Mr. Ackerman Summary

SUMMARY

CHAPTER ONE

The story begins with Eren’s seventh grade history teacher remarking how sad he looked. She would always stare sadly at him. Eren would reflect on this during the bus ride home, and he figured he was too young for that. He had everything he could ever need, being a thirteen year old.
This concern of his teachers would not be obvious to Eren until he was 18.
Carla and Grisha would fight mutually and very venomously. Mikasa was a good older sister, always distracting Eren away from these fights with games or playing outside.
Carla and Grisha were selfish with their fights. They made every event about them and their bickering to the point where Eren loathed the idea of his parents being in the same place. He assumed there was something greater going on, because at one point, Carla stopped fighting back.
A few weeks before Eren turned 18, they sat him down and told him the truth about the affair. Eren remembered being angry and throwing things. He blamed his father for making his mother sad all these years.
Eren distracted himself by partying and going to the gym. Annie broke up with Eren around this time, because he spent his days partying and drinking. After his break up, Eren then led a more promiscuous lifestyle.
His mother finds a new house and invites Eren to live with her, but on the condition that he goes to school and clean up his act.
He and his mother are moving into their new house. She looks over her old pictures with a smile and Eren bonds with her.
Mikasa and Jean show up, where it is shown that Mikasa is heavily pregnant.
Eren leaves to get pizza and comes back, where Jean and Mikasa have made a significant amount of progress. Carla shares her excitement over the new house as well as becoming a first time grandparent. Mikasa has offered to have Carla live with them instead.
Carla insists that living on her own was the right move for her. She shared excitement on becoming a grandmother.
Eren reflects on how boring his summer is about to be, considering all of his friends are busy, traveling or in new relationships.

Sasha and Connie started dating and Armin was infatuated with his professor.
Reiner and Bert were in Germany.

Eren spends his days helping out his mom around the house and the backyard.
It is revealed that Grisha took Eren’s car in the divorce, so now, Eren only had his bike.
He comes home, suspicious that his mother is already not there to greet him.
Eren comes inside, surprised that his mother is already hosting a guest.
It turns out to be a handsome, shorter man who introduces himself as Levi. Eren is wary of him, and doesn’t take warmly at first.

CHAPTER TWO

There are often two wrong assumptions made whenever it comes to Eren.

He didn’t care about other people’s feelings.
He wasn’t observant.

Eren doesn’t like Levi because he seems condescending.
Eren reflects on disliking Mr. Ackerman. He’s inside the home while Mr. Ackerman and Carla are on the porch, socializing and drinking lemonade.

He is very suspicious of him.

He finds comfort in Armin, who usually isn’t a good friend for these things as he’s rather straightforward.

Armin briefly mentions Erwin, which greatly annoys Eren. Erwin is a common conversation subject between the two, since he is Armin’s subject of affections.

Armin tells Eren that he thinks Eren is jealous, which reluctantly makes sense to Eren.
Mr. Ackerman interrupts Eren’s space looking for gardening gloves, which Eren finds suspicious. He then deduces the man is a little dorky, and questions what his mother could be seeing in him.
Eren helps him find gloves in a disorganized closet. He gently prods Levi and asks how long he’s lived in the neighborhood. Levi requests to be called Levi, a request that Eren ignores.
Levi replies that he’s been in the neighborhood since his divorce. Eren brings up his own parents splitting up as a subtle reminder to Levi that his mother is vulnerable. Levi tells Eren that he might be seeing more of the older man, as he and Carla are kindred spirits.
Eren feels threatened and stands, but Carla interrupts their conversation.
Levi leaves shortly after, declining Carla’s dinner invite.
Jean and Mikasa are over for dinner. Eren jokes about Levi to which Carla gets annoyed at.
Eren wakes up to the smell of his mother baking.

She swats him away and explains that it’s for Levi.

Carla instructs Eren to give Levi the desserts, telling him that he has to be nice.
Eren delivers the dessert by kicking it at Levi’s front door. He eats one and flips off Levi’s house.

