Yeah, it's been a while. Stuff happened - illness, writer's block, and I'm kind of generally regretting having ever joined tumblr, because I think it might have been contributing to my block. I hope I'll be able to turn it around soon.

Either way, I hope you continue to enjoy the story! Thank you all for your kind support.

There was a lot of preparation to do before Levi could become his housemate. Patching up the place so Erwin himself could live in it again was both time-consuming and expensive, and the results of a week's worth of it was enough to make it look less like a disaster zone but not yet decent. Damaged furniture could be replaced, but the structural damage to the walls and floor would need much more specialized work, and Erwin didn't have time for that right now. This would probably have one of two effects on Levi: either soften him up with guilt or make him defensive and uncooperative. Erwin hoped for the former.

He stocked up on food and made sure to set up the television room comfortably. He cleared some closet space so Levi could keep his things there, put clean sheets on the bed that doubled as a TV watching couch and transferred a few more pillows in. He brought some books over from the living room and set them up on the small table at one end of the bed, then surveyed the room. The curtains were currently missing as Erwin had decided to wash them, allowing sunlight to wash the room in gold from the southern window. The round rug was a mutedly cheerful solid pale blue that matched the darker blue of the sofa and the windowframes. Erwin hoped Levi liked blue.

There was something kind of pathetic about the situation. First time Erwin was having somebody come and live with him and it was a supervillain out for his blood. Still, if he had a partner this whole situation would probably be even more awkward, so it was better like this.

He wondered what kind of roommate Levi would be.

Out of all his preparations, the most important by far was coffee with Wildfire, who updated him on Levi's status.

She started off by guzzling coffee like she hadn't seen it in months, her fire powers protecting her from being burned by the heat of the liquid. Erwin let her drink in silence for a few moments, knowing she'd get to the point. Half a cup down and Wildfire set it aside with a hefty sigh.

"I needed that," she said. "Between work and home, I'm going crazy."

"Levi's being difficult," Erwin said, though his intonation left room for contradiction.

"Not… difficult, exactly. I don't know if he's doing it on purpose. But he pushes. Every time he opens his mouth, he's pushing. I get kids like that sometimes, you know? They test the boundaries, and if you can show them where it's safe, they feel better. At least, that's the idea." She made an abortive gesture with her hand, reaching to play with hair by her ear that wasn't there, but tied up in a high red ponytail. Erwin long suspected that her hair was actually shorter than she presented when she was in costume, but took no steps to prove or disprove the theory. It was kind of pathetic how easily they could find each other out if they put their minds to it, making him wonder sometimes if there was any real point in keeping their identities secret from each other. But it was traditional, so they kept at it.

"I think that's what he was trying to do with me," Erwin offered. "The pushing, I mean."

Wildfire nodded and gulped some more coffee. Erwin was going to have to order her another one. "It's an expression of insecurity, but worse, it's a self-destructive mechanism. He's sure how we'll react, right? So he pushes and pushes trying to prove it true, and then when we break down, he tells himself it was inevitable. The only way to win is to make him stop…" Wildfire trailed off and shook her head. "I'll be honest, Commander, if he was ten years younger I'd say we have a chance."

Erwin felt a flash of disappointment. "You don't think we have one now?"

"The guy's twenty-four," Wildfire sighed. "Who knows how many years he's been doing this? Every time it works it just reinforces the cycle."

"What does Eren think?"

Wildfire groaned. She picked up her cup and frowned in disappointment to find it empty, so Erwin ordered her another one. "Eren acts like any question about Levi will be used against him during a trial. Levi's managed to push every single button he has and then some. Eren's in full-out rescue mode." She took a grateful sip of her new coffee and looked down at her reflection in it. "I'm worried," she confessed. "If Levi goes bad I don't know what it'll do to him."

Erwin mulled over this information. "Should we keep them apart, then? Give Eren time to cool down?"

"No," Wildfire replied immediately, and Erwin was on the verge of asking her how biased she was, but she continued. "If Levi realized, it would effectively undo everything we're trying to do. We can't say we trust him around Eren and then not. And if Eren realized he'd get angry and that's counter-productive. They'll be in less contact from now on anyway. That'll have to be enough."

The thought of Levi dragging Eren down with him was enough to sober Erwin. He hadn't thought of this plan as a two-way street. The affinity between Eren and Levi had seemed positive, and Eren was so very… steadfast in his views of Right and Wrong that Erwin hadn't considered the possibility of him being compromised. The thought of Eren becoming a villain was ludicrous, so what would he do?

Erwin's mind offered a few suggestions, none of them pretty.

"This isn't such a big deal," Wildfire piped up again, "but I think Carnage might be a bit jealous."

"What? Of what?"

"Ah," Wildfire looked a bit uncertain, and gave a small nervous laugh. "Levi's so much more powerful than us, you know? I mean, I don't mind, fighting with him would probably be fun. But he's really strong."

"That's ridiculous," Erwin snapped. "Carnage is an adult, he'll have to get over it. We don't play power games! This isn't a competition!"

"Shh!" Wildfire flapped her hands at him urgently to lower his voice. Erwin complied, annoyed to have lost control. As it was two costumed superheroes in a coffeeshop was drawing attention, he didn't need to make it worse by shouting.

"I'm just saying," Wildfire sighed. "You're so touchy."

"Ridiculous," Erwin repeated.

Because superheroes tended to be trouble magnets, the two of them were forced to deal with a traffic accident upon leaving, which dragged the whole thing out another half an hour when Erwin would really have preferred to be alone to think things over. In the end he and Wildfire decided to have him take Levi now instead of in the evening, since the afternoon was mostly shot anyway. It was a sound decision, quite logical, but it meant that now Erwin was standing by his car, mind buzzing with the effects of the conversation with Petra and his blood still hot with the annoyance at the complete asininity of power-grade jealousy. Probably not the best frame of mind to be greeting Levi in.

Levi was guaranteed to try and piss him off, so he'd better start working on being calm.

The first moment when Wildfire's car pulled over and the door opened on one Eren helping another Eren out had Erwin momentarily disoriented. He remembered, of course, that Levi was Eren's copy, but somehow he'd still expected him to look like the dark shadow that had haunted his house for three days.

"-and make sure you get help changing the bandages," Eren was admonishing. "When you do it yourself you don't always get the back right."

"Shut your goddamn trap," Levi growled. "You're worse than p-Wildfire. I'll get the lunk to change my bandages, okay?"

