The church bells tolling out from the Lady Cathedral woke Erwin from a sound sleep, and at first he could not fathom where he was and how he'd gotten there. The room was dark, with a faint hint of light glimmering through the western window, Wall Sina casting heavy shadow over the buildings in its vicinity. His head was facing entirely the wrong direction, and he was sweating uncomfortably under his uniform.

'Oh, ' he muttered, and sat up. He was, indeed, still in his uniform, which had mostly dried but remained unpleasantly clammy in places. Now that he was upright, it was clear he was on the sofa in the living area, his legs tucked up uncomfortably tightly in order to fit. At least he'd taken off his boots.

The little wooden clock on the wall said it was somewhere past six, which meant that he'd slept only a little over four hours. He was definitely feeling the lack. His eyes felt like they'd sunk tangibly into his skull, and the skin of his face felt hot and too tight.

He remembered collapsing here in an admittedly rather childish fit of frustration and temper, unable to deny how sharply Levi's criticism had taken him. Of course he knew he was lucky. Of course he was ' he'd never wanted for food or shelter or even affection, not really. However horrible his father managed to be in his silence and his judgment, his mother had ensured even on her meager salary that he wanted for very little, least of all love. Iseult Garand had been a parlor maid to the royal family for most of her life, and frequently enjoyed the Queen's favor, as had her small son for the first ten years or so of his life. Erwin hadn't understood what was wrong with his pedigree ' or even that pedigrees existed ' until some time after, when he'd made move to join the service at the recommendation of one of his tutors, and they had asked him more detailed questions about his parentage. The only person who hadn't been shocked when Egon had come forward to take responsibility for the young Erwin had been Iseult, who seemed to have known all along, with her customary canny certainty, that Egon would behave just so.

The first thing Erwin's father had said to him upon meeting him was, 'You're a great deal like your mother, aren't you? '

Erwin knew he was. He was poised, and confident, and more than capable of controlling people until he achieved what he wanted, whether for himself or for the greater good of people he cared about. He didn't know what his mother had done to force Egon Smith's favor onto his bastard son, but it had worked, and he knew that, too, was a kind of opportunity someone like Levi had never known. No matter how much it hurt to gain.

He rubbed his hands through his hair and glanced at the closed door. Not a sound in the night had wakened him, and he supposed that if Levi had broken the window to escape, he probably wouldn't have managed to do it silently. Either the boy was still sleeping, or he really was sitting in there, silently upright, waiting as he'd been told to do. Erwin doubted that very much.

He decided to throw his concern to the wind for now. The public wash house was only a few houses down the row, and if Levi managed to escape between now and Erwin getting to finally clean his hair, then Erwin would happily consider the entire exercise a wash out. He snatched up a change of clothes, fresh belt and suspenders and all, and clattered down the stairs into the chilly morning.

The water and steam rejuvenated him. He scrubbed his hair twice through, and used the convenient bucket of dry sand to work over his arms and back as well. By the time he was done his pale skin was rubbed red and raw, and it stung a little when he submerged himself. When he caught a glimpse of himself in one of the wash house mirrors as he dried, he could see the now livid bruises that Levi had left on his throat and chest., and he thought a bit ruefully that this was probably only the beginning of such marks.

By the time Erwin began his walk back, the neighborhood bakeries were beginning to put their first loaves into the ovens, and the thick, hearty warm smell of fresh bread and pastry filled the air, undaunted by the still dark cast of Sina's great shadow. Erwin allowed himself to be tempted, this time, and mounted the stairs back to his apartment carrying a basket brimming with bread, some fresh new butter, and a hock of cheese he'd picked up from the dairy down the way.

The apartment was still silent when he returned, and he set the basket cautiously on the little table by the wood stove, and stood still, balanced on the balls of his feet, listening. When nothing was forthcoming, dismay began to settle in at last. It was possible he'd been foolish about this, investing a degree of trust in a boy who for all intent and purpose was a murderer and a serial criminal. More than possible, he thought, dour, as he crossed the living area; it was very likely. Levi had most certainly wormed his way free through the window.

I should have looked up as I left,

Erwin thought.

For certain I would have seen him, a little speck atop that wall.

