Hello. It's Appelia. And this is a neko! fic. It's also maybe the fluffiest and dorkiest thing that I have ever written.

Finally, I have a fanfiction where nobody cries!
I know this first chapter might be a little messy, but I just wanted to post it by today. It makes the story more special. Don't ask me why, because I don't really know. The rest of the updates are definitely NOT going to follow the timeframe of the story, because there is no way i can write and edit that fast. This is also probably the first fic I have ever posted before I was finished with it. So, updates will probably be kind of slow after this. But it will be a complete story by the end! ALSO, SHAMELESS TUMBLR PROMOTING! asking-appelia is my author blog. Go follow it and see all the other stupid things i do. Follow me at lord-ravioli, my main tumblr blog, for even more stupidity than gets posted on my author one.

As for now, I just hope you enjoy the first chapter and are willing to read the rest once it's finished.

Sincerely, the writer. (this isn't a letter, it's an author's note. why is that there?)

It all started on a cold, rainy October first.

Eren Jaeger was walking home from work. It wasn't anything out of the ordinary for him, walking home in the rain. Being that him and his sister were both broke college students trying to scrape out a living on their own, he couldn't even come close to affording a car. Walking everywhere, regardless of weather, had become a pretty routine thing for him.

The cat, however, was new.

Eren had noticed the tiny black smudge sitting next to the entrance of the thrift store from a distance, but he hadn't thought much of it. He figured that the owner had left something odd out front to draw in customers. He did that all the time. But as he drew closer, he quickly realized that it wasn't a pair of black leather boots or a statue or any other kind of inanimate object. He slowed his pace as he approached the front door of the shop. And then the thing twitched its ears, opened its eyes, and looked straight at him.

Yes, that was definitely a cat.

Eren stopped dead in his tracks. He stood there, with his windbreaker slowly getting soaked through by the pouring rain, his eyes glued to the dark bundle of fur huddled underneath the front awning of the thrift shop. The cat did the same, fixing him with its narrow, almond-shaped eyes. Eren stared and a shiver ran down his spine. Was that cat... looking him in the eyes?

Eren took a cautious step closer, shielding himself from the rain under the dripping candy-striped awning. The cat didn't move. It just sat and kept it sharp gaze trained on him. It was almost as if it were waiting for something.

What would a cat be waiting for? Eren wondered.

The cat didn't move an inch from its spot, even with the new addition of Eren taking up its personal space. It just wriggled a little in its place, curled its tail tighter around its paws and squeezed its eyes shut again. The cat seemed a little odd, now that Eren could see it up close. It was tiny, first of all. Even sitting up at its full height, the feline still looked like it could easily cram itself into a tissue box if it wanted to. Its fur was damp and matted, as if it had been sitting out in the rain for hours. Maybe even days. He ventured a step closer, and the cat's eyes flew open again.

Eren stopped dead. It was staring at him again.

He had never seen a cat with eyes like that before.

Eren didn't dare move. He couldn't risk scaring this cat away, not before he got a better look at its eyes. They were a clear, steely blue-grey color, reflective like mercury that seemed to change every time the cat blinked. Slowly, Eren knelt down in front of the tiny creature, lowering his knees to the drenched pavement as gently as he could. The cat watched his every move, leaning away from him when he tried to get closer. Eren sat back on his heels and stared at it, since there really wasn't much else he could do. The cat did the same, a wary look on its tiny black face. Well, as wary as a cat can possibly look.

"Hey," Eren said quietly. "Are you lost?"

The cat's eyes seemed to harden a little. Eren sighed. What the hell am I doing? Why am I talking to a cat?!

"Do you live at the thrift store? Are you the owner's cat? Hm?"

Seriously. Why am I doing this? It's not like the thing is going to answer me.

The cat blinked and twitched its tail. Its paws shifted uncomfortably on the concrete, but it wasn't giving him much more of a reaction. Eren reached a hand out and tried to touch it.

And instantly regretted it as the cat bared its teeth and hissed.

Eren jerked his hand back. He gasped, his face flushed from the sudden shock. He should have been expecting that. He'd already known that cats aren't exactly the most sociable animals. Eren sat and stared at the cat while it straightened itself back out and watched him. He knew there was a correct way to approach cats. He just couldn't seem to remember it. His hands rolled up into fists over his legs as he dug through his brain, trying to resurface it. Armin had taught him this before. Something... something about scent...

Oh, right. I should let him smell me first.

Eren took a deep breath and hesitantly reached his hand out again. The cat eyed it suspiciously, its mercurial gaze bouncing back and forth between the hand and his face. Eren bowed his head and let his eyes drop to the sidewalk. Look submissive, look submissive...