Wildfire was walking beside them, carrying a duffel bag. "I packed Eren's gray hoodie for you," she said. "Since you seemed to like it so much. If you need any more of Eren's clothes let us know, you hear? You shouldn't lounge around in the same clothes all the time, either-"

"Gross," Levi said, clearly wishing he could walk away but wasn't up to rushing yet. "Of course I do laundry, what kind of animal do you think I am?"

"Hem!" Wildfire said pointedly to Eren, who flushed.

Amazing, Erwin thought. Despite Petra's grim predictions, Levi was acting extremely normal. Maybe part of it was because of the influence of Eren's personality, but Erwin was inclined to think there was more to it. So Erwin prepared his best welcoming expression when they got within speaking distance, but didn't miss how the openness dropped sharply off Levi's face at the sight of him.

True, it was kind of hard to see exactly what face he was making, because while the Scouts were in uniform to protect their identities, they had Levi in a hood pulled up over his hair, and sunglasses. Still, Erwin could see that his jaw was set and his lips thinned, but between the hoodie and Eren's youth, he just looked like a sulky teenager.

No, Erwin admonished himself. He couldn't forget that no matter what he looked like, Levi was a threat.

"Ready to go?" Erwin asked.

Levi straightened with a wince and shook off Eren's support. "Yeah."

The duffel, when Erwin took it from Petra, weighed nothing to him, and he stood ready to assist Levi, who seemed determined to make it to the car without assistance. He only paused once to look back and opened his mouth as if to speak, then gave a sort of sheepish shrug and didn't say anything, but Eren brightened visibly.

Erwin waved goodbye to the two of them, and received a very serious look from Eren in reply. Unsettled, Erwin turned back to Levi and paced him to the car, wondering how he'd managed to buy so much of Eren's loyalty in such a short time when Erwin had been working at him for ages and Eren still chafed against him.

Levi got settled in the car, slumped slightly in what Erwin decided was exhaustion rather than just sullenness, and stared out the window blankly. Erwin endured several minutes of the oppressive silence and focused on driving before he decided to try and see just how unpleasant Levi was intending to be.

"So how was it at Wildfire's?" he asked. "I've never been there."

Levi glanced at him out of the corner of his eye and went back to watching downtown go by. Well, could have been worse.

They pulled into Erwin's parking lot with no more words exchanged between them. Levi still wouldn't accept any assistance walking to the front door, so Erwin just carried the bag and watched to make sure he didn't collapse along the way.

"Welcome back," he said, having decided that pretending Levi's short sojourn of horror hadn't happened would be stupid. "It's still kind of a mess. I haven't gotten around to fixing everything."

Even though he knew he shouldn't, he still felt a bit self-conscious about the gouges in the wall and the fact that the sofas were patched up with packing tape. He'd replaced his bed, though, and the carpet, but decided that if he had to get new sofas he might as well look for something he liked.

Practically the first thing Levi did upon entering was toss the hood back and take off the sunglasses, then he surveyed the living room and turned to Erwin. The similarity to Eren was just a bit startling.

"I'll pay for it," Levi said.

"That's not necessary," Erwin replied immediately, though his mind was already cataloguing the fact that Levi felt enough sense of responsibility to offer and that was a good thing.

Levi gave a short, cold chuckle in reply. "Oh, right. Of course you'd be too good for my blood money."

Erwin hadn't thought of it at all, though maybe he should have. But should he protest? Was it worth protesting? What reply did Levi want to hear? And honestly, would Erwin feel comfortable owning a sofa that had been financed by arms smuggling? These thoughts took barely a second, but it was enough that replying would be kind of awkward, so Erwin didn't say anything. He cleared his throat.

"You're room's this way," he said, and tried to gauge Levi's mood shift from earlier, if any. He seemed marginally glummer, but that was about it.

"Oh, it's the one I didn't trash," Levi said.

"Please keep it that way, if you don't mind," Erwin said. "I don't want to have to redecorate here, too."

Levi grunted and trudged over to the bed, pulled back the sheets, and sat down on it, his movements stiff. He maneuvered himself around, pulled his feet up, then lay down with an almost inaudible sigh of relief.

Erwin cleared his throat. "I work most days, except Saturdays of course, and Friday's a half-day. So you'll have the house to yourself in the mornings. I usually have cereal for breakfast, so you're welcome to that, or something else if you want to make it. Lunch is-"

"What the hell are you doing?" Levi cut in.

Honestly baffled, Erwin replied, "I'm pretty sure I was giving you my schedule."

"I mean this." He waved an arm around a bit weakly, but with clear annoyance. "This whole sleepover party thing. Cut the fucking bullshit. Do you think I'm some kind of stray animal, that all you have to do is put out a bowl of milk for me and I'll come crawling to you gratefully?"

Looked like this conversation was going to be happening now. Damn. Erwin would have preferred to give it some more time. Moreover, there were no other chairs in the room, which meant that he was looking down on Levi where he was lying in bed, which surely wasn't putting him in a less competitive frame of mind.

"Not at all," Erwin said evenly. "Is the concept of kindness so foreign to you?"

"You're the ones who shot me," Levi sneered.

"You went ballistic in my house for three days," Erwin said, refusing to get annoyed. Petra had said that Levi tended to come back to this topic. "Mike was worried about me."

"It usually works," Levi said quietly, his mood sobering. The words trickled down Erwin's spine like ice water.

"What do you mean?"

"The haunted house shtick. You aren't the first one to talk big, but you're the first that held out so long."

Held out- Erwin was striding for the bed before he knew it, grabbed Levi by the collar and hoisted him up easily, ignoring Levi's slightly pained grunt. "Heroes?" he demanded, feeling ill. He'd figured that Levi had been trying to get him to fight, but hearing it admitted – he hadn't even considered that there had been others before him, and how it had ended. Clearly, since Levi was still here that meant –

"Yeah," Levi gasped. He'd wrapped both his hands around Erwin's wrist, and Erwin couldn't even tell if he was trying to pry the hand off or just hold himself up.

"What did you do to them?"

"What do you think, moron? Killed 'em."

Erwin shook him again, searching his face for some sign of remorse, regret, something. But with Eren's features overlying Levi's expressions he just couldn't tell, all he saw was Eren's eyes glittering challengingly at him above a mouth twisted in a painful grimace.

"How many?" he demanded. "Who?" He tried to think of heroes that had vanished in recent years, but how could you know if a hero left the streets because they died in battle or were murdered in bed or just decided to hang up their cape?

"Does it matter?" Levi asked.