CHAPTER THREE

Eren is partying. He’s also drinking, planning on staying there the entire night and then walking back home. He is conscious of the fact that his mother told him to clean up his act, but Eren thinks this instance is fine because it was a “simple” party and he isn’t acting promiscuous.
He is in the kitchen watching Sasha and Connie play beer pong. He finds amusement in how drunk they are. Sasha then calls out Eren, loudly inviting him to play.
He decides to play with Historia. She’s very pretty, but uncharacteristically, Eren doesn’t want to have sex with her. He’s preoccupied with thoughts about Levi.
They go into the living room after their victory. She leans into him and invites him out somewhere else.
He excuses himself to make a drink. He mixes a drink together and looks up to check on Historia. He sees her crowded by a strange guy whispering in her ear.
Eren comes back into view and Historia loudly exclaims that Eren is her boyfriend. The stranger then offers Historia a drink. Eren is shocked that she actually takes it. Eren takes it out of her hands, much to the shock of both of them. The stranger insists Historia drink it, and he and Eren bicker before Historia grabs a cup from Eren’s hand and drinks it.
Eren decides not to leave Historia’s side after that. She wishes to go home and Eren waits with her for a cab.
They sit on the sidewalk outside.
Historia opens up to Eren about how she insisted on going to this party to the dismay of her roommate. She was also going to bring a guy home to have sex with him really loudly, and Eren laughs at that.
After Historia leaves, Eren stands up and feels panicked as his body is suddenly heavy. He is overtaken by exhaustion and finds it within him to walk home and break into what he assumes is his mothers backyard.
He wakes up to a bunch of noises. There are voices. Eren is having a hard time remembering what happened last night, all he knew was that his body ached and he was sleeping in dirt.
Once Eren orients himself a bit more, he sees Hanji and Erwin leaning over him.
Eren panics and looks around. He realizes that he is NOT in his mothers backyard.
Levi shows up. He demands to know what happened, and Eren explains that he was drugged by accident.
Erwin realizes their shared connection through Armin.
Levi demands Eren go back to his house, and Eren begs him to stay until Carla has left for the day. Eren knows his mother will be pissed otherwise.
He eventually concedes and lets Eren stay over and shower.

CHAPTER FOUR

Levi has Erwin and Hanji over to help with yard work, though the only thing Hanji has done is type on her laptop in the shade. Erwin hasn’t been much help either, especially since he’s involved himself with Armin.
Levi is also irritated with how much time Erwin was spending with Armin, though he was concerned over his friend over anything else.

Erwin always had problems with romance, falling in love too easily and slipping into something obsessive. These were traits that Levi himself could never relate to, and it quite frankly pissed him off most days.

Hanji teases him about Eren, who is very attractive.
Levi tells her that he’s sure Eren hates him. He tells Hanji about the plate of cookies kicked onto his door. Hanji is amused and asks why he thinks Eren doesn’t like him, and Levi is candid and thinks that Eren thinks Levi and his mom are involved.
Hanji teases Levi about Eren being his exact type. Levi changes the subject, even when Hanji brings up Armin and Erwin. He tells her to go check on Eren.
Hanji appears miffed but does as he asks.
He goes into more depth about his opinion on Eren.

He thinks Eren is good looking but reminds him of every troubled student he’s ever had.
The age difference is a glaring issue for Levi.

Hanji says he’s still showering and Levi decides to go check on him.
Eren opens the door, half naked and dripping wet. Levi forces his eyes upwards.
Levi offers him clothes, and Eren coldly answers that he got some from Levi’s friend (Erwin). Levi assumes he is talking about Hanji and gets confused. Eren slams the door shut and Levi leaves it alone.
Later on, Levi is watering his vegetables and sees Eren raking the yard. Levi hasn’t bothered him since, nor has he bothered investigating what Eren meant by the clothes situation.
Eren teases him about looking at him, and brings up Levi checking him out after Eren got out of the shower. Levi is surprised that Eren is observational. Levi then brings up the cookies kicked onto his door.
Eren calls him an asshole and Levi sprays him with water.

CHAPTER FIVE

Eren and historia are on a date. She found his number through the grapevine and decided to invite him out.

He likes the idea of her rather than actually being present. He can’t convince himself to be involved.

The date has been quiet so far, as Eren is too preoccupied with his problems.

Eren concludes that Levi and Erwin are seeing each other. He remembers how possessive he looked when Eren stumbled into his yard and how Erwin had casually walked out of Levi’s bedroom to hand him a pair of Erwin’s own clothing to him.

