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The day that Levi Ackerman met Eren Yeager again after two thousand years of waiting, the seventeen year old felt like his heart had been reignited within his cold chest.
He had been walking through another life with automatic motions when a weight suddenly hit his front. Blinking, the teenager looked down and froze upon seeing those eyes.
Levi would never forget those beautiful verdant eyes. They were looking up at him, wide, round and full of tears. Tiny hands curled into his shirt and the boy hiccupped,"H-Heichou! My mom! Mom!"
Swift hands drew the warmth away and Levi's gaze jerked up, the threatening growl dying upon discovering the mother attempting to calm the ten year old down,"Eren! I'm right here! You don't go around touching strangers! I'm sorry, he's been very sensitive lately!"
Eren…. The boy was very young and highly distressed. Levi's spine straightened up on remembering the cry of his title, one the child couldn't know unless he remembered. His brows furrowed as he took in Eren's exhausted and tear-filled gaze.
He had to protect Eren this lifetime. Levi wouldn't fail again.
No matter the cost.
"It's alright." Levi breathed, keeping his expression carefully neutral as his heart slammed against his ribs. He longed to touch the boy but the dark haired teen knew that if he dared, he wouldn't ever let go again.
___
It was one of humankind's oldest and most ingrained instincts, the uncanny knowledge of being watched. Eren had complained about it to his parents but they waved off the concerns when he mentioned it felt like that all the time.
'No one can be watching you ALL the time, son. You're just being paranoid because of your nightmares.'
They didn't understand. The nightmares or his silent watcher. As Eren aged, the severity of the content in his dreams just got worse. Instead of horrible monstrosities that appeared like giant, distorted humans that crunched through his screaming mother's spine, it was now visions of himself being eaten. Trapped in a boiling sanguine soup of hot blood, bones and body parts as a half digested girl called out weakly for her mother.
Eren would wake, screaming for his own without fail. He could feel how it burned, how his arm and leg were simply gone, how everything hurt and the sensation chased him into his waking hours.
He was twelve when put in therapy and quickly diagnosed as having delusions. Medication was given to aid in his nightmares but all that stopped was his need to scream out. The small boy still jolted up in bed, gasping and crying. But he didn't call out for help. Not when everyone insisted what he saw wasn't real and that he had to move past it.
How did you escape your own mind?
The silent watcher was different though. Eren would be doing anything as harmless as walking to school with Armin and Mikasa or making his bed in the morning when the sensation would come. It never truly left, just varied in strength.
The brunet boy never felt threatened by it, not like the nightmares. The hairs on his neck never rose, his skin didn't adopt goosebumps, Eren just felt watched.
He learned not to tell his parents everything. Like how sometimes his window would be cracked. That sometimes he woke to his watcher simply sitting near, inside his room. The silhouette was familiar and Eren would sob to quiet words of kindness. Silver eyes that were so soft, that looked like stars in the darkness of his room, would remain on him until he fell back to sleep.
The nightmares would leave for the rest of the night, allowing for the circles under his eyes to be a bit lighter the next day.
Eren was terrified the man wasn't real.
So he said nothing.
Even to his Guardian, just in case acknowledgement made the comforting presence leave him.
"Eren, is the medicine not helping?" His best friend questioned, blue eyes concerned and raking his ever-exhausted face.
"As well as can be expected." He answered softly.
He was fifteen years old when the pills became useless in the face of a brand new horror. Eren had turned into one of those monsters and felt the sensation of being eaten. Of being hated by his fellow man. Screaming, the brunet reared up in bed and shook as phantom bites burned on his body.
Harsh knocking on the wall nearby made the teenager grow still as he panted, registering yells for him to be quiet, that they would be seeing his therapist soon and to go back to sleep.
Shoulders trembling, Eren covered his face and allowed the tears to fall quietly. He could feel his Guardian nearby and he wordlessly reached out towards the shadow.
For the first time, the silver eyed silhouette spoke directly to him,"I can't."
Eren's breath hitched and he lowered his hand, though his tear-filled green eyes didn't leave his Guardian,"...why?"
