reincarnated strings of red.

I remember you, but I don't know you.

Eren walked awkwardly, at least- he thought it was awkward when Levi led him around tour. He had been clipped toned and short, which was normal for Eren because it was how they communicated when they first met, back in the days. Despite his thunderous heartbeat, he managed to distract himself by not thinking about anything but the present.

Which will come back to bite him in the ass later on. Probably.

Ugh, Eren felt old.

“So, nice to meet you Levi-whoaa wait a minute!-,” Eren was smacked against the lockers and suddenly he was looking into Levi’s murderous eyes, which admittedly, turned him on instead of pissing in his pants right then. He was familiar with these tactics, and doesn’t really react much, but he had to or else Levi would be suspicious.

“Who the fuck,” He spits on his face, which was more or less rude, “are you? What are you doing here? Do you have a fucking plot or do I need to force it out of you?”

More background check for current timeline Levi it is.

“Jeez, I’m only twenty one!” -which is not technically true, “What do you mean?!” Eren cried out, it wasn’t hard, really.

“I might or might not have the suspicion and the urge to beat the fuck out of you if you don’t want to talk!” Levi snarled, invading his personal space. Eren tried, in vain, to melt into the lockers while huffing out a whine as his back begun to bruise. Jeez, this is getting out of hand.

His hand shot out to grab Levi’s fist to prevent him from getting any further, and out of impulse and sheer boldness, he shoved Levi away from him- and slumped down to the ground, his mind was wrecked up and it was getting harder to breathe.

Eren was having a panic attack.

Breathe, he told himself fiercely, you don’t want to act like an idiot in front of Levi. Focus, you fool!

He curled his right hand into a fist and pound them on his chest, while taking heavy deep breaths. He was a titan shifter, so he was capable of forcing his heartbeat to slow down, with of course- intense energy and steely firm, steady mind. He took out a inhaler from his pocket breathed in the chemicals as it was sprayed into his mouth.

Levi stood by, watching him with spectacular calculation and suspicion.

“Was that a panic attack?” He asked casually, after helping him up. Eren coughed and glared at Levi and proceeded to ignore him through put the whole tour. It will help to take his mind off things if he wasn’t so focused on Levi.

Jeez, why did it have to be him?

…

Levi had felt something tugging against his chest when he saw the brat. He could tell that Eren had felt something about it as well. He was good in hiding his emotions, which had meant that something must have happened to Eren when he was younger. His stance was guarded, it was familiar- like it was in the army or something, but he hadn’t seen those before either.

It was somewhat, old fashioned?

And Levi had felt a little guilt creeping on him because of what he did just now to the brat, he grudgingly admitted that he didn’t know what to do in that situation. So he trusted Eren to take care of himself, if he was right in his shady theory.

Levi didn't try to talk to him, there was no point since the guy was content on ignoring him anyways.

He was still curious though, what made Eren to act like that?

What was his purpose?

…

Eren was then approached by Annie and Berholdt when he walked back to class, well- not before giving Levi the coldest glare he could muster. If anything, the older man was surprised and Eren fondly tucks it away into ‘list of expressions of Levi’ part in his mind. He does love Levi, in any time- era and so forth, but he doesn’t really appreciate the abuse coming from him either. Eren suppressed a shudder when he thought back into the titan era, he might had been a masochistic lovestruck teenager back then, thank god that he grew out of it. Yes, it took several decades- maybe centuries, but it was better than nothing, right?