Historia offers a listening ear.
Eren confides in Historia. He proposes that if she were in Armin’s shoes, would she want to know about Erwin and Levi? She says she would.
After the date, Eren tells Armin about his suspicions. He takes initiative to do so in person. Eren is especially protective over Armin, who is notorious for having difficulty in finding a boyfriend.
A couple of weeks later, Levi, Erwin and Hanji are at a restaurant together.
Erwin is looking worse for wear, tired and sullen. Hanji tries to cheer up Erwin by proposing that Armin is simply preoccupied. Levi thinks it’s bullshit.
In Levi’s impatience, he snaps and tells Erwin that he’s a catch, and if Armin doesn’t see that then he’s dumb.
Hanji and Erwin’s moods are lightened. They switch over to discussing the menu while Levi zones out.
Levi checks out a man from behind and retreats when he realizes the stranger is talking fondly with a heavily pregnant woman.
The stranger is revealed to be Eren, who makes panicked eye contact with Levi, who’s disgusted.
Eren and his sister sit at the table closest to them. Levi tries to ignore them as he orders his food.

CHAPTER SIX

Levi overhears them planning a party. He thought to warn Carla somehow, because he didn’t like Eren to begin with.
Instead, Levi chose to let this play out. He was sure Eren would fuck this up on his own.
The night of the party, Levi grows agitated with the amount of cars and people over next door. He then drives to a gay bar to invite a stranger over to distract him.
He has Farlan over.
Farlan suggests that they go to the bedroom right away, but Levi waves him off and decides to fix himself another drink.

Levi hated having people over. People were dirty, fussy and had feelings.

Farlan flirts with him by assuming he’s a top. Levi gets irritated when he realizes Farlan is also a bottom. They have a back and forth, though Levi internally admits he doesn’t mind topping, it’s just that bottoming felt so much better.
A football made its way through Levi’s window, crashing into the living room.
Levi fixes himself to go next door, and Farlan takes this opportunity to leave. Levi is increasingly frustrated that many aspects in his life seemed to be spoiled by Eren.
Levi storms over and demands Eren answer, to which he eventually does. Eren pretends like he doesn’t know anything about the ball, which enrages Levi further.
Levi threw the ball straight at Eren’s face. It bounced back into Levi’s forehead.
Levi embarrasses himself. Eren laughs at him, but Levi storms away before any more could be said.
Levi wakes up a little hungover. Farlan has texted him. Levi ignores it to get himself some water.
The doorbell rings and Levi assumes it’s Hanji, because Hanji always bothers him when he was most irritated.
Levi opens the door and it’s Armin. He doesn’t recognize him, but Armin insists they need to speak.

CHAPTER SEVEN

Levi is calm, because it wasn’t the first time that he’s been confronted by an angry twink.

This implies that Nile has cheated on Levi with other men.

Armin is upset. He begins to question aloud why Erwin kept Levi a secret from him.

Armin begins to cry and Levi finds that uncomfortable, because he was lousy when people cried in front of him.

Armin freaks out even more, but Levi disrupts him to correct him. He says that he and Erwin are not together.
Levi was confused on what Armin would have possibly been talking about.
Levi pieces it together and assumes some outside force must’ve split up Erwin and Armin, so he asks Armin on who told him that.
Armin says that it was Eren. Armin and Levi begin to piece together what happened, and Levi gets incredibly angry. Armin weakly mentions the window to make up for it, but that only makes Levi more upset.
Levi resolves to teach Eren a lesson. He storms out, with Armin following close behind. He goes into Carla’s house and punches Eren before telling him to keep his and his friend’s names out of his mouth.
Armin is pressing a cold ice pack against Eren’s face.
Jean chides that it was neat watching Eren get his shit rocked.
Armin tells Eren that he lied, and potentially ruined a relationship for him.
Eren feels bad for the first time in the story for how selfish he’s been acting. Armin leaves to go find Erwin.
Two days later.
Levi tapes over his window. He hates how it looks, but the man fixing his window should be in next week. He also shouldered the cost himself instead of making Armin or Eren pay for it.
The door knocks, and he is instantly worried it was Armin or Eren. Instead, it’s Carla and Eren. Carla forces Eren to apologize, and insists that Eren help Levi the whole summer with his pond.

Levi finds the situation nostalgic, the way his own Uncle would do the same thing.

Levi considers sparing Eren of the punishment, but he goes through with it anyway.