There was just a hint of taunt in his voice, barely there, but enough to cut through the fury in Erwin's veins. He forced his hands down, lowering Levi back to the bed with as much gentleness as he could manage, and swallowed a torrent of angry words. This was what Levi wanted – Erwin angry. He had known that Levi was going to try and infuriate him (but why now, when Levi couldn't fight back?). He had weathered physical attacks for three days; he could weather the verbal ones.

"No," Erwin said. "It doesn't." He had known Levi had done awful things, and decided despite that to try and save what good remained in him. It remained to be seen just how far Levi had fallen, because Erwin hadn't actually considered something like this. Selling weapons was so very sterile in comparison. It also wasn't surprising, considering that the Underground was in the business of killing superpowered people. Still… "You didn't tell Eren any of this," he mused aloud. "You were afraid, weren't you? Of what he'd think of you if he knew."

Erwin looked back at Levi's face to find him stark white, pale as the sheets, eyes wide and lips bloodless.

"Oh," Levi whispered, shaky, so stiff he might shatter. His hands fisted convulsively in the sheets by his sides.

All of fifteen minutes in his home and he'd screwed up, Erwin realized. He wasn't used to miscalculating so badly. "That's not what I mean," he said, mind racing to think of a way to not make it into the blackmail it sounded like.

He didn't think Levi even heard him. Eyes perfectly blank, Levi's gaze wandered to the ceiling and stayed there. Any defiance was gone, leaving him limp as a doll in the bed. Erwin had set him up perfectly: gotten him hooked on Eren, then shattered him with a well-timed blow. He'd be docile, now, shuttered, until he could either harden himself or submit and… shit. Fixing this meant exposing their weaknesses but if he didn't do it now they didn't stand a chance with Levi.

"For god's sake," Erwin said, the words coming easily now that he'd set a course of action. "Eren's a bloodthirsty savage and black and white is only almost extreme enough for him. He killed two murderers with a knife when he was nine. If you provoked them into attacking you with lethal force he'd probably argue that you were justified because they should have known better. Only if he likes you, though, but you're in luck - the kid's besotted. Does that make things clear?"

If Levi goes then Eren might go off the deep end with him – and now Levi knows it –

The edge was off, though, for now. Color back in his face, Levi's breathing had returned to normal and he was looking at Erwin again, his expression no longer panicked, but rather confused. Calculation was easy to read on his face since that sort of craftiness was definitely not Eren's forte, and it was enough to make Erwin feel cold again.

Before things could escalate once more, Erwin launched back into a stiffer, much more abbreviated version of his schedule and basic house rules and requests. He managed to finish without mishap this time, mostly because it was clear that neither he nor Levi particularly wanted to be talking to each other right now. Erwin needed to collect himself and reform his battle plans, and Levi probably wanted to contemplate how he could turn Eren against them.

Damn it all. Erwin finished, then beat what could only be charitably called a retreat. Eager to keep at least a door or two between him and his guest he holed up in his own room, shut the door, and began pacing.

So aside from being an illegal arms dealer, Levi was an out-and-out murderer; apparently he hadn't escaped the Underground completely unscathed. The bright side was that it confirmed Erwin's suspicion that Levi hadn't intended to kill him (because if he'd wanted to he definitely could have), but painting him in a redeemable light was becoming more and more difficult, and if they ever did reach the point where he was registering Levi as a hero they were definitely going to have to sweep a whole lot under the carpet.

Sending him to prison was still an option, Erwin reminded himself. He'd had a talk with Widget, interested in Levi's potential terms of incarceration if it came to that. It turned out that there were some new developments in holding shifters: While most of them were still kept drugged and isolated to prevent shifting, there was apparently a new device in development that would revolutionize shifter captivity, Widget said. It was a shift-sensitive implant, ideally set so that a shift triggered the release of a drug or toxin into the bloodstream, immobilizing the shifter until troops could come pick them up, alerted by a signal from the device. As shifters tended to have resistance to drugs, they could be outfitted with an explosive instead.

"The problem," Widget had said enthusiastically, "is that it turns out that a lot of shifters don't actually have full voluntary control over their powers, or they just can't hold themselves back all the time. They've already had two cases of accidental triggering, and it's not like there are that many shifters to try it on, you know? One was really nasty, the guy had his leg blown off."

Saving Levi's life for that seemed rather like a waste. Putting him away as a non-shifter arms dealer would be more humane, but he'd probably get a life sentence, and Erwin frankly didn't trust Levi not to walk. Oh, with prodding he might last a few years at most, but a lifetime? No way. Nobody had enough guilt to just sit their whole life in prison when they could leave any time.

So where did that leave them? Basically where he'd started, only a bit bleaker.

Of course, there was still the eminently probable chance that Levi would make a run for it the first chance he got and the Scouts would be forced to track him down and there would be no more talk of rehabilitation. Erwin sighed, turned to do another circuit, when a loud crash made him jump.

Damn Levi— He sprinted for the kitchen.

There he found Levi, standing amidst shattered glass in front of his open tableware cabinet, a slightly guilty look in Eren's green eyes.

"Really, Levi?" he snapped, before he could stop himself. What did it take for Levi to just get bored with wrecking his house?

"It fell," Levi said defensively. "I just wanted a drink and it fell."

Erwin opened his mouth to retort but managed to pause at the last minute, registering Levi's odd, stiff stance, the way his right hand was clenched convulsively around his abdomen, and then let his eyes travel to the still-open glassware cabinet with its rows of glasses at eye level – for him. Eren was a bit shorter than he was. Levi must have reached with his left arm, overextended, and flinched.

"Stay there," he said, gesturing at Levi's socked feet. "I'll go get a broom."

He returned moments later with a broom and dustpan, to find that Levi hadn't moved from his spot, obediently waiting for Erwin to clear away the glass.

"I don't know why you're bothering with me," Levi said tightly. "Even if I agreed, you'd never trust me. This is pointless. You can't even trust me to break a fucking glass by accident."

"I apologize," Erwin said. "I jumped to conclusions." He swept away the last of the glass and threw it away, then set aside the broom and took down a new glass for Levi, filled it with water, and tried to hand it to him. Levi didn't move to accept it, his eyes fixed furiously on Erwin's face.

"You're always going to jump to conclusions because I'm a fucking supervillain!" Levi burst out. There was an edge to his voice that Erwin had never heard before. "The first time something goes wrong you'll jump to conclusions. Ten years down the line you'll still be fucking wondering. You won't ever forget that I crawled out of the sewers. And some day it'll be too much and you'll throw me away. So why not save ourselves all the shit and skip to the end?"

"What happens at the end?"