A moment later, something brushed against Eren's fingertips. He glanced sideways, back at the cat sitting in front of him. The creature had leaned forward, elegantly stretching itself out towards his hand, its nose hovering a fraction of an inch from his fingers. A few short puffs of air ghosted over his fingertips. The cat was sniffing him. A minute later it straightened back up and fixed its eyes on him again. Eren stared back. Well, that's a start.

Ever so slowly, Eren stretched his arm out, inch by inch until it was hovering just over the cat's head. The feline stared up at it, as if it were confused about what Eren meant to do. Eren tentatively stretched his fingers out and brought them gently down onto the top of the cat's head. It didn't react. He breathed a sigh of relief and rubbed his fingertips along the top of the cat's head, stopping them at the back of its neck and scratching behind its ears. The cat sat still and held its head up against the pressure, its eyes narrowing into silver-blue slits.

A smile crept onto Eren's face. "Hey. You like that, don't you?"

As a response, the cat stood up on its small paws and arched its back. Eren ran his hand over its lithe, skinny body. He could feel the creature's ribs and spine through its damp, dirty fur. It opened its eyes and looked up at him again. He felt a pang of guilt.

"You don't belong to anyone, do you?" Eren murmured.

The cat looked up at him and squinted its eyes again.

Eren leaned forward and gently eased his free hand around the other side of the cat's tiny body. It reacted immediately, backing away and trying to wriggle its way out of Eren's reach, but Eren somehow managed to be faster. He tightened both his hands around the squirming cat and lifted it off of the pavement. The cat, of course, was having none of it. The feline writhed madly in Eren's hands, clawing at his fingers and trying its hardest to get loose. Eren gritted his teeth against the stinging feeling in his hands, stood up and pressed the small, furious furball to his chest. That seemed to calm it down. Once its paws were no longer dangling over open space, the cat stopped struggling and curled up in the crook of Eren's elbow, choosing to dig its claws into his windbreaker instead of his hands. Eren sighed and wrapped his arms around the little bundle of fur. It felt like it was shivering. Leaning his head down to protect the cat from the rain, Eren stepped out from underneath the thrift store awning and continued on his way home.

The cat was a surprisingly good passenger. Even though remaining walk back to the 1970s split-level where he lived was only ten minutes, he hadn't expected the little creature in his arms to sit still for so long. But it did.

Eren stepped up onto the front porch, leaning his head down once again to shield the cat from the rainwater pouring off from the broken gutter overhead. He took one hand away from the cat to fish through his pocket for his keys, earning himself a sharp dig in the chest from the angry feline that, apparently, still didn't like being loosely held. He put his arm back once he'd unlocked the outer front door, then the one at the top of the small upgoing staircase inside the foyer.

Somewhere below him, the door of the other apartment clicked open.

"Hey, Eren!"

Eren turned around at the sound of a familiar voice. A small, skinny young man staggered up the downgoing staircase next to Eren's, his arms laden with heavy boxes. His longish blonde hair was crammed into a beanie and he was wearing his thick-rimmed glasses over his wide blue eyes. He looked up at Eren, a slight smile on his face.

Must have woken up too late to put his contacts in, Eren thought.

"Hey, Armin," he said cordially. "What've you got there?"

"Book donations," Armin replied, balancing the stacked boxes in his arms and stumbling up to the landing. "I had a lot of cleaning up to do, and the library is looking for some new material. I've read all of these at least ten times, so... out with the old, in with the new, I guess." He gave a tired little laugh and shrugged.

"Oh," Eren said. "You, uh... you need some help there?"

"No. Nope, I've got it," Armin said, shaking his head so fast his bangs swept back and forth over his forehead. He peered over the boxes and up at Eren standing in the doorway to the upper half of the house, otherwise known as his apartment. "Um... what are you carrying?"

"Huh?" Eren mumbled. He felt another dig at his chest. He glanced down, and a pair of angry blue eyes glared back at him, narrowing as if to say You forgot about me?

"It's... uh, it's a cat."

Armin blinked, his eyebrows quirking up and hiding behind his bangs. "A cat?"

"Yeah," Eren replied, making his way back down to the landing to show him the little black furball in his arms. "I found it outside the thrift store, and it seemed tame enough, so I took it home. It didn't have a collar or anything, and it looks like it's been neglected pretty badly. Even if it did belong to someone, I'm pretty sure they're not going to miss it."

Armin leaned over his boxes and took a second to observe the cat. The feline did the same to him. "Are you sure Mikasa's going to be okay with it?"