CHAPTER EIGHT

Eren shows up. He looks tired. Levi notices his bruise and feels bad for not being an adult in the situation. Eren is snippy and Levi ignores it in favor of showing Eren his yard tools.
They pull weeds together. Levi’s been ignoring his yard due to feeling guilty. Eren and Levi are quiet, speaking very little.
Levi jokes with Eren, telling him to let Levi know if he was hungry. He makes a joke about Eren destroying his tomatoes. Eren brushes him off and that makes Levi more anxious.
They work more in the hot sun. Levi admires how attractive Eren is, before deciding it was a shame he could be so malicious. Levi invites Eren to take a break, but Eren declines. Levi is uncomfortable with that.
Levi confronts Eren for not telling his mom about the punch. Eren admits he thinks he deserves it. He apologizes in his own way.
Levi thought it was uncharacteristic that Eren apologized so soon, but he welcomed it.
Eren insists they forget about it. Levi offers food again and Eren declines.
Eren shows up again. Levi offers him tea or coffee, but Eren declines.
Levi is concerned about Eren looking so tired, and he wondered if everything was alright at home. He reveals here that he knows about Eren’s father.

“She also mentioned the fact that Eren seemed to be taking the separation with great difficulty, though he wouldn’t admit it. It didn’t surprise Levi in the slightest that Eren would be the type to put on a brave face, after all.”

Levi offers a drink to him again, but he declines.
Later on, Levi hears noises in the middle of the night. He is usually a light sleeper, but tonight was an exception because he heard a thud and some giggling.
Levi goes to investigate. He opened a window and looked around.
He spots a girl leaving Eren’s room.
Levi looks up and makes eye contact with Eren, who looks panicked. Eren pleads with him to not tell his mother, as he made a promise with her.
Levi agrees to not tell his mother, so long as Eren stops calling him Mr. Ackerman and has to be nice to him. Eren agrees.
The next day, Levi is pacing around the house. It bothered him that Eren was doing these things, and he couldn’t explain why.
Eren shows up and goes straight to the backyard. He looks unwelcoming, but Levi doesn’t care and approaches him anyway.
He tells him that he doesn’t have to be weird because he caught Eren and his girlfriend. Eren corrects him and tells him that that wasn’t his girlfriend. Levi makes a joke, and Eren doesn’t take to it well, calling Levi weird.
Eren again, declines Levi’s offer of food.
Levi goes to get food anyway. He comes back and offers it to Eren. Eren ignores him, and Levi begins to eat. Eren’s stomach rumbles, and he resolves to eat the food Levi brought him. They speak without hostility for the first time.
Eren is at home getting ready for bed.
Eren started out angry going to Mr. Ackerman’s, but figured the man was harmless. In fact, they had a lot in common.
Eren opened his phone and saw a text message from an unknown number. It was Levi thanking him. Eren is flattered. He’s never been praised. Eren asks him what’s for dinner next time. Levi promises to cook.

CHAPTER NINE

Next week, Eren shows up at Levi’s house. Levi offers him a beverage and Eren declines. Eren secretly hopes Levi would express some form of disappointment, but he doesn’t.
Eren and Levi go to the store. Levi’s car is run down, and Levi is already annoyed with the weather. Eren complains about his car being hot and run down. Levi makes an offhand comment about his sexuality, and Eren teases him, saying he’s an adult.
Levi makes a remark about his husband. Eren feels bad for a lot of things so he offers to fix up Levi’s car. Levi reluctantly accepts and Eren begins to feel flushed at this.
They go into the store together. The clerk assumes they’re a couple and Levi brushes it off. Eren gets insecure, wondering how close he’d been to Levi for her to make that assumption. He wondered if it was the way he dressed. He starts to have gay panic.
Levi is snippy with him and they bicker before they head home.
Eren takes a look at his car. Eren promises to teach him the basics. Levi asks if Eren used to work at his dad’s shop.

“I used to,” Eren replied, reaching for a pair of gardening gloves that Levi brought out. “Whenever I felt like making money. He’s owned his own shop since I was a kid, so he’s taught me everything I know.”

Eren promises to fix Levi’s car at no cost, due to all the things he’s done.
Levi still offers dinner. Eren declines and their sentences collide awkwardly. Levi calls him a kid and they make plans to meet up next week.
Eren leaves in a panic before awkwardly realizing he only lives next door.

CHAPTER TEN

Levi wonders about Eren’s dad and they talk honestly for a little bit. Eren admits that the marriage was always bad.

Eren has deduced that their age difference is 15 years and Levi was a little dorky.
Levi makes an off-hand comment about Nile, and Eren gets awkward.