"If I touch you, I'll steal you away." The deep voice continued,"what did you see, Eren?"
Was the shadow a creature, a man or hallucination? The youth didn't know.
"They aren't real," he said, parroting everyone in his life,"they're just dreams."
His Guardian remained quiet.
He swallowed and sighed, lowering his gaze,"there are these monsters that are bigger than us and kinda look like us. They like to eat us, hurt us. I…. I turned into one of them and I could feel them biting me. Taking chunks out of my flesh and eating me, even though I was a monster too. I can feel it. It hurts." Eren's voice was a whispered whimper as he finished, eyes squeezing shut.
"Titans."
It felt like someone had punched the breath from his lungs, green eyes flying open to look at the silhouette.
"What…?" He gasped out and the voice answered.
"The monsters that you see. They're called Titans." The shadow shifted against the wall,"Eren, you aren't a monster. Do you remember why you turned into a Titan?"
The fifteen year old paused before blinking in realization,"I…. I wanted to kill them all for what they did to my mother. For…. For trapping everyone."
"Did you eat anyone?"
"...no."
"Monsters don't protect people."
It was the first time that someone bothered to examine the contents of his nightly terrors and give him answers, reassurances. Eren slowly settled back in, his eyes fixed on his Guardian until they drifted shut.
The horrors left his mind, staying away from watchful silver eyes.
___
Levi protected and watched Eren in his every waking moment. He may have told the boy that monsters couldn't protect another but that wasn't true.
The dark haired man was a monster.
He felt pleasure and exhilaration whenever he put down anything that posed a threat to his charge. While it didn't happen often, his ever-present blade had been drawn against other humans. Three men had been left eviscerated for daring to trail after Eren and his friends on their way to school one afternoon. Their bodies could only be identified by their teeth and even then Levi had cracked jaws in his fit of rage.
It seemed his Ackerman abilities were intact and settled on Eren as his liege. Levi swore to never have one but the older man didn't mind in this case. It gave him a better sense of when Eren was safe.
It was a constant battle not to take the younger boy from his room and whisk him away to where Levi had made a home. He had even made a room for Eren.
But he couldn't. Levi wouldn't survive earning Eren's hatred. If the brunet knew Levi was a threat to his freedom, surely the teen would hate him. If Eren knew how many bodies the man had brutalized with a grin, some not even a clear threat, then Eren would hate him.
Everything he loved and wanted was the boy.
Levi wanted Eren above everything.
But that possible hatred stalled his hands, kept him from touching his charge.
He would protect his beautiful boy, even from himself. These bloodstained hands couldn't touch Eren in this lifetime.
Their chats under the darkness of night had to be enough.
___
When Eren turned sixteen, the nightmares slipped into his waking hours. The medication wasn't working anymore and out of fear, the boy shared it with his therapist. The ghastly images of Titans faded with the brand new prescription but so did everything else.
The tall youth felt like he was sleepwalking through life. The only reassurance was that his Guardian still watched him. That the weight of those silver eyes never left him for long. When he would wake on an adrenaline rush without memory of the terrors, the shadow was always there.
He panted weakly and listened to the reassuring voice before drifting back off.
It was when he turned seventeen that Armin jerked him back suddenly on their way to high school, a car flying by a scant inch in front of his nose.
Freezing, dulled viridian eyes moved to the blond, who was shaking and terrified. Movement had him looking past his best friend, his heart skipping as a familiar silhouette disappeared between buildings.
"Eren! What are you doing?! You almost walked right into traffic!!" It was like Armin was seeing him for the first time, that old worry back in full force,"here, let's go back! You need your parents to bring you to your therapist. That medicine isn't good for you if you're walking around like a zombie."
Mikasa took his other arm and both of his friends began walking him back. They would be a lot more worried if the brunet told them he didn't remember a lot of the previous year. There was a roar of white noise in his head that drowned out the rest of the world.
His Guardian wasn't where Eren had seen him hide when they passed but that was alright.