"Mikasa probably won't mind," Eren said, readjusting his arms when the cat started to squirm. "And even if she does... well, would you mind keeping it until we can find somewhere for it to stay?"

"Oh. I-I don't know. Um... I've got my classes, and the vet's office and everything else..." Armin's face flushed a little. He looked back down at the cat and his eyes started to soften. "But... I... Well..."

Eren smirked. He always knew that Armin had a soft spot for animals.

"I... I guess I could. But only if you can't take care of it. I have a fishtank, remember?"

"Yeah, I remember. Just keep it covered up." Eren smiled and rubbed behind the cat's ears again. "Thanks, man. I'll let you know how things go with Mikasa. See you later."

"Later, Eren." And with that, they split off, Armin out the door and Eren up to his apartment.

"That's Armin," Eren explained to the cat as soon as he'd shut the door behind them. "He lives downstairs. He visits up here a lot, and he's one of my best friends. So be nice to him, okay?"

The cat blinked at him once, then squirmed out of his arms and landed noiselessly on the floor. Eren watched as it scampered off into the corner of the living room and sat down there, its eyes flickering around while it took in its new surroundings.

Well, as long as it doesn't roll around anywhere, it probably won't be too much of a problem, Eren thought. Then he turned, walked into the kitchen and started cooking dinner.

Dinner was uneventful, since Mikasa didn't come home. Eren figured that she was working late and hadn't had the time to call him. Again. Eren fixed up a few prepackaged things from the fridge and found a can of tuna stowed away in one of the cabinets, which he left open on the floor for the cat. The feline dashed over at the smell and wound around his feet while he cooked, licking the can clean before Eren had even finished microwaving his own food. Eren sat on the kitchen counter, the way that Mikasa always yelled at him for, with his plate of leftover chicken and microwave-steamed rice resting in his lap. A minute later the cat jumped up to sit next to him and insisted on getting a piece. Eren had said no at first, but it didn't take long for the cat to convince him otherwise, mainly by clawing at his arm and dragging it away from his plate until Eren got too frustrated to keep staving it off. Eventually he gave in and let it have as much as it wanted. He figured that it hadn't gotten food from anyone in a while and it couldn't hurt too much if it was just once.

Afterwards, things got much more interesting.

Eren already knew that Mikasa wouldn't appreciate him keeping an animal in their apartment. She'd appreciate it even less if it was one as filthy as the cat currently was. So he had decided a long time in advance what he was going to do about it. Although, given the current state of his hands, he was probably going to regret it later on.

He was going to give the cat a bath.

He tried to be covert about it. He kept the bathroom door closed while he filled the bath with warm water, just in case the cat knew what a running faucet sounded like. It didn't seem to care. He did his best to maintain a calm expression as he went about getting a towel out of the closet and digging around in his room for the bottle of pet shampoo that he took from Armin's apartment something like two years ago. The cat just kept wandering around the apartment, sniffing at whatever it found interesting and watching him as he traversed back and forth between the bathroom and wherever else he happened to be going. Setting up the bath itself was easy.

Getting the cat into the bathroom was another story.

It took Eren a whole eight minutes to figure out where the cat had wandered off to. It was hiding under his bed when he found it. He tried coaxing it out, which got him nothing but a condescending stare. So Eren tried to crawl under the bed and pull the cat out himself. This, of course, resulted in him getting stuck under the bed and the cat walking calmly out and going off somewhere else in the apartment. After even more wasted minutes of struggling, Eren managed to drag himself out from under the bed. He immediately searched the room to be sure that the cat wasn't still there, then shut his bedroom door and ventured out into the apartment only to find that the cat had now crammed itself under the couch. Dragging it out was another long and painful ordeal, one that involved a lot of hissing, growling, and even more teeth and claws getting embedded into Eren's already eviscerated hands. Finally Eren had the furious thing in his grasp. He made a break for the bathroom, kicked the door shut and dropped the cat on the floor. The animal yowled for a while went straight to the door. Eren stood firmly in front of it and stared down at the cat, hoping he could get the message of No, you are not going anywhere across. The cat cried, tried to push past him and clawed at his legs, but he still refused to move. Finally it retreated back into the middle of the room and sat down on the bath mat, glaring at him as if to say, Okay, you got me. What the hell do you want from me now?

To answer the cat's unspoken question, Eren got down on his knees, gingerly picked it up and lowered it into the bathtub.

Or tried to.

