at the rocks.

“You go back,” Levi said again, stubborn. “You noticed me gone and went in pursuit, but failed, and go back injured. They’ll take pity on you.

“But you’ll need details to make the story realistic. I can get far enough away for it not to matter.”

No, he would not protect you further. He knew what he was, which he had forgotten in his time in the cage after some point. The both of you were divided on a fundamental level. Species, people.

Who was he to make all these demands of you, and go on to ruin your entire life because of a choice he… must have swindled you into making? You were not to stay with him.

“Levi,” you said.

Either way, this was poorly advised. Foolish.

You don’t… match. This was wrong. Even if things had gone without a single slip, it was wrong. He had no one, and so he was doomed.

“Levi.”

You needed to just. Go. Back.

“Just. Go. Back,” he barked, borderline snarling at the water. “At best you’ll be questioned.”

“At best I’ll be held in contempt by the highest courts in the land, Levi,” you ground out, eyes closing. “I ‘let you escape’. We can’t. I can’t.”

He would argue, again and harder. “See reason already. If you choose—” he shook his head, flabbergasted, “—this path, to not go back, you can’t go back again. You might as well be dead.”

“I know,” you sniveled.

His voice broke. “You want that? I can do nothing for you, I’m not…”

“No—”

“You shouldn’t’ve trusted me. You fucking fool, you shouldn’t have—”

“Stop, Levi!” Your eyes were round, fists tight on your lap. “If that’s how you feel, then just go. That was the goal anyway. Get out of here.”

He gaped, stricken. Leave altogether? “No.”

Your legs crossed, your head planted firmly in your hands. “Either way, you leave, and if you don’t, then… I failed.”

“No.”

It hurt him like a twisting dagger, hearing you speak like that. You were so wrong.

You shook your head. “I’d be dismissed if not tried, and then—regardless, we could be shut down. You’re that important.”

You said all this without looking at his pinched expression, muffled in your palms. ‘Tried’ was a word he didn’t know the meaning of in this context, but he said nothing.

“This way it’ll just be a tragedy.” You rubbed your temples, then peered at him over your hands. “Don’t look at me like that. You saved my life. Again.”

He looked away, but kept the same expression. How else should he look at you?—With contempt? Nothingness? Both were impossible.

“Levi, I…”

His breath caught. “Don’t,” he whispered. His eyes snapped shut. “It’s too late.”

You began to fall apart. “I can’t go back.”

“I know.”

He couldn’t leave you, and yet he was wrong for you.

“Tell me,” he croaked. His decision-making was not always best. “Tell me what I can do for you.”

Despite himself, in wake of no answer from you, he shuffled over and nudged your shoulder with his forehead.

You sniffled, a hurt sound, so he wrapped his arms around you, and you seemed to let go. Your whole frame relaxed against his like you needed him just to breathe. You did, before.

“I…” Your soft hands moved around his own, and squeezed. “I think there could be one thing… Do you trust me?”

None of this would have been happening if he didn’t.

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