And I'm back with more of whatever this is. Here, have a whole chapter filled of Levi full of delusions. One of those days, he'll realize that Eren is the best thing since sliced bread. And by the time we get to his next PoV, I'll have to change the rating, why are you so rude...

"Fuck off..." Levi grumbled as he clumsily tried to answer to the phone call.

He still had his eyes closed and from the little noise he could hear, he probably was the only one awake. Great. Just fucking great.

"Yeah, yeah," a familiar and really annoying voice answered back. "It's also nice to hear your voice, Levi..."

The assistant furrowed his brows and blearily tried to remember where he had heard this voice and why he felt as if he was forgetting something.

"Right," Levi grunted as he slowly abandoned the fight against sleep. "What the hell do you want with me at this god forbidden hour of the day?"

"Levi," that familiar voice to which he simply couldn't put a name chuckled, "it's three in the afternoon. You shouldn't even be sleeping..."

The assistant blearily blinked and decided to cast that matter aside. As if he needed someone else to remind how fucked up was his schedule. Farlan was more than enough.
Wait.

"Farlan?" The dark haired man called.

The voice chucked another time and Levi let his head fall on his pillow, idly wondering if he could die like this. His breathing was obstructed so it was a possibility. But the assistant was so tired that he didn't even care about his impending death.

"About time!" Farlan roared with his habitual and way too loud laugh.

Levi grunted in his pillow.
"What do you want," he muttered.

"As always, it's a pleasure to talk with you," Farlan commented with another chuckle. "I got selected for a movie."

Levi yawned and scratched his forehead before he pushed back his bangs. His gray eyes faintly widened in surprise at his friend's announcement and his lips stretched into a pleased smile. However, he didn't let any of that happiness seep in his harsh voice. He had a reputation to follow, you know.

"I see," he answered with another yawn. "Is it another porn movie?"

An angry hiss followed his words and Levi smirked. Farlan had always been quite sensitive over that special subject.

"For the last time, Levi," his friend retorted angrily. "It wasn't porn!"

"Right," the assistant snorted and rolled under his covers so he could see once again the clock. He clicked his tongue in annoyance. (Jäger was supposed to be up and working on the next chapter storyboard by now)
But with all the time lost with that impromptu reunion with the big asses producers of his new movie, the mangaka had had to stay late and they had already lost two days of their schedule.

But Levi wasn't one to stress over deadlines so he shook his head and went back on annoying his best friend.

"You were jacking off on some woman's stomach," the dark haired man retorted calmly. "Totally not porn..."

"Levi!" Farlan whined (but it was to be asked, the blond would have told him that he totally hadn't whined).

"Whatever," the assistant shrugged as he walked to his bag and fetched clean clothes. He would still have to shower, though.

Levi hated putting fresh clothes when he was still grim with all the sweat accumulated during his restless nights looking for sleep. Even if he had indeed caught some sleep last night because he had pulled two all-nighters on a row. And that was all thanks to Jäger who had thought that it would be great to leave for some kind of shitty interview while he still had to finish the twenty last pages of the fifteenth chapter.

"Aren't you even a bit happy for me?" Farlan inquired and Levi had to snort at that.

"Of fucking course," he retorted with his habitual deadpan face.

The assistant kicked his door open (his hands being taken by his phone and fresh clothes) before he walked toward the bathroom. He quickly glanced at Jäger's door. It was still closed so the dark haired man supposed that the younger male was still sleeping.

Levi's face darkened when he noticed that he was the only one suffering at being awake when his whole body screamed for sleep, and he swiftly promised himself that he would wake the mangaka up with a good kick to his tanned ass.

"Then sound like it, dammit!" Farlan complained childishly.

Levi rolled his eyes. The more time his best friend passed with the weirdos in the Japanese dramas (and occasional AV), the weirder the blond became. Soon enough, the former thug with an impressive level-headed mind would become like Hanji.

Levi shuddered at that thought.

One Hanji was more than enough. They were batshit crazy and didn't need to be encouraged or procreate.

"Congratulations," Levi droned as he closed the bathroom door behind him and glanced in disgust at the littering clothes on the floor.

When would Jäger understand that he was a human and as such had some rules like proper hygiene and cleanliness to follow? That was one of the biggest questions that plagued Levi's life since he met the infamous mangaka.