"You hunt me down. There will probably be a dramatic showdown. Maybe in the rain. There will be lots of 'you don't want to do this' and 'this isn't who you are'. I'll probably end up dead by an attack that you didn't mean to kill me with."

"I think you watch too much TV," Erwin replied. Shock flickered through Levi's eyes for an instant, followed by fury – because maybe it was melodramatic, but some part of Levi believed it. "But why not consider the other scenario? The one where you join the team and save people. The one where you become a hero."

"No," Levi snapped, too quickly. "That doesn't happen."

"Why not?"

"Because you don't want me because you think I'm good inside, you want me because I've got superpowers. I don't see you begging every two-bit criminal on the street to join you." Behind his sneer Levi looked a little pale, and was swaying with the effort of keeping upright.

"You're wrong," Erwin said bluntly, thankful this, at least, was true. "We've given a lot of people second chances. It's just not often anybody takes them."

"Oh," Levi said, his tone neutral for the first time that day. The sardonic edge was gone, leaving just honest surprise. This time, when Erwin handed him the glass of water he accepted it and wandered off, lost in thought.

At least he was quiet, now, and Erwin could hopefully get some work done. He headed for his small office and was just reaching out for the door handle when Eren's – Levi's – voice stopped him. He forced himself not to sigh.

"Isn't there something wrong with letting all these criminals walk instead of sending them to prison?"

At least the question didn't sound overtly antagonistic, which was a good start.

"I didn't say we give unlimited chances," Erwin replied. "You look pale. I don't mind having this conversation, but do you want to sit down?"

Levi bristled at him, for a moment looking so much like Eren it was uncanny. "I'm fine."

Erwin entered his office and left the door invitingly open, then gestured to the extra chair when Levi deigned to slouch his way in.

"No wonder you're the head of this shitty team," Levi grumbled. "Commander Mother Hen is what you are."

"I do make a decent chicken soup," Erwin said, and was quite pleased when something like frustrated amusement flashed across Levi's face. "And back to the previous topic, if we do decide to give a chance, it's never more than one."

"What do the victims think of your precious chances?"

"We don't ask them. If they want to deal justice, they're welcome to join our ranks and do it their way."

Levi cocked his head and narrowed his eyes at Erwin. "It's interesting you'd let people go unpunished."

"Prison isn't punishment," Erwin objected.

"Hah. Of course it is. People like knowing that shitty people are behind bars getting beaten up by other shitty people. People like watching the villains brought to justice. In movies you get to watch them beaten up, and in real life you get to think about rapists getting raped in prison. It's because we don't have gladiators and hangings anymore. That's why people like superheroes. They see you in the streets and know that you hurt bad guys. Wouldn't you want to hurt me if you knew who I killed?"

And back to square one. Erwin had to resist the very strong temptation to bang his head into his desk repeatedly. It was only the knowledge that Levi was being exasperating on purpose that kept Erwin from shouting something regrettable back at him.

"When I brought you here," Erwin said levelly, "it was because I decided to set aside your past. I don't care about it. I care about your future. If you become a hero, your sponsor – that is, me – takes responsibility for your subsequent behavior. I would have to vouch for you, and I would be held accountable if you suddenly went darkside. It would be seen as a lapse in my judgment. I would have to take you down, and I'd risk having my own status revoked. If your past came to light, it would be equally awkward for me, because while reformed supervillains do exist, they're not often truly accepted into the superhero community. Especially not shapeshifters. Do you understand me?" Erwin felt like he was practically pleading. "I'm offering you a clean slate and a new identity. It's a fucking get out of jail free card. I'm offering you a community that will take care of you, and the chance to be a hero."

Levi looked at him through Eren's bright green eyes, his brows drawn together and worried lines creasing his forehead. "You couldn't trust me," he said, but the words lacked conviction. Plain as day, the desire to be the person Erwin described – safe, stable, happy, a hero – was written all over his face.

"I want to trust you," Erwin said, keeping his voice soft and persuasive. His heart thrummed with excitement that he was finally getting through, Levi's guard was down and his face open –

"But, I mean," Levi said hesitantly, "if the deal's this good, what's stopping me from agreeing and then bailing on you once my trial period's over-" The realization of what he was saying made his eyes widen and he clapped a hand over his mouth, but the damage was done.

"Not a thing." Erwin closed his eyes briefly. "I want to trust you," he said again, through a tight jaw. "But you're making it pretty fucking difficult."

To this Levi had no answer. After a few seconds of silence he stood up and walked stiffly to the doorway, then vanished down the hall.

"This would be so much easier if you stopped shooting yourself in the foot," Erwin muttered, pulled out his laptop, and finally settled down to get some work done.

That night, Erwin dreamed that he was standing in a windstorm by a cliff's edge, with Levi hanging from his arm and dangling over the abyss. Levi was clinging to him, terror in his eyes, and though Erwin knew he was strong enough to hold on, he let go and watched Levi fall and fall.

Erwin woke with a jolt in his bed, thoroughly disgusted at the melodrama of his unconscious mind.

He thought he was doing a good job at getting back to work normally. The boss had originally been furious, but one look at Erwin's swollen face and damaged hands and he'd thoughtfully consented to overlook the three days he'd missed. Nanaba had given him an awkward little pep talk laced with innuendo about their double life; Erwin appreciated the effort. Rico let things slide, but watched him like a hawk, and today she was on him the moment he set out for his lunch break.

"What are you up to?" she asked, falling into stride.

"Lunch," Erwin answered easily, just for the disgusted look it got him.

"And the problems you were having?"

"Not a problem any more."

She huffed in annoyance. "Identity breaches are a problem for everybody," she said. "Just watch it, Smith."

"You left me alone about it for a whole week," Erwin observed. "Why are you getting on my case about it now?"

She gave him a severe look through her wire-rimmed glasses. "You've gotten all squirrelly. I know you're up to something."

"I'm up to lots of things," Erwin said honestly. "But I don't think they're any of your business."

He left her seething, but decided he didn't care too much. The others hardly ever took time to help out the Scouts except for when there was glory to be stolen. And while some of the heroes were big into the no-killing thing – one of the Big Names was famous for constantly imprisoning his nemesis even though the guy was an utter psychopath and everybody really just wanted him dead already (to be honest, even Erwin had toyed with the idea of doing a hit on him, even though it was a gross breach of territory) – not many of them would put in the effort of a proper rehabilitation, and especially not when it involved a shapeshifter.

Better keep it to himself. Worst case, if it all went to crap he'd file Levi as a supervillain and just neglect to mention the recruitment attempt.