He half smiled a little, despite himself, as the image was faintly comical. He was still smiling as he unlocked and opened the spare room door, and he felt the expression freeze nervelessly on his face.

Levi was sitting at the end of the mattress, his legs crossed, back straight, hands tucked together in his lap. He looked ruffled but alert, and he gave Erwin an interested look as Erwin appeared through the doorway. Something about him seemed off, aside from the fact that he was still there at all. Erwin looked down.

The cuffs he'd been wearing sat neatly on the mattress next to Levi's thigh. They'd been shattered into halves.

'Are you feeding me, ' Levi said, 'Or can I get up now? ' His tone gave no indication of any resentment or anger, as though he'd only coincidentally chosen to do precisely what Erwin had told him to do hours ago in a fit of temper. He blinked a few times, reasonable and feline, and Erwin fought the urge to step back away from him in alarm.

'Yes, ' he said. It was all he could manage.

Levi bobbed his head as though they were old society friends who'd met just now by chance at a dinner party, and he got to his feet with no apparent difficulty. Erwin stepped numbly out of his way, and the boy went out into the living area as though it were perfectly normal circumstance for him to be here.

'I thought you'd have a better place than this, ' he said. Erwin closed the door, blinking.

'Well, ' he said. 'A soldier's pay isn't very impressive. '

'Apparently not. ' Levi glanced at him, and then made a beeline for the basket of food.

'How ' are you feeling? ' Erwin said, after a moment. Levi didn't look at him; he'd seated himself on the table, small enough to fit when he tucked his legs up, and it would have been charming if Erwin's mind hadn't been occupied by the continuous, mildly hysterical question of how the hell he'd managed to crack solid iron cuffs to free himself. There were ugly bruised marks around Levi's slim wrists, and a place or two where the skin had been rubbed raw, and Erwin's gaze fixed there as Levi pulled half a loaf of bread out of the basket and bit into it without further ado.

'Fine, ' Levi said, placid and chewing. 'I don't stay sick for long. ' He swallowed. 'Don't you look fresh. '

'There's a public wash house down the street. I haven't bathed since early yesterday. I thought it'd be best if I didn't stink too badly. '

Levi snorted, which seemed to be what passed for a laugh, for him. 'You stink of bullshit, mostly, ' he said, and took another decisive bite of the loaf he'd commandeered.

Erwin shrugged, a little helplessly. 'Why didn't you leave? ' he said.

Levi stilled.

'It wouldn't have been hard, ' Erwin went on, coming forward until he stood next to the table. Levi watched him, pale eyes sharp beneath his dark brow. 'The window's not even locked. '

The boy didn't answer. He stared at Erwin, and then looked away, taking another bite of bread.

'Levi, ' Erwin said, low. 'Why didn't you? ' He needed to know, very badly, very suddenly.

'I thought, ' Levi said, his voice a little tight, 'That I'd give you a chance, and see if you were as big as you talked, or if you were full of shit. ' When he looked up at Erwin again, he seemed strangely angry, like Erwin had made yet another misstep somewhere that he hadn't even noticed. 'So far, you're full of so much shit that not even a hundred baths could get the stench off. '

'I don't, ' Erwin begin, and that was as far as he got before Levi barreled into him, headfirst. He half grabbed at one of the wooden table chairs as he went down, and it clattered loudly to the floor next to him as Levi's knee dug painfully into his stomach, Levi's hand fixed around his next, his palm pressed hard against Erwin's windpipe.

'Stop fucking doing this, ' Levi said. He sounded calm, but there was a terrible, frustrated blaze in his eyes. 'Stop fucking pretending. If that's all you're gonna do, then I'm not just going to leave. I'm going to open you up from throat to dick and leave you to whine about how inconvenient it is that you're bleeding to death. You want to be the kind of man who trains soldiers? You've never even seen a fucking Titan, have you? You can't just- '

His angry screed turned into a startled squawk as Erwin kneed him in the back, hard, and seized at his other hand, jerking him over and onto his side. He reached out in a motion so fluid he could hardly believe it was his own and seized Levi by the hair, pulling him back again, until Levi's shoulders crashed into his chest, and he could wrap his free arm around the boy's chest and arms.