Who was still pleasantly sleeping by the way.

He was so going to suffer once Levi was done with his shower and morning cleaning.

"I guess that's the most I can get from you," Farlan sighed heavily and the assistant grimaced. With his phone right on his ear, he felt like his friend's spit could end on his ear even if it was totally impossible. "And before you ask, it isn't in a porn!"

"So you won't be jacking off," Levi pleasantly asked.

That also meant that he could watch Farlan's movie or drama series without feeling weirded out. Try to watch a porn with your best friend in it and you'll see. It was weird. As fuck.

"Yes," Farlan insisted. "I'm an important character in this new drama, did you hear about it?"

"No," Levi rolled his eyes once again and checked if the heater was working. He sure as hell didn't want a cold shower right now.

"Levi!" his friend chided him. "You don't even know its name!"

"That's why," the assistant shrugged and put his clothes on the closed toilet lid. "I'm ending this call."

"Wait! Levi! It's really import-"

Levi threw his phone in the (empty) sink and quickly stripped his heavy sweater and big track pants (he got really cold when he slept, okay) before he jumped under the boiling water.

(≖_≖✿)

"Jäger, wake the fuck up," Levi thundered as he barged into the mangaka's messy room.

A complaining moan answered him and the assistant felt his face twist into a scowl. If he was up and cleaning, so would Jäger.

"I said wake the fuck up," the dark haired man hissed threateningly while he stomped his foot.

Jäger muttered something that didn't make any sense (something about pink phones and scary rides) while he curled under his fluffy and lemon scented blankets. Levi knew it better than anyone else, he had been the one who had cleaned them. Mostly because Jäger didn't know shit about cleaning and would have washed them with bleach.
And now that Levi had remembered the mangaka's issues with cleaning, his mood had worsened.

He was so going to kick his cute little ass to the moon.

And he sure as hell didn't have a fixation on the boy's ass. Even if it should be illegal to have cheeks that nicely shaped. Of course, he clearly hadn't thought that. Like Levi would think that Jäger, the brat who didn't know shit about cleaning supplies (the worst sacrilege in the whole world for Levi), had the nicest ass he had ever seen.

"Jäger," Levi whispered in his sweetest voice. "Don't test me. I'm your fucking assistant, not your mom... I won't refrain from kicking your sorry ass until you finally get out of your fucking bed and do your shit!"

The mangaka suddenly rose from his cocoon of blankets and let out an amazed screech.

"EUREKA!"

Levi almost felt his heart stop at the brunet's scream and he froze right on the spot when he saw the mangaka turn his head toward him. Jäger's ruffled hair was standing right like a lion mane around his head and for the first time since they met, Levi actually got to see the boy's face.

And damn. What a face.

With thin pinpricks like pupils, red eyes almost bulging from their sockets, pink (almost red actually) lips parted into a victorious laugh and some dry drool on his cheek, Jäger's face was enough to kill the most vindictive boner. (it was right next to Erwin's eyebrows when the blond had just woke up...)

But of course, Levi's boner had never been like the others. Not that he got a boner whenever he saw Erwin's eyebrows. That was just gross. Like "watching Farlan jerk off" gross.

"I FINALLY GOT IT!" Jäger screeched while he jumped on his bed like a little kid on the Christmas Eve.

Levi wasn't impressed. Mostly because he knew that by any second now, the boy would end bumping on the ceiling.

Bump.

And there it was.

Levi was a fucking genius. Or seer. Whatever it was, he was great at it.

"And there goes your last neurons," the assistant sighed while faking worry. "They will be dearly missed..."

"Shut up," Jäger retorted while he curled on his bed and nursed his head.

Levi was ready to bet his whole cleaning collection that the brat would end with a bump the size of his fist.

"So you can still talk," he stated. "What a shame..."

Still, being able to talk didn't mean that the mangaka wouldn't be brain-dead.

Jäger rolled his eyes and huffed like an outraged teenager girl before he folded his arms over his chest and narrowed his eyes. His hair was still ruffled and as such Levi was able to see that the mangaka had teal eyes when he just woke up. Not that he cared about that.
Of course not. It wasn't like Levi liked to see and write down every color that Jäger's damn cute eyes had every day.

And he didn't call Jäger's eyes cute.