Walking home he found a spring in his step for sheer relief at being able to get out of the oppressive house, and that gave him pause. Maybe Levi was sick of being cooped up as well, which might be a factor in his consistently terrible mood.

Either way, it was certainly worth a try.

"Why are we in a junkyard?" Levi grumped, following Erwin with ill will. Getting him out of the house had been a challenge, but he hadn't put up nearly as much resistance as Erwin had worried, which meant his guess was right. Levi was probably dying for a change of scenery.

While Erwin was in uniform as usual when he went out for things like this, Levi was back in sunglasses and a hoodie. The gray hoodie, Erwin was amused to notice; Petra had evidently been correct about his fondness for it.

"Training," Erwin said, waving a hand expressively over the piles of scrap metal and broken-down cars. "Not all of us can afford hi-tech training rooms, so we make do."

"So what," Levi said, taking in the heaps of twisted metal, "you come here to throw cars around?"

Erwin went over to a likely-looking shell, dug his fingers, and lifted. "Exactly."

Levi looked rather impressed in spite of himself, which prompted Erwin to show off a little, raising the entire thing above his head in as smooth a movement as he could manage. He would probably regret not doing a more gradual warmup, but at least he hadn't started with anything terribly heavy. It was probably only 500 kilos or so.

With a flourish, Erwin then tossed it aside onto the scrap heap, which let out a gratifying squeal of tortured metal.

"How much can you lift?" Levi asked. When Erwin turned to him, he saw that Levi had settled on the cleanest piece of non-metal scrap he could find, legs splayed out and leaning back on his palms. His body was relaxed, and the tone of the question idle curiosity rather than antagonism.

"You can take off the hood," Erwin suggested. "There's nobody here but us."

Levi complied immediately, pulling it down and running fingers through his hair, and tucked the sunglasses into a pocket.

"I can lift about a ton without too much strain," Erwin said, just a bit awkwardly because while a ton was a lot of weight he couldn't even pick up a van, much less stop a train in its tracks. As super strength went it wasn't that great, but Levi seemed decently impressed when Erwin went to find a large bar for some one-armed lifting. "How about you?"

"Weight? It's proportionate to whatever I shift into. If I make bigger muscles I get stronger. I could pick up a truck or something if I turned into the dragon."

"Huh." Erwin set the bar aside and straightened up. "You can just shift more muscles to make yourself stronger?" Not that Erwin was the type for jealousy, but he felt just the tiniest prickling of discomfort. Levi could duplicate so many of their powers.

"Within reason. I mean, not like you. Look at you lifting that car." Levi flapped a lazy hand at Erwin. "Must be so useful. Damn, I miss shifting."

"Did you shift often?" Erwin asked, as he hunted around for the makeshift barbell he'd made the second time he'd come here. He'd twisted together a bunch of heavy aluminum rods and crushed a car chassis or two on either end for weights. Finding it, he lay down on the ground and settled in for some bench presses.

"Yeah." Levi's tone was far-off, and he watched Erwin vaguely, eyes unfocused. "All the time. Like if I was reading in the living room and wanted something out of the kitchen, I'd just reach out a tentacle. Or if I needed to muck around on the ceiling I'd make myself taller."

Amazing how easily Levi opened up, out here in the sun with Erwin's focus not so directly on him. Perhaps even Levi was getting tired of the constant sniping.

"Going out, too. No point going out as myself."

"Why?" Erwin set aside the barbell to take a breather and sat up.

"Aside from not wanting to be recognized, why not look however I want to look, if I can?"

"Do you dislike your body?"

Levi chuckled. "Barking up the wrong tree. Do you not use your super strength when it's convenient? I can shift for shits and giggles, so I do."

"So what do you like going out as?"

"Whatever I feel like, it always changes. I turn into a hot girl for bars, though."

"What?" Erwin straightened in surprise.

Levi smirked. "I'd wait for somebody to slip me date-rape, then beat them up outside. What's with that face?" He bristled, the guardedness coming back.

"That's a really good idea," Erwin said honestly. "Have you considered cooperating with the police?" It was positively brilliant – Levi could infiltrate human trafficking rings, bait kidnappers and child predators… the possibilities were endless. It's heroic, Erwin wanted to say, but that might be pushing too fast.

Levi shifted in his seat, clearly uncomfortable with the praise. "Don't make a huge fucking deal out of it, I just beat up some assholes," he said.

"I'm serious. Any police force would die to have your cooperation. Interpol would love you."

"Interpol would love to have me in fucking prison," Levi muttered, the momentary pride Erwin had glimpsed on his face vanishing without a trace.

Erwin elected to leave him alone for a bit, and went back to his workout routine. Every so often he glanced at Levi, and when he was finally finished he saw that the shifter had fallen asleep, curled up like a cat in the sun. Erwin came up to him and paused, inspecting his sleeping features. He wasn't sure if he was imagining it or not, because only a week had passed, but he thought that Levi was looking just a bit less like Eren than he previously had. His cheekbones seemed just a touch more defined, making Eren's face seem a bit older, and his hair had a slightly darker tint to it. Certainly nothing noticeable if you weren't looking for it, but enough to give Erwin hope that Levi would indeed be able to shift back to his own form. He would have reached out to touch Levi on the shoulder to wake him, thought better of it, and cleared his throat instead. Levi jerked awake like a shot and then convulsed around his wounded side, panting harshly.

"Fucker," he gasped.

"Sorry," Erwin replied, even though he hadn't done anything. "Shall we head back?"

Levi glared up at him for a moment, evidently waiting for Erwin to make some comment, which Erwin pointedly refrained from doing. He just nodded mildly and headed for the car, listening, listening – there. Levi was following.

And yet, for every step forward, they took two steps back. Levi was antagonistic most of the time that he wasn't holed up alone in his room, and the one time Mike showed up for a visit he broke three plates. He said it was an accident, he'd been startled, and just washing Erwin's dishes (with a few comments about what a massively disgusting slob Erwin was), and though Erwin made himself nod acceptance for the excuse, he felt a niggling doubt.

Levi must have noticed, because half an hour later Erwin heard a loud crash and found him standing in the middle of the living room, having smashed a chair into one of the few surviving light fixtures.

"That was on purpose," Levi snarled and stumbled back to the guest room, back stiff.

Frankly, Erwin hadn't considered just how stressful having a sudden roommate could be. He couldn't bring friends over because he was unwilling to expose them to Levi (both because of risk to them and because of Levi generally being lousy company), he had to make sure Levi had enough to eat, had his bandages changed, and was entertained enough to not be more unpleasant than usual. When Erwin brought in new sofas he was extremely pleased with Levi said they were ugly, and when he changed the light fixtures Levi complained that they weren't bright enough and he should use fluorescent.