The cat reacted instantly. In seconds it went from an inanimate lump of fur to a thrashing, screaming demon trying to claw its way out of hell. Eren winced as the feline started shrieking and raking its claws over his arms, trying to free itself from his grasp. He kept his hands fastened around its scrawny body, not willing to let go until he'd at least gotten its fur wet. The cat had a completely different agenda in mind. It twisted itself around in Eren's hands until it had all four paws pushing up against his arms, digging every claw it had available into his flesh.

"Ow!"

Eren's hands spasmed in pain. In that split second, his grip faltered and the cat worked itself loose. It struggled for a second and tried to climb up his arms before its claws slipped and it crashed into the water.

Eren jerked his hands back, his breath hissing through his teeth. He looked down at his arms. They were bleeding all over, covered almost completely in slash marks and puncture wounds, all in neat little sets of four. Every single one of them stung like a bitch. Eren flexed his hands and winced at the burning sensation that any kind of movement seemed to produce. He stood up, holding his arms out in front of him and turned on the cold tap in the sink. He ran the ice water over his arms for a while, trying to clear some of the blood away and numb the pain. Once he was able to move his hands without wanting to scream, Eren opened the medicine cabinet and looked around for some kind of disinfectant. He took out the translucent blue bottle and set it on the sink, then dug a few cotton balls out of the short plastic drawer set next to the sink. He poured the disinfectant over the cuts in his skin, biting back a cry of pain as the stinging started to worsen, then soaked some into a cotton ball and started dabbing at his raw, bleeding arms. He sighed and started muttering to himself. How the hell can something so tiny cause so much damage?

"Stupid fucking cat..."

Eren froze. The cat. What had happened to the cat?

He'd been holding it, getting his arms lacerated and trying to lower it gently into the water, then he'd lost control of his hands and dropped it-

The cat was in the bathtub. Which was filled with water. And there wasn't any yowling or splashing or sounds of any sort.

Eren whirled around, his heart in his throat. Oh god, oh god, what have I done, I've drowned it, I fucking drowned a poor helpless cat, I can't believe I just-

The stupid fucking cat was sitting in the bathtub. With its head above the water. Perfectly alive.

Eren slumped back against the sink and breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh, thank god."

The cat lazily turned its head towards him and blinked, its eyes narrowing in resentment. It was sitting calmly in the few inches of warm water, its back slumped over and its tiny head hanging in defeat. It stared so venomously at him that Eren could practically hear its voice in his head.

What now, dipshit? it said.

Eren took a deep breath and cautiously approached the tub. He was waiting for the cat to react, to leap out of the water or go for his hands again or-

Or nothing.

The cat didn't even move.

Eren knelt down next to the bath and hesitantly stuck his hands into the water. The cat watched him, seeming amused by how scared he was of something one tenth his size. Eren cupped his hands under the water and lifted them up, drizzling a soft shower over the cat's head. Instead of flipping out again as he'd expected it to, the cat sat meditatively still and closed its eyes, letting the water trickle over its head and down its back. It looked almost as if it were enjoying itself.

"That's... weird," Eren murmured to himself as he dropped another handful of water onto the cat's head.

And things only got weirder.

It didn't take long for Eren to get the cat's fur wet. The only reason for that was the fact that the cat was so calm. Unlike the raging, shrieking furball that it had been only moments before, the cat had suddenly become as listless and compliant as a toy. Eren couldn't even begin to imagine why. Maybe it had just tired itself out and given up. But if that was the case, then why did it seem like it liked getting a bath so much?

Once the cat's fur was thoroughly soaked, Eren grabbed the pet shampoo bottle off the side of the sink and squirted some into his hand. The cat didn't make any moves against him when he poured the fresh-scented sludge onto its back and began rubbing it into its fur. Eren worked his fingers into the animal's dark, matted coat, being as gentle as he could as the shampoo turned itself into a lather. The cat closed its eyes as he did his best to massage the dirt out of its coat. And then he felt it vibrating underneath his fingertips.

Eren's eyes widened. The cat was purring?

Because he was giving it a bath?

Okay, that does not make any sense.

Eren shook the thought away as he went about cleaning up what must have been years of living in the streets had done to the little feline. The poor thing was so dirty that the water turned a faint shade of grayish-brown. The cat stayed limp and obedient the entire time, even when Eren lifted it out of the water and rolled it onto its back to get at its stomach. The cat didn't even panic when Eren pulled the plug out of the bath and turned the shower head on to rinse it off. By the time everything was over, the two of them were sitting quietly on the bathroom floor, Eren sweaty, bleeding and exhausted and the cat wrapped in a towel, curled up in a ball with his eyes half-closed.

Yes, his eyes. The cat was a male. Eren had found that out towards the end of its bath.