"Fuck," Levi muttered as he closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

He needed some shut-eyes and like eleven hours of sleep. That would actually be welcome after those two all-nighters and little to no sleep during his thirty minutes nap.

The feeling of a warm gust of wind over his face made him wrinkle his nose and Levi creaked open his eyes to swiftly notice that he had Jäger's face way too close to his.

"So you finally noticed me," the mangaka muttered while his teal blue eyes widened and lightened in some kind of happiness.

Because Jäger was so weird that he got happy from such a thing. It wouldn't surprise Levi if it was true.

"What do you want?" the assistant merely asked because he sure as hell didn't want to pursue that kind of thoughts.

Jäger being happy just because Levi was noticing him was making him think some things that didn't have to be thought at this time of the day. Or actually, never. (But, still... Did Jäger have some kind of attention kink? Was he really an exhibitionist? Would he get hot and excited if Levi were to press him against the kitchen window, where their neighbors, No-Brows and Sweaty Giant, could see them? And why the hell was he even thinking about that?!)

Levi blanched and he pursed his lips while his gray eyes narrowed almost threateningly at Jäger.

'Not now boner,' he promptly chastised himself.

And noticed by the way that Jäger was actually talking to him.

"What?" Levi interrupted the mangaka. Mostly because he had been so caught with his daydream (it wasn't a sexual fantasy, okay) and by Jäger's rosy lips (goddamn, they would look so nice around his... It wasn't a sexual fantasy) that he hadn't been able to hear him.

"I said that I finally found that new character's background story!" Jäger didn't look annoyed by Levi's distracted mind. "You know, the one we discussed yesterday!"

The assistant furrowed his brows and promptly buried each and every little thought about Jäger before he put his mind back on tracks.

While it was true that they had discussed a bit of Jäger's manga settings yesterday night, Levi didn't have much remembrance of it. Mostly because he had been tired to his bones at that time.

"What was it again..." he muttered just as he cupped his chin pensively. "Wasn't it something about a proper model figure?"

Jäger's eyes gleamed. Literally.

"YES!" he pretty much chirped while he jumped toward his assistant to clasp his hands.

Levi raised his eyebrows. Why was Jäger so hyper when he had just woke up. What was his secret? Not that Levi wanted to be hyper. He couldn't even picture himself as hyper. Except if cleaning supplies were included. But that had been just one time and it wasn't that important.
Even if Hanji loved to talk about it whenever she wanted to piss him off.

Pretty frequently.

"Remember what Erwin said last week?" Jäger added and his enthusiastic voice cut through Levi's dark memories.

The latter nodded. He did remember the blond editor telling the mangaka that they needed to introduce new characters before the readers got tired of the habitual trio. But until then, Jäger had never mentioned it and had kept drawing the fifteenth chapter.

"It's true that Hunter needs a role model," the mangaka began to explain while his now Caribbean eyes sparkled in passion. "Until now, he was to one who inspired the cadets and made them follow him. But he needs someone like this too!"

"Wasn't Thuis enough?" Levi pondered with a raised brow. "She's always by his side and protects him, sometimes without him even noticing it..."

"Thuis could be a great role model but she doesn't have that special something to...," Jäger stopped talking and bit pensively his lips. He tilted his head and parted his lips open like he had had a sudden idea. "Hunter needs someone who gives no shit about his well being! Someone who could actually kill him if he were to break the rules!"

"A character like that would be hated by the readers," the assistant pointed out with a shrug. "It would be like a wet blanket after all those chapters with Hunter training to be the best."

"Not if he's Hunter's superior!" the mangaka insisted.

"That's cliché."

"But what's life without clichés?"

Levi rolled his eyes and finally ceded.

"Alright," he shrugged. "It's your story. And how would that wet blanket be?"

Jäger's lips stretched into a smirk.

"Oh no," the dark haired man muttered. "No fucking way."

"Leviiiiiiii..."

(≖_≖✿)

"I didn't expect to see you so soon..."

Levi grunted as he closed the door behind him with a well placed kick. He let his duffel bag fall on the genkan floor and took his shoes off. Just as he was doing so, his keen eyes noticed faint scratches all along the pricey leather and he gritted his teeth.

"Jäger..."

