The Ereri Project!

Rabbit (Pacific Rim)

A/N: Gosh, I can't stop watching this movie for some reason.

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The cafeteria was a large and mildly terrifying place the first time Eren went inside as a trainee.

Since then it's become a comfortable place to calm down among the hours of work in his daily schedule. Eren walks to the cafeteria alone as usual, Levi always needs about fifteen minutes by himself after their longer mornings spent training. 

It was only a few weeks into their partnership that Eren started noticing how mentally exhausted Levi becomes after synch tests; he's glad those are few and far between or else he would have to worry about dealing with a very cranky Levi all the time.

He sits at a table with the pilots that were in his trainee group; Mikasa and Annie (her partner), Connie and Sasha, and Jean and Marco.

"All I'm saying is, drift compatibility leans more on past experience than anything else," Jean says.

Annie cocks an eyebrow at him. "What about Marshall then? He doesn't bring anything into the drift and he's compatible with everyone."

"What?" Connie asks. "Marshall's piloted?"

Eren nods. "You hadn't heard that? Some of the older pilots went in with him themselves. They say drifting with him is like walking into an empty room, he's very good at keeping his mind clear."

"So, what, do you think it's based on passiveness then?" Jean asks.

"More like acceptance," Mikasa says. "You have to accept yourself and the person you're drifting with completely or else you'll end up chasing the rabbit and get stuck."

Sasha grins and nudges Connie. "Awwee!" she coos. "You accept me, Connie?"

Connie blushes as a quiet body seats itself beside Eren. "Take this as a lesson, kiddos, never chase the rabbit," Levi says.

Marco takes a sip of his water and asks, "What happens when somebody chases the rabbit?"

Levi looks up from his tray. "You should know this already; it's when someone gets stuck in a memory in the drift."

"We know that," Marco says. "But what does it looks like?"

Eren feels Levi's thoughts bristle at that. He holds Levi's hand under the table and speaks for him. "It doesn't look any way at all," Eren says. "They just get stuck and either they have to snap themselves out of it or their partner has to go after them. Either way it's dangerous because your body moves outside of your memory so if you're in a Jaeger you can accidently hurt yourself or someone el–"

"It's terrifying," is all Levi says.

Levi would know personally, after all, he got stuck drifting with Erwin their first time in Short Temper together. Eren has seen those memories, both the original and Levi's re-experience of it, it was not pretty. He grips his partner's hand a little tighter.

"It doesn't sound that bad," Jean says.

Eren glares at him. "Let's see you–"

Jean sneers as Eren tries to reign himself back in, usually Levi does that for him but somehow there's a reflex to listen for an instruction Levi probably won't give him today. He looks at the raven absently nibbling at his sandwich. 

Eren thinks it's a good thing they did a synch test earlier because he's pretty sure it wouldn't go so well now that Levi's thinking about that incident again.

Eren takes Levi so they can go eat somewhere else.

Levi is especially cuddly in bed that night.