Eren sighed and leaned back against the wall, gazing tiredly at the little bundle on the bathroom floor. The cat looked so much happier now than it had been before. He was all bundled up in his towel, fluffy, clean and purring. His coat turned out to be a rich, glossy jet black without the layer of grime covering it up. Eren felt a touch of satisfaction. He'd done something good today. Even if that something was just helping out a stray cat.

And then, once again, he remembered Mikasa.

The satisfaction turned into guilt as he stared at the cat. His sister would probably be getting home soon. Even when she worked late, she always tried to get back before dark. And it had been getting dark earlier and earlier lately. If she came in and saw that there was a random cat running around, even one that Eren had just nearly killed himself getting clean...

He sighed again and slumped over against his knees. The cat heard the sound and looked up at him, his strange little silver-blue eyes opening a bit more. Eren gazed back at him. The cat blinked, then it opened its mouth and let out a bright, curious meow.

Eren couldn't help laughing. That was the first time the cat had spoken to him in something that wasn't some kind of a protest. He smiled and leaned over, pushing back the towel to scratch the cat behind the ears. "You're feeling a lot better now, aren't you?" he said.

The cat meowed again, as if it meant to answer him. Eren didn't understand, so he just took it as a yes.

Eren sat back against the wall, his hand gone from the cat's head. The cat didn't seem to mourn the loss too much. He simply wriggled around in his towel-nest and buried himself a little deeper. He closed his eyes and nestled his head between his tiny black paws. The sight was oddly heartwarming. Eren wanted to say Awwwww or something along those lines, but he didn't want to risk it. Something told him the cat would be offended by that.

"You're enjoying the hell out of this, aren't you?" Eren said to the cat.

He started to purr again, and that was the only response Eren got.

Another yes, I guess.

"This probably means you'll want to stay here for a while."

The cat didn't bother replying that time.

"If you're going to be staying here, you're gonna need to have a name. I can't just keep calling you cat."

Eren knelt over him and poked at the towel. "Hey. Are you listening? I said I'm gonna need to give you a name, so you need to pay attention. Okay?"

The cat raised his head and snatched Eren's hand in between his teeth.

"Whoa-" Eren cried out. He jerked his hand back. "Okay. Well, at least I know you're still awake." He settled back down on the bath mat and stared some more at the cat, as if staring at him would somehow inspire him to come up with a suitable name. But, no matter how he tried, nothing would come up. So he decided to start with something basic. Or borderline generic. Either description would have worked.

"How about Midnight? Does Midnight sound good to you?"

The cat stared at him, its face the physical representation of Are you fucking kidding me?

"Yeah, you're right. I need to try harder," Eren agreed. He folded up his legs and stared at him some more. "Maybe... Bruce? Like Bruce Wayne? You'll be Batman."

The cat didn't respond.

"I guess that one doesn't work either... I don't know. Hm... I found you outside a thrift shop. How about Macklemore?"

Eren could have sworn he saw the cat roll its eyes.

"Aw, come on. It's funny."

The cat straightened up and sat on his haunches, keeping his stare level with Eren's. It must have expected for Eren to need his approval for the name, and obviously he was still unimpressed.

"Okay. I'll keep thinking," Eren said. He held the cat's gaze and rested his chin in his hand. He started running through every halfway-decent cat name he could come up with as fast as he possibly could. "Magic?"

The cat didn't respond.

"Ash?"

Still nothing.

"Gerard? Like from My Chemical Romance?"

He blinked, but didn't do much else.

"Um... Licorice? Jack? Blackjack? What about Cedric? Um... Severus? Draco?"

The cat had stopped listening to him and gone back to the apparently important task of licking his paws. Eren sighed and stopped rattling off the list of names. It was obvious the cat didn't care for any of them. He stared at the cat for a while longer, even though he'd already realized it didn't help at all. After a long time and no new suggestions, he offered up the first name that popped into his head. He didn't know where it had come from. All of a sudden, it was just there.

"Levi?" he said hopelessly.

The cat stopped licking himself and his head spun towards Eren, so fast that his bright pink tongue was still sticking out of his mouth. He blinked, his mercury-blue eyes wide, licked his nose and meowed inquisitively.

What is it? He seemed to be saying.

A smile broke out on Eren's face. He said the name again, laughter bubbling up into his voice. "Levi," he repeated.

The cat chirped again and stood up, the towel around him falling loose.

"You like Levi? That's what you want your name to be?"

The cat took a few steps toward Eren and mewed once. Eren reached out and rubbed his fingers over the top of his head. The cat nuzzled him approvingly back.

"Alright. Levi it is then."