"You're as charming as always," his best friend's voice was closer now and Levi sighed heavily.

"Farlan," he greeted in his habitual cold voice.

The blond slightly waved his hand at him and his gray eyes glowed in concern when he noticed that the mangaka assistant was red on his face and slightly panting.

"Levi," the actor crouched next to his best friend and put his hand on the dark haired male's forehead. "Are you alright?"

"'m fine," the latter muttered as he pushed away Farlan's hand. "Just tired. Going to bed."

The blond frowned but let him go. He quickly glanced at his friend's duffel bag and his frown increased. The zipper was open and from what he could see, Levi had just thrown his clothes in it and left wherever he had been.

Levi was way too meticulous and efficient to act like that. Something had had to happen with his latest mangaka.

Was it Hanji? She did have this liking to ruffle Levi's feathers.

But Levi had told him that she had gotten a new assistant and as such didn't need him as much as before. So it was his new mangaka, the one who asked Levi to be his permanent assistant. What was his name again?

Farlan sighed and stopped himself before he began to berate himself to be more focused on his incoming shooting than Levi's life. They were both adults and his friend didn't need him hovering over him like a mother hen. But he could always help him with his laundry.

Farlan walked to the duffel bag and took it before he went to the laundry room (yes, they had a laundry room, Levi had insisted on it when they had been looking for a new apartment). And because the blond had lived with Levi for years, he already knew the drill. He went through Levi's clothes, putting them on different basket and stopped short when he found something that he hadn't expected at all at the bottom of his friend's bag.

It was a crumpled paper.

Levi hated littering so having paper in his duffel bag was more surprising than expected.

Farlan frowned softly and smothered down the paper, his gray eyes widening in surprise when he saw the sketch of his best friend's face. It was well made, Levi's little wrinkles under his eyes and his habitual frown were there and the blond snorted softly when he saw words littering all around the drawing. They all said the same thing.

Farlan chuckled and carefully folded the paper before he put it in his pocket. He'd have to ask Levi what was all that about. But only when his friend woke up. He looked like a zombie.

(≖_≖✿)

"So you ran away?" Farlan asked once Levi woke up, the dark shadows under his eyes still there but less scary and prominent.

The assistant blinked, trying to piece together his friend's words and he quickly gave up. He didn't have tea in his system and Farlan was speaking way too fast for him. So he just grunted, shrugged and decided that it was the best answer ever.

Maybe going back to his silent and extremely rude self was the perfect way to stop Jäger from being such a shit. He'd have to try it out.

A mug full of black tea was suddenly pushed in his hand and Levi's corner of his lips quivered. The closest thing to a smile coming from him, really.

Farlan rolled his eyes and folded his arms over his chest before he went back to his interrogation.

"So you ran away?" he repeated.

But this time, Levi actually understood him and he grimaced.

"I didn't," he retorted with a scowl. "I just decided that it was more than time to take my leave with pay days. Also, I need to make you understand that nobody calls at such an early time of the day!"

"It was three in the afternoon, Levi," Farlan sighed.

"Whatever," the other huffed.

Farlan was lucky that the tea was great.

"So this has nothing to do with your early visit?" the blond asked as he put down the sketch on the kitchen table.

Levi's face blanched and he swiftly caught the drawing and hid it in his pocket.

"Nothing," he assured with his perfected poker face.

But Farlan wasn't fooled by it. They had played poker together way too many times to be fooled by such a shaky facade.

"Really?" he insisted.

Levi's hand jerked around his mug but the assistant's face stayed as cool as ever.

"Really," he assured.

"I see," Farlan cocked his head and his eyes narrowed with mirth. "What's this mangaka's name?"

"Why do you want to know?" Levi narrowed his eyes and looked at his friend with mistrust.

"Am I not allowed to read the manga my best friend helped make?" the other inquired while widening his eyes in fake innocence.

Sometimes, Levi hated Farlan's actor training. He could lie and still look perfectly innocent while, if Levi were to try it, he'd look like the Devil trying to catch some innocent's souls.

"It's Jäger," the assistant reluctantly answered.

"What?" Farlan's voice had raised in surprise and his eyes were so wide that Levi immediately knew that he wasn't acting. "Jäger as in Titan's creator? The one who's behind The Wings of Freedom manga?!"