They’re on a mission to go buy car parts for Levi and his vehicle. Eren was planning on giving him an oil change as well. They go to a chain store, since Eren doesn’t want to see his father.
Levi is feeling as though he sticks out.
Eren finds his parts and finds Levi browsing the magazines in the front. He teases Eren before deciding on buying it.
Eren is doing yardwork for Levi.

He feels a slighted that Levi wasn’t more appreciative, because he paid for it out of pocket.

Levi is reading the magazine in the shade of a tree.
Levi lightly prods about the girl in Erens window but it was clearly nobody important.

Eren also reflects on his preferred type of women.

Levi claims he doesn’t enjoy people over and he never feels lonely. Eren challenges him on that.
Eren changes Levi’s oil and thinks about levi.

Levi Ackerman was a man who spoke harshly, in sharp words that made you feel like he pierced your boundaries and exposed your deepest intentions. This probably wasn’t on purpose on the part of the older man, but it felt the same anyway.
Levi was a fun person to be around. He wasn’t a party animal or a particular entertaining kind of man, but he was insightful, he was clever, well-read and easy on the eyes. His sense of humor made sense to Eren, who was often misunderstood by others all the time.

Levi shows up and hands him some iced tea.
Eren is freshly showered and crawling into bed.
They text that night. Eren reinstalls Tinder. Levi teases him about his sexuality.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Eren has a dirty dream about fucking Levi on his car.

Eren doesn’t push him away.

Eren wakes up and masturbates. He makes sure to hyperfocus on the woman in the video, as to forget about his dream from the night before.
Baby shower planning

It’s implied that Carla is overstepping Mikasa’s wants for this baby shower.

Carla woke up Eren super early to go decorate and help out. Eren has Armin help as well. Eren asks if Mr. Ackerman was coming, and Carla confirms he was.
Carla notes how Levi and Eren have become close. Armin chimes in as well, giving Eren a knowing smirk.
Once alone, Eren and Armin talk about Levi.

Armin says that Eren and Levi are very similar. Eren disagrees. He is also bothered by the idea of Levi and Armin hanging out and talking about Eren behind his back.
Eren remembers when he first became more comfortable around Levi, joking around with him and texting.
Armin then invites Eren to a local pride parade.

The party starts. Eren is full of anxiety, as he is scared Levi will show up.
Levi shows up and Eren is frightened by how accurate his dream was in capturing Levi. He tries to leave out the front door, but his father was on the other side. Grisha is immediately defensive and claims he was invited when Eren tells him he can’t be here.
Eren then exits out the back door in an overwhelmed panic.

CHAPTER TWELVE

Eren is on the back porch on a chair.
Levi shows up. He sits himself down next to Eren, who gets flustered around him due to his dream.

Eren is admiring Levi on a different level, here, using words like beautiful and muscular, etc.

Levi asks if Eren invited his father. Eren is irritated that Levi is so nosy in his family business. Eren assumes his sister invited him, but he wasn’t sure.
Levi suggests leaving and they do.
Eren goes to work on levi’s car.

Levi was snacking, leaning over Eren’s shoulder. Eren made a joke about Levi stealing snacks, and Levi shrugged it off.

Eren finishes Levi’s car. Levi then suggests they take it out for a spin and they do. Eren plays ‘Roxanne’. Levi asks if he has anything on his mind that he would like to talk about, which makes Eren feel like a trapped animal.
Eren asks about Levi being in Trost.

”Since I was 18 or so,” Levi hummed. “I moved here to go to MSU, just to get away from my family.”
Eren quieted. Throughout their time together, Levi's never mentioned his family, not even once. Eren's waited for the opportunity to come, but Levi's never taken it.
"Is that where you met Erwin?"
"He followed me out here," Levi elaborated, a sting of harmless agitation taking over his tone. "We grew up in the same hometown. Then we met Hanji at MSU. She was older than us, but she bought us alcohol, so we kept her around.
Eren was a bit stunned at how much Levi was speaking, as he hadn’t heard the man talk in straight sentences like this before.
”I met Nile at university while Erwin ended up marrying a guy we went to high school with,” Levi continued. “Years passed, here we are. Stuck in the same town for the rest of my life.”