And after every single complaint he would pause, give Erwin a challenging look to see how he'd react.

Then there was the time Erwin had come back to find Levi huddled in his room, and when Erwin asked if he wanted dinner Levi had told him flatly to fuck off. Annoyed, Erwin went into the kitchen to figure something out, only to find dinner waiting for him. He assumed Levi had exhausted himself preparing it, and went to thank him afterwards.

"Don't humor me," Levi said from the bed. "It was crap. I couldn't chop anything properly. And I put in too much salt."

"It was great," Erwin insisted, but Levi seemed to get no pleasure from his words. What bothered Erwin worse than the failure itself was that Levi didn't try again. Where Eren would done it over and over until he got it right, Levi curled in on himself and surrendered – and that was worrisome. The signs were clearly visible: Levi was backsliding, slowly but surely. So many little things came together into a picture that Erwin didn't like in the least.

When Erwin had first called Levi a supervillain he'd been taken aback and not particularly keen to label himself as one, and yet a scant few weeks later and he'd adopted the label, which to Erwin was a big step in the wrong direction. Combined with his constant admonitions to Eren about how evil he was and the little self-deprecating comments to Erwin, Erwin suspected that Levi was setting himself up for failure. By placing the Scouts on a pedestal he could never hope to reach he was well on the way to convincing himself there was no point in even trying.

The lethargy was all the more pronounced because Eren didn't make those kinds of expressions. Eren was sad, angry, happy – every emotion of his was powerful. Wearing Eren's face, Levi made him look gray and washed out, leeched of personality. Nobody now could confuse the two.

Hoping that a change in scenery would jolt Levi out of his rut, Erwin offered to take him to visit Eren. Levi actually perked up for a brief moment, before the light went out of his eyes and he told Erwin not to bother. It was better like this, Levi said. Let the kid forget about him.

"He's been asking after you," Erwin said. When Levi just burrowed back into his book without answering, Erwin decided that fuck secret identities, called Eren, and arranged to pick him up. He dropped Eren (who came armed with a backpack of games and an expression of fierce determination) off at his house, and headed off for a much-needed break from his dour housemate at Mike's.

Upon entering Erwin made a beeline for the nearest sofa and unceremoniously swept the mess off of it and onto the floor so he could flop down and spread out.

"Beer?" Mike asked, sounding amused, and Erwin let out a groan that could have sounded something like 'please'. A can was tossed towards him which Erwin caught easily, pleased that he no longer crushed beer cans with the lightest touch like he had when his powers first manifested. Mike evidently remembered those days, too.

Armed with his own beer, Mike headed towards the opposite sofa and manufactured a place to sit. Levi would probably complain about the mess, Erwin thought, though Mike's house was mostly a "clean" mess; books and papers, clean laundry waiting to be folded. Still, Levi acted like anything less than absolute sterility was no better than a garbage – Erwin groaned again. Even now he couldn't get Levi out of his head.

"At least he's not beating you up," Mike said, scrutinizing Erwin from under his floppy bangs, his gaze much sharper than the scruff would lead you to believe. Being so huge, Mike cultivated his oversized-puppy look carefully, Erwin knew.

"Can we not talk about Levi for… five minutes?" Erwin pleaded. "I need a break."

So they talked about something else. Sports, which Mike was into, Erwin sort of was, and Levi found intensely boring. Other superheroes and what they were up to, like that recent fiasco with kidnapping the president that one of the Big Names recently dealt with alone, apparently because none of his friends cared enough to help. Recent bills proposed to congress about treatment of super powered humans, the riots in countries less enlightened than their own. They avoided discussing the political situation in the Middle East because that was just pointless and depressing.

"I do actually need to talk to you about Levi," Mike said, when Erwin was somewhere around his third beer and quite a bit more relaxed.

Erwin heaved a sigh, waiting for Mike to start in again about how annoying Levi was, or how hopeless the endeavor was, or a host of other thoughts that had occurred to Erwin already.

"You want him to join the team," Mike said, his voice deceptively mild. "As far as the team goes, if you can make it happen, that's not bad. He'll be a strong addition." Mike paused, took a sip, then continued, not looking at Erwin. "I've been thinking about this for a while now, and I don't think there'll be a better time. If it works out with Levi, I'm going to retire."

The can crumpled in Erwin's hand, spilling its contents all over the floor. He didn't even notice. "What?"

"He can take my place."

"I need you," Erwin said, his stomach hollowed out and voice strained in his ears.

"Levi is far stronger than I could ever hope to be," Mike said softly, every word a punch in Erwin's gut. "If you need to track, he could probably turn into an actual bloodhound and-"

"Don't you start with the jealousy too!" Erwin was on his feet, voice just short of shouting. "What the hell, Mike? I can't replace you-"

"I'm not jealous," Mike said, voice so firm it made Erwin hesitate. "My powers aren't combat based. That's reality."

"Widget doesn't have physical powers either-"

"Widget can decide things for herself. I'm not going to abandon you, Erwin. I'm just giving you a heads up. I don't want to end up crippled or dead."

"Some of the Big Names are crippled and it doesn't stop them," Erwin muttered.

"I'm not a Big Name," Mike said. "I won't ever be. I don't think any of us will - except maybe Eren, and Levi. Have you thought of that?"

"Screw Levi," Erwin burst out. "Screw you for making me choose, but if I have to choose, I'll take you. Levi can go to hell."

Ever since Levi had walked into Erwin's life he'd been making a mess of it. Risking his job, ruining his house, destroying his team – Levi was a menace, like he said. There was a kind of relief in admitting it to himself, in setting aside the constant forced patience to face reality. Levi was an asshole.

"So you no longer think he's worth saving?"

"Not at the price of you."

"Is that what you'll tell him when you kick him out of your house?"

"I-" Erwin froze, uneasy. Wildfire had said she didn't think there was much hope, but what would it do to him, being rejected by the people who had claimed they were there to save him? For all his issues, Levi wasn't truly evil. Yet.

Erwin thought of tug-of-war, how if you let go of the rope the other side would go flying back. In the game of tension they were playing, if Erwin were to let go, Levi would fall.

"There has to be a way around it," Erwin said, rallying his conviction, but trailed off in the face of the disappointed look Mike was giving him.

"If you only ever wanted him for his powers," Mike said, "I don't think what you did to him was fair."