"I didn't know that you liked manga," Levi stated.

And it was true, Farlan had never been one who he'd have pegged with manga. The blond loved foreign books and his favorite was written by some weird Italian dude who had died centuries ago.

"I don't really like it," Farlan shrugged and suddenly hit his forehead with the back of his hand. "I FORGOT! You still don't know about it! Remember my call this morning?"

Levi furrowed his brows and nodded. Like he could forget that call, it had woken him up after all.

"I got caught for The Wings of Freedom drama," his friend explained with a bright smile. "I'll play an important character too!"

Wait a fucking second.

"That's why you called me?" Levi asked while he tried to discreetly connect the information with everything he knew of Jäger.

Didn't the latter tell him that he had hated how the Hollywood production hadn't listened to him for the casting and as such, had forced the producers of the drama to let him do it by himself? Didn't that mean that Jäger was the one who had selected Farlan among the thousand of other applicants?

If that was the case, Jäger had a damn good eye because Farlan was a great actor.

"Yes but that doesn't matter right now," Farlan answered him with a shrug before he narrowed his eyes and his face turned intense. "Levi, you're close to Jäger, right?"

Levi pursed his lips and immediately buried in the darkest depths of his brain all the daydreams (they weren't sexual fantasies) about the mangaka.

"Kinda," he reluctantly admitted.

"So you could influence him to make my character more important?" Farlan added and Levi almost rolled his eyes.

Of course, Farlan had to immediately see what he could get out of this.

"I could," the dark haired man told him.

Not that he would though.

"Great," the blond nodded while grinning brightly at him. "That's good to know! Now, get out of here and get back to Jäger."

Farlan was such a great friend. Sometimes, Levi really wondered how he had been so lucky to have him.

(◡‿◡✿)

"Yes," Eren whispered as he gnawed worriedly on his lips. "He just left without a word and since then I haven't heard of him... What should I do?"

"Honestly, Eren," Armin's tired and almost dead voice answered him. "I don't know. It's two in the morning and I've this really important case tomorrow... Can't you let me sleep?"

"But Armiiiin!" the brunet whined. "He hasn't returned and I really need him for the colored front pages! You know that I'm shit at coloring!"

"Don't remind me that, you almost flunked my perfect preschooler dossier with your s-"

Armin's words faded in the back of his mind when Eren heard the front door creak open and he quickly bolted out of his room, his track pants hanging low on his hips and almost making him stumble, while he ran toward the man standing in the entry.

"LEVI!" the mangaka screeched, uncaring that it was two in the morning and that his neighbors needed to sleep. "YOU'RE FINALLY BACK! FUCKING FINALLY!"

"Nice to see that I was dearly missed," the assistant deadpanned while he left his duffel bag on the entry way and quickly swapped his shoes for his indoors slippers. "Please tell me that you didn't do the coloring..."

"Do you think I'm stupid?" Eren retorted and, just as he saw Levi smirk and open his mouth, he quickly raised a hand and shook his head. "Wait, that was stupid of me. Of course you think that... I didn't color the front pages. They're finished though."

"Great," Levi acquiesced and hung his coat on the rack before he walked toward Eren's bedroom.

The mangaka narrowed his eyes, following his assistant's back while the latter walked.

Levi was way too compliant right now. Better use this opportunity to get what he wanted.

"So," Eren chirped as he quickly bounced around the assistant.

The latter was already working on coloring the front page, his mouse quickly selecting parts of the sketch and moving to the desired colors.

"Hm?" Levi muttered as he softly clicked his tongue whenever the results didn't please him.

"Can I use you as my muse for my new character?"

"Do whatever the hell you want," the assistant shrugged. "But don't use my name. That would be fucked up."

"Great!" Eren grinned and jumped to smother the older man in a hug.

The latter froze on his chair and stiffly turned his head to look at the brunet. However, the mangaka didn't notice his assistant's alarming state and chuckled while he patted Levi's back. He jumped away from him and promptly got back to his desk, twirling his G-pen while muttering to himself things concerning his manga.

And during all this time, Levi had been petrified on his chair.

"Shit."

And just like that, Levi realized that some things couldn't be buried forever.

In the next chapter: Eren investigate if his assistant is indeed a yakuza. And then, Hanji happens. Poor soul, he'll be dearly missed.