Eren is pleasantly surprised that Levi is talking so much. Levi admits he’s happy from seeing Erwin happy, and Eren teases his resting bitch face.
‘Alive’ comes on and Eren accidentally grabs Levi’s hand while he sings. He calls Levi handsome.
They get burgers together and eat it on the hood of Levi’s car. They’re parked on a cliffside. They’re eating and admiring the twinkling lights of the city beneath them.
Eren brings up the pride parade and teases Levi about going with him. Levi mentions he has a date already. Levi still extends an invite, and Eren rejects it.
Levi brings up his dad once again.
Eren recalls what it was like with his father. He starts to cry at the memory and Levi comforts him.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Eren goes to see Dr. Brzenska.

He’s been visiting her for two years.

He recounts the baby shower. He then opens up and tells Rico about the sex dream. She posits that Eren finds Levi attractive, but assures him it doesn’t mean he’s gay.
Eren promises to look more into it at home.
Eren rides his bike to Armin’s apartment. He’s nervous and anxious. Erwin is there, which was unexpected, but doesn’t hinder Eren at all. He wants to have these questions answered.
He asks how they knew they were gay. They are both shocked, Erwin a little pleased.
Eren is working on levi’s yard and fills up the pond. The workload is so short because Levi had lunch plans, which bristles Eren’s nerves.
He thinks about his sexuality. He’s always been okay with women and has never questioned his sexuality until recently. The issue was with Levi.
Farlan shows up early.
Levi introduces them, saying Eren was his friend’s kid. They go inside and fix drinks.
Farlan remarks how attractive Eren is. Levi dismisses Farlan pointing out Eren’s jealousy, and claims that Eren isn’t straight.
Farlan boasts about his own status as being a chemist back home. Levi ignores the potential to be dating Eren, as he didn’t consider him to be dating material. It doesn’t resonate with Levi.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Levi starts on his morning routine

He plays music on his record player. He mentions some records inherited from his grandmother.
He reflects about Eren not texting him as much.
Compared to Farlan, Eren was unique. He was entertaining, funny and surprisingly sensitive. The glaring issue, however, was the age difference.

Eren shows up. He mentions Armin bothering him to go to Pride and Levi bugs him about it. Eren declines, which makes Levi question if he’s done anything wrong.
They go to the supermarket together and they’re both quiet. Levi again, wonders if he’s done anything wrong. Eren also bitterly makes a remark about Farlan, and Levi snaps back something defensive about not having to explain himself.
At the supermarket, Eren’s phone keeps going off, and Eren asks Levi to check it. Once Levi does, he realizes that Eren’s been matching with men on tinder. He reels about this information, wondering if Eren was gay, or bi, or whatever.
Armin texts him a cryptic message, asking ‘did you tell Levi about it’.

Levi wants to snoop, but he doesn’t.

Eren asks Levi who it was and he is honest and says it was Armin. They go look for the next thing on the list, which is condoms.
They pick out condoms.

Eren is flustered and Levi is frozen.
Eren eventually just throws in the ones that he uses before they walk away.

Hanji shows up to get ready for pride and Levi says he’s not taking Farlan to pride anymore. Levi confesses he might like someone else.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Eren is playing Resident Evil 4.

Has a small crush on Leon.

Armin asks Eren if he really isn’t going along with them. Eren dismisses him, saying he has shit to do. Armin is exasperated, and tells Eren he has a crush.
Armin forces Eren by putting an outfit together for him and telling him that Levi’s date bailed.
They meet the rest of the gang in the car. Eren teases Levi about his outfit, but Hanji interrupts. They leave.
They’re at pride and looking at floats. Eren and Levi tease each other before it starts to rain.
It starts raining.
They find refuge in a nightclub.
Erwin and Armin go dance while Levi dismisses himself to get drinks. Hanji asks Eren how his first Pride is going, and he is visibly nervous. Eren makes a remark about Levi and his ‘boyfriend’. Hanji corrects him and says that they aren’t together, and they actually haven’t talked in awhile.
Levi comes back with drinks. It is found out that Hanji has kids.

Sonny, 9. Bean, 6.

Hanji wants something different, so she leaves to get something else. Levi and Eren sit there in silence, drinking their drinks and listening to the music.
Eventually, they begin to talk. The talking turns to heavy flirting, and Hanji interrupts. Levi gets pissed and makes Eren babysit her.
Eren arranges a cab for her safely.
Eren goes back into the crowd when he spots Levi chatting with a stranger, holding a drink. Eren gets very angry.