The Ereri Project (#2)

Basement (Superhero)

As soon as they got into Montréal, Eren and Mikasa found a place to hide while Levi went to try and buy a few things: electric hair clippers if they weren't too expensive, scissors if he couldn't find clippers, something to bleach Mikasa's hair, some makeup, and matches.

Mikasa and Eren wait for him in the basement of an abandoned building, looking at a map to figure out which direction they have to go to get to Toronto from here. "I think you planned to go way further North than necessary," Eren says.

"Better than not going far enough," she replies. "I wanted to be out of the States as fast as possible and following the coast was easiest way to tell how far I'd gone."

"I guess." Eren sighs. "This would be much easier if we could take a train or a bus."

"Stowing away might be a bad idea, huh?"

"If Levi can get enough stuff that you and I could pass for other people we might actually be able to legally take normal transportation."

"I'd rather avoid it if we can."

Levi comes in with a few bags. "I think if would be safer for us to wear out costumes under our clothes and ditch the rest of our stuff until we find your parents."

"Us?"

"Levi has powers too," Eren says casually.

"You're just full of surprises, aren't you?" Mikasa says, eyeing Levi.

"Yeah and you're gonna learn another other one soon," Levi says. "But in the meantime, we need to do something about your hair. Who wants to go first?"

"Do Eren first, I'm going to start sorting our stuff."

Levi kneels by Eren. "Alright, take your coat off, I'm buzzing your hair off."

Eren reaches up with a frown, playing with the tips of his nearly shoulder length hair. "No way."

"They'll recognize you with your hair long, c'mon."

Eren pouts and takes his coat off. "Fine," he mutters.

Levi gets to work, trying to be careful not to pull any of Eren's hair because these clippers are cheap and not as sharp as he'd like. Mikasa watches them quietly.

When Eren told her he'd found a boyfriend, she'd been skeptical at first. The last relationship he'd been in had been with Jean and when those two weren't completely happy, they were at each other's throats.

She didn't want to see him miserable like again.

So seeing these two like this, with Levi taking care of her surrogate brother and helping him help her at his own expense, it left her with some peace in her heart.

Even when she found Feline's costume in their bag, she swallowed her instinct to go fight him, looking for a way to rationalize Levi not being that bad if he could be so kind to Eren.

She folded all of their costumes with a warm change of clothes and left everything in a pile to burn when they were ready to leave.

When she looked back up at Eren, his hair was shaven so close to his head she almost didn't recognize him at first. Eren frowns. "My poor hair," he mutters.

Levi leans down and kisses behind his ear. "Don't worry, I still think you're sexy." Eren's cheeks go pink and Mikasa smiles.

Levi taps his shoulder. "Now go get changed so I can do Mikasa's hair too."

Eren gets up and looks like he loses his balance. "My head feels lighter."

Mikasa snorts and sits in front of Levi. "I think I'm going to give you bangs, cut it a little shorter, pull some of it back in a ponytail, and buzz the back. If it's not different enough, then we'll bleach you, okay?"

Mikasa nods and mourns the loss of her long hair much more quietly than Eren. When Levi's done the cutting, he looks her over.

"Eren, do you think I should bleach her too?"

Eren looks over at them, pulling his sweater on over his costume. "Yes but I want her to dye it black again when we're safe cause that looks really cute."

Mikasa rolls her eyes. "I'm growing it back out once we're safe again."

Levi gets to work bleaching her hair and while they're waiting, he gets changed too.

Eren sits with Mikasa. "I'm surprised you haven't tried to bulldoze Levi yet."

"It's not worth it, he's kind of a lifeline for us right now."

Eren cocks an eyebrow. "Normally, you wouldn't care."

Mikasa looks over at the raven haired man she knows is Feline now. "I'm going to trust your judgment this time," she says. "If you think he's good enough for you to date then I'll trust him for now."

Eren nods. "Thank you."

After rinsing out Mikasa's hair, she gets changed and they set their spare clothes on fire, leaving the basement.