Eren could still feel his eyes.
____
Levi cursed colorfully as he watched Eren's parents take him to the mental health clinic. His heart had begun beating out of his chest and he had lunged from his hiding spot when the Ackerman instincts screamed danger.
Eren had almost walked in front of a speeding car, the dazed expression never falling away to the understandable shock the situation would warrant. The boy merely allowed his friends to tug him back to his home.
Eren Yeager never left the clinic.
The boy was put into the behavioral health ward, locked away and out of Levi's reach. For an entire fucking year!
He wanted to break in but it was too risky. So Levi determined which room was Eren's, realized the teenager roomed alone and would come to his window every night.
It couldn't open, mesh in between the panes of heavy glass but that didn't stop Levi. He watched Eren's hair grow out to a heartachingly familiar length. Watched as the child he had kept vigil over since the tender age of ten became an adult in a damn cage.
Despite his efforts, Eren's freedom had been stolen away again!
The youth was nearing his nineteenth birthday when a change in routine caught Levi's attention. He straightened and prepared to follow the family home.
Eren Yeager had been discharged.
___
He didn't go to sleep that night, sitting on his bed before standing when everything went quiet. He was still dressed in his hospital scrubs as he left the house quietly, wind tugging on his long brunet hair. His pace was unhurried and the destination was set on the surrounding forest. Hurried footsteps followed him and Eren stopped where he was, uncaring of the injuries on his bare feet.
His Guardian stopped as well and his lips pulled into a sad smile.
"Heichou."
A barely audible intake of breath sounded out behind him and the taller man turned that smile on the dark haired man, the moon showing him more than Eren could ever make out in his room.
"Why didn't you tell me it was you?" He questioned while keeping his smile. Levi straightened and searched his expression with keen silver eyes.
"We met on a playground when you were ten. I thought you at least had an impression."
"I know that now and I always knew you were safe. You made the nightmares go away." Eren tilted his head,"do you still mean it? That if you touch me, you'll steal me away?"
"Eren…" Levi took a hesitant step towards him,"...you don't know what you're asking…"
He cocked his head, hearing a phantom of rumbling footsteps. Of a Titan wailing nearby, ever hungry.
"Don't I? You have no idea how many lies I had to tell in that place to get out. Everything they gave me messed me up even more or made the world fade away."
He took a step towards the shorter man as he continued,"they think I'm cured but everything is worse now. I remember everything! Levi…" His voice broke,"you've never lied to me. You could have told me I became a monster in the end."
The man snarled in denial, holding his ground as Eren took another step,"you did that to save us! And you were alone and terrified through it all! I'm the monster, Eren. I've murdered people in this life. Some for even looking at you wrong! I'm crazy!"
Eren took another step, the space between them shrinking,"you're crazy? Heichou, you've always protected me. Of course you'd go mental when the things you needed to protect me from are just memories. Phantoms in my head…"
Another step.
"I hear the footsteps constantly now. The screams of over a million people dying…. If you are a monster, then I am the Devil himself."
"Eren…"
Another.
"Everything gets quieter when I'm with you. You've always made me feel safe. So…steal me away, Heichou. Please."
Levi took a step back and gritted his teeth, forcing the next words out,"I'll take your freedom away, Eren. Lock you in a cage and keep you. You'll hate me for that."
"I'll never hate you." The wind played with his long hair as he paused in his advance,"I'm still the coordinate, Levi. It's lonely because I'll always be the trunk of the tree. Never one of the branches of the many Eldians high above."
Sterling eyes widened in horror and Eren took another step,"I've never been free. I'll always die, go there and reincarnate with this hell in my mind."
"I won't be able to stop myself," Levi growled out,"I've watched you. Longed for you, even back then. I'll steal your innocence and never be satisfied!"
The warning only urged a wider smile from the long haired man and he stepped into the dark haired Captain's space,"you're my Guardian, both back then and now. You're my safety and I want you to do everything you want and more. Do I look innocent to you?"