"You're the one who's making me choose," Erwin retorted. The betrayal licking at the corners of his mind was difficult to keep in check. They'd been fighting side by side ever since Erwin's powers had showed. They'd trained under Shadows together, even though Mike didn't have combat-based powers and Shadows had been reluctant to sponsor him at first. Before the Scouts had been a team it had been him and Mike, proving just how far you could go with good strategy because power grades weren't everything.

How many missions had they run together, the two of them, before Widget and Wildfire and Carnage had joined? They'd fought the Underground, they'd rescued Eren – and sure, there had been some close shaves, but nothing they couldn't deal with.

Yet Mike had said he'd been thinking of it for a while… how long was a while? How long had Mike been wanting to leave? If he took Mike on a mission and Mike was hurt, how could he live with himself, knowing Mike was only doing it for his sake?

"If you succeed in winning Levi over you won't need me," Mike said. "I would be able to sleep well knowing somebody that powerful has your back."

"Plenty of superheroes don't have superpowers," Erwin said, and hated himself for how wretched he sounded. It would have helped if Mike had been a jerk about it so Erwin could just get angry and punch him in the face – but they no longer did that, because Erwin couldn't afford to punch people in the face when he was angry.

"They usually make up for it with tragic pasts, lots of money, and extended intense training trips in Asia. I don't have any of those things."

Erwin considered making a comment about how Thailand was extremely affordable this time of year, but decided against it. "What if it doesn't work?" he asked instead, trying not to sound eager. Some part of him wanted to get down and beg Mike to stay but he couldn't, couldn't expose himself so readily. It must be obvious to Mike anyway, he thought. Mike was his oldest friend.

Mike didn't answer immediately, sat back down and took another long drink, then set the can down. "If it doesn't work I will stay, of course," he said, a heaviness in his voice that Erwin didn't want to think about. "I wouldn't have said anything, but you seemed so gung ho about recruiting Levi I thought it would encourage you." He shrugged. "It's up to you, now. I never thought I'd say this, but you make me feel sorry for Levi. He's so unwanted."

Seeing Mike sit down unlocked Erwin's knees and he collapsed back onto the sofa, his surroundings slowly trickling back into his consciousness. His hand was still clenched around the crumpled beer can and sticky with beer. He was sitting on a book that was poking him uncomfortably in the thigh. The summer's daylight had almost completely gone, leaving the room far darker than it had been when Erwin entered. They should turn on a light, he thought; sitting in the dark was silly.

"Fuck you," Erwin said, tired. He stood up and felt stupid, because he'd just sat down, but decided he had to get out of here. He needed to not be looking at Mike's face right now, because he couldn't be angry when Mike was giving him such a level, serious look.

With barely a few more stuttering attempts at conversation Erwin made to head for the door, but Mike's hand on his wrist stopped him.

"Erwin. I'm sorry."

He couldn't even disbelieve Mike's sincerity. "I know."

"We're still friends. I've still got your back, as long as you need me."

"…I know." Erwin gently shook him off, trying to seem like he wasn't, and took his leave.

Out of Mike's now-oppressive apartment and away from his judgmental gaze, the warm summer breeze fanned Erwin's anger. He forced himself not to slam the car door and his shoulders tensed from how hard he had to try to not crush the steering wheel. He should go to the junkyard and tear up some scrap, he thought, but he needed to get home. Needed to solve the thing with Levi once and for all.

Losing Mike was not an option. Not for Levi. Not for anyone. Which meant that operation Recruit Levi would have to be aborted – but how?

Unwanted, Mike had said, and if that described anyone it described Levi. Unwanted as a child, unwanted as an adult, and Erwin couldn't possibly explain to him that it wasn't personal. Could he be convinced to join another team or be sponsored by somebody else? But who would possibly accept a trainee that had to be dragged kicking and screaming (metaphorically… he hoped) through the entire process? And how could he make Levi want it without seeming like he was trying to get rid of him?

Perhaps if Erwin introduced him to some other potential sponsors – Big Names, even. Levi was powerful enough that once they got wind of him, they'd be lining up. But who might be interested in investing so much effort in rehabilitation? As far as he knew, while most of them would spend countless hours angsting about their own tragic pasts and expend endless reserves of compassion towards old friends and enemies, who might be willing to do it for an unknown? The problem was that all superheroes came with baggage, and Big Names came with bigger baggage.

A soft chuckle broke through. Levi would fit right in.

Maybe Levi was the one who should go on a training trip to Thailand or somewhere. There had to be some guru who'd be willing to take him in and spend a few years teaching him to find his inner peace or whatever.

Erwin banged the steering wheel (gently, gently). It would never work, because Levi didn't want to become a superhero, and how could Erwin convince him to try when the fact of the matter was that Erwin himself didn't believe Levi could do it? How many years could Erwin spend coaxing and coddling? He wasn't a psychologist. No wonder Levi responded better to Eren – Eren threw himself into it heart and soul, while Erwin just wanted Levi to hurry up and get over his issues so he could put on a uniform fall into line. But you didn't put a fifteen year old in charge of rehabilitating supervillains.

Besides, Erwin was the one who had started this whole mess. Erwin had engineered the meeting with Eren, and Erwin had decided that Levi might be able to be saved. It was Erwin who had disrupted the fragile status-quo inside Levi's head.

Yet even that wasn't completely accurate, because Levi had chosen to be a supervillain all by himself. Had Levi not gone into international arms dealing there might have been more grounds for leniency, but even some of the schools famous for taking care of teenaged and difficult superpowered people might look askance at a shapeshifter who wasn't even really dedicated to going straight. Add to that the fact that Levi had a few superhero murders under his belt…

Ah, but Levi had been raised by the Underground. Erwin cursed. Nothing like spending his formative years with a paramilitary group dedicated to wiping out or recruiting anybody with superpowers they deemed "dangerous" to spoil somebody for a school environment. Who the hell would trust him around a bunch of superpowered kids? They'd probably figure he was a sleeper agent at best.

Out of all the problems with Levi, at least that was one Erwin wasn't particularly worried about. Levi was independent right now; Erwin would stake his reputation on it. Not that he had much of one. Certainly not enough to convince anybody to overlook all of Levi's issues enough to get him on the side of Good.

Since any attempt at all on Erwin's part would probably be read as trying to get rid of Levi (which regrettably was sort of true), Levi would probably respond with an immediate and dramatic case of flying right off the handle, and they'd have a nasty, pissed-off shapeshifter with a background of superhero killing on their hands.