'Have you? ' he growled, and leaned forward over Levi's shoulder, holding his head back at a rather brutal angle. 'Have you ever seen a Titan? '

'Everyone's a Titan to me. ' Levi craned his neck against Erwin's grip on him, looking at him out of the corner of his eye. He was smiling, strange and wicked. 'Especially you, fuckhead. '

His elbow jabbed into Erwin's ribs, and Erwin let him go with a grunt of pain, pushing himself backwards to avoid whatever Levi's next attack would be. But Levi didn't come back. He got to his feet and, with a single small hop, was back on the tabletop, coiled as comfortably as he'd been before, while Erwin sat on the floor, his chest aching painfully.

'Stop doing that, ' Levi said, conversational. He turned and rummaged in the basket for some of the cheese.

'Stop ' doing what? ' Erwin grunted, staggering upright. He was tired of double talk, tired of being spoken to as though there was a part of this conversation he wasn't privy to. 'What am I doing wrong? '

Maddeningly, infuriatingly, Levi only shrugged. 'I don't know. '

'You don't know? '

'I don't know what it is. But it's wrong. '

Erwin felt hazy, a little dizzy. He reached out again, dreamlike, and his fist found Levi's hair once more, dragged him forward with no room for conversation; he bent the boy's head back and he leaned down and then he was biting Levi's lower lip, not playfully, catching the short little choking exhale on the tip of the boy's tongue before it could escape. He kissed Levi and he felt Levi surge under him, up into him, taking hold of a fistful of his nice, freshly pressed shirt; he felt Levi rumble deep inside somewhere where the monster that was his true face slept, and he pressed him down against the table until Levi was on his back, the basket pushed aside, one of the boy's hand's still clutching his clothing and the other thrown careless over his head. The position must have been painful, but when he lifted his head again, trying to catch his breath, the only thing on Levi's face was an odd and dreamy kind of confusion, as though Erwin had just spoken to him in a language he hadn't known he understood until that very moment. He was shuddering ' they both were, Erwin realized, and he let Levi go again.

Levi remained where he was, sprawled on his back, his face flushed and his eyes hazy.

'You'll have to do better than 'I don't know,' ' Erwin said, amazed by the calm in his voice. 'In the future. '

'Oh, ' said Levi, rolling his head towards Erwin. 'I will endeavor to, Erwin. '

'Get off the table. ' Erwin felt an odd buoyancy in him, now, something discomforting in its honesty. 'Go and sit on the sofa. '

Levi rolled to his side and landed in a feline crouch on the floor. He rose and went to the sofa, where he sat, almost politely, and looked at Erwin with a mildly questioning expression.

'I meant what I said, before, ' Erwin said. 'I don't want you to die. ' He took a breath, trying to find himself through the strange and unsettling fog in his head. 'If I don't find some way to convince you to cooperate, they want me to kill you myself. '

For once, Levi didn't seem to have a swift reply. He tipped his head a little, listening.

'I don't want to do that. ' Erwin looked at the floor, his stomach tight, now. 'I don't ' it has nothing to do with anything that ' none of this. It isn't fair. '

'Fair? ' Levi repeated, softly.

'That a man like me can decide on what happens to your life on a whim. '

Levi was silent a moment.

'What kind of man are you, then? ' he said, finally. The intensity was back in his eyes, the strange and predatory curiosity. But Erwin sensed something else there, this time ' something strangely gentle. He smiled faintly.

'I don't know, ' he said. 'I suppose that's what this little exercise is meant to discover. I thought I knew, but I'm beginning to suspect that I'm not as well informed as I thought I was. '

He expected Levi to voice some form of agreement, but the boy only shrugged, leaning slightly against the sofa's wooden arm. 'Come here, ' he said.

Erwin paused, and then walked to him, and Levi rose up on his knees, then stood; it put him a little over Erwin's height, which Erwin found oddly charming.

He smiled. Levi quirked an eyebrow, then reached for his throat with one hand, quickly but not with the snake-fast movement of before. Erwin seized his wrist again before Levi's hand could even make contact, and pulled it aside, and he was close enough to see the boy's eyes soften, the heavy set of his brow even out, and the strange, faint confusion filter into his expression. It looked a lot like hope.

'That's better, ' Levi murmured, and pulled himself free.