Eren Yeager opened his arms to Levi Ackerman, still smiling with gentle viridian eyes,"I'm giving you my everything, Levi. You can't steal what has been freely offered."
The dark haired man trembled, silver eyes wide before he reached out. Eren's arms wrapped around the Captain's shoulders, the other picking him up off the ground by the back of his knees. The long haired youth exhaled a sigh and nuzzled his nose against the shorter hairs of his Guardian's undercut.
"I have you, Eren."
"I'm with you, Levi."
The world never saw Eren Yeager again.
___
The door to his room opened and Eren smiled at Levi as the man brought him tea. He stood from his soft bed and walked the distance to the table, the ever-present rattle of chains following him. The brunet took a seat and watched Levi prepare them both a cup, humming at the scent of lavender.
"Any visions today, baby?"
Smiling quietly at the endearment, Eren took the offered china and nursed the hot beverage,"nothing too bad today."
"Any nightmares?"
Eren's smile widened, tan fingers caressing the manacle on his ankle that was attached to the chain,"not since you put this on me. You're a gentle jailor, my love."
"Eren," the dark haired man growled over his tea cup, holding it by the rim in a way that comforted the long haired man.
That legendary control was so easy to snap.
"You know I'm teasing, Levi. This is the safest and happiest I've been since the Basement." He told the man with a grin. He wasn't lying and his Heichou knew it.
"I'll never wrap my mind around that." Those silver eyes searched his face but Eren was truly happy.
"I'm yours and you take such good care of me." The brunet's verdant eyes lit up when Levi slammed his china down none-to-gently and stood up from the table. Strong hands grabbed him and he laughed as his cup shattered on the floor, Levi bearing him down onto the bed. Eren lazily stretched out his naked body, grinning up at his shorter lover. The chain rattled as Levi began raining searing kisses along his neck.
"Eren…Eren," the man murmured in a tone heavy with want and worship.
His Guardian reached down and undid his pants, thick cock bouncing free, already weeping from the tip. The tall brunet moaned and spread his thighs, smiling when Levi discovered his hole already slick with lubricant.
"Oh baby, you got yourself all ready for me. How long did you finger fuck yourself? Did you come?" That desperate edge in Levi's voice always got to Eren.
"I thought about you but I didn't cum. I wanted your cock to be inside me when I did."
The resulting moan caused the youth to shiver. Levi lined them up with a hum of longing and thrust deep inside; shuddering at how Eren's walls gave to his cock.
Without waiting for Eren to adjust, his Heichou began a punishing pace; capturing the other’s wrists and pinning them to the soft bed. The brunet felt wonderful, adoring when Levi was inside and claiming his body. He began shivering and crying out underneath Levi as the other man fucked him with a single-minded purpose.
“F-Feels good, Levi!” He praised, Eren's insides clenching around his lover deliciously.
“Fuck, Eren!” The dark haired man moaned. Eren canted his hips up in time with Levi's eager thrusting. The Captain released the brunet's wrists in favor of grabbing his shaking thighs. Levi pressed them up and apart to get even deeper inside the other’s ass; moaning as Eren squeezed around him.
He had been waiting for this all day-!
Burying himself with one last desperate thrust, Levi snarled as his release crashed over him; causing his body to tremble as his cock jumped and spurted. Filling Eren up deep inside. They both gasped and Levi reached down, frantically jerking at the brunet's shaft until the other was spasming around his softening dick with a high keen.
It was enough to get him worked up again; Eren whining in overstimulation as Levi began grinding their hips together lazily.
Eren's head lolled back and he breathed Levi's name, his own echoed in a reverent tone. People may look at his situation and baulk but to Eren, this was his freedom. His happiness.
"Promise me you'll make me yours in every lifetime," he murmured and cried out at a sudden harsh thrust before Levi's pace was gentle once more.
"I swear it, you're mine. You'll always be mine!"
His permanent place in Levi's heart was both tender and all-consuming. Eren reached up and his Heichou came easily, still rocking into him lazily as the brunet stretched for a kiss.
The promise was breathed against his lips.
"Always and forever, Eren."