So what was left to do? Erwin had to take responsibility. It was up to him to end this mess. If only Levi could be-

The thought made Erwin unconsciously slow the car and he had to pull over, just to consider it properly. Levi was wounded. At this moment in time, Levi wasn't a threat, was in Erwin's house, practically defenseless. And Erwin owned a gun.

He could just end it. No more threat. No more trying and trying to reach out to somebody who might never respond. No more worrying that Levi would burst apart at the seams and become a threat they couldn't deal with. Erwin would have his team back, his life back.

It didn't even have to hurt, he thought. He could wait until Levi was asleep – guaranteed to be heavy, because Levi was taking sleeping medication to prevent him from constantly being woken up by the pain – and put a bullet in his head. Levi wouldn't even know. Instant, painless death, and well, maybe there was an afterlife where Levi would realize what Erwin had done to him, but that was out of Erwin's jurisdiction.

Mike would stay, and Eren – ah, what to do about Eren? If he could make it look like Levi had attacked him – that would demand some creative wounding on his part, and he'd have to convince Mike as well. He could say that Levi's shifting abilities had returned faster than expected, and Levi'd tried to cut and run. During Levi's previous stay in Erwin's house he'd already attacked Erwin in his sleep, once. Picture this: Levi sneaking up and trying to stab Erwin, who is woken by some miracle, sees the silhouette and goes for his gun. After a few serious cuts he manages to get in a lucky shot in the dark and then turns on the light to see Levi. Of course he's disappointed that his attempts failed, betrayed that he'd gone to so much effort all for naught. He'd have to be especially convincing with Mike, since it was right after their conversation. He'd say that he had taken Mike's words to heart, and tried to honestly change the way he treated Levi, but maybe Levi had taken in the wrong way.

And he'd be free. Life would resume its course.

Erwin pulled back into the street with a slightly uncomfortable feeling in the pit of his stomach, but mostly relief. He'd made hard calls before. The Scouts didn't play games, and Levi wouldn't be the exception any longer. The safety of his team was paramount.

He parked and entered his house to find it oddly quiet. "Hello? Eren? Levi?" He strode towards the living room to find Levi sitting alone with a book, no sign of Eren, and his stomach gave a horrible flop.

"Here," Levi said, looking up at him with hooded Eren-eyes. "Eren went home already. He helped me make dinner." Levi gave a half-hearted gesture towards the table where Erwin could see two plates set out, and what looked like curry and rice. "He said he was okay taking the bus by himself." There was a slightly anxious edge to Levi's voice.

Erwin clamped down on the automatic suspicion. "Why didn't you invite him to stay and eat?" he asked, keeping his tone light. "Eren's always hungry."

"Well," Levi looked down, uncharacteristically embarrassed, and twisted his hands in the hem of his shirt. "I wanted to talk to you, and since I'm crap at it anyway, I didn't think having the kid around would help."

"Shall we sit down, then?" Erwin said, a bit nonplussed. What had happened? Levi was being… disturbingly nice. The curry looked good, too, and smelled great. Apparently with Eren's help he'd gotten over whatever chopping and seasoning problems had plagued his last attempt. Levi watched him with an intensity that could rival Eren's while he took a bite, and relaxed a bit when Erwin smiled and complimented the taste.

"I just wanted to say I'm sorry I'm an asshole," he said. "I don't know how to talk to people. The last friends I had – it… was ugly. I haven't lived with anybody since – since a long time ago. Don't look at me, I can't say this shit if you're looking at me." Erwin dropped his gaze to his plate and focused on the curry, though he was itching to watch the expressions flit across Levi's face. "And you and Eren seem to think I can become some kind of fucking hero, which is crazy shit. I can't do that. I tried, once, and everything went wrong. It always goes wrong when I try to do the right thing. So it can't work. But nobody ever tried to believe in me before."

Erwin looked up then to find that Levi had a painfully earnest expression on his face.

I was planning to kill you tonight, Erwin thought. Once more, for a moment, he thought of the person Levi could be if he tried and he wondered how much he'd be willing to sacrifice to make that happen. He'd become a hero to save people, he thought, not just because it was expected of you if you had superpowers. He believed in making the world a safer, better place. Somehow fighting, getting hurt, battling day after day and risking his life seemed easy, yet fighting his way through the tortured landscape of Levi's mind was infinitely hard. Even so, if he saved Levi – if Levi became a hero and saved people, if Levi became a Big Name someday and forgot about Erwin – if when Erwin had long hung up his cape Levi was saving the world – wouldn't that be a great thing?

There was a saying he'd heard once, that saving one person was like saving an entire world.

He looked across the table at Levi, who for once looked nothing at all like Eren, though he wore his face, and realized that he wanted to see it happen. Maybe this was a worthy cause, a great cause, maybe even worth losing friends or dying for. Erwin had saved lives before, but he'd never saved a soul.

"Just because you never succeeded doesn't mean you can give up," he said. "You could do so much good in the world. I don't think you even realize how much."

Levi sighed in exasperation. "Are you going to tell me that with great power comes great responsibility?"

"No. Everybody has responsibility. With great power comes great ability. You're no more responsible to be a good person than anybody else in this world, but your capacity to do good is far beyond most people's."

Maybe this was the first time Erwin had spoken with true conviction, he thought, because Levi was listening. He might not be convinced, he wasn't there yet, but Erwin's words were reaching him.

"I'm not asking you for an answer now, or tomorrow, or even next week. But I want you to know that when you try, I'm going to help you, and if you fall, I'll catch you. So will Eren, if you weren't clear on that." There was something frightening about making that promise, giving himself so thoroughly, but Erwin was beginning to realize that had been his mistake all along. He had demanded that Levi change who he was without being willing to give himself in return.

Wherever it lead, he thought, whether Levi succeeded or failed – whether Erwin succeeded or failed – he would give it his all, with no reservations.

"Okay," Levi said, his voice just a bit thin, but firm. It wasn't a promise. It wasn't anything, really, but from that day on things started changing (or maybe they didn't change at all, and Erwin just wasn't fighting it any longer). Levi became less acerbic, and Erwin left him alone when he needed to be alone. Levi tried not to break things, and when he did he cleaned up after himself, and not once did Erwin think he'd done it on purpose. Eren came visiting again, and Levi went to Wildfire's, and the next time Erwin talked to Mike he found that he wasn't nearly as angry as he thought he'd be. Probation took years, anyway. Even if Levi joined and Mike left, there was time.

That was why when a week and a half later and barely a month after the shooting, when Levi vanished, it hurt a lot more than Erwin had anticipated, even though part of him had been waiting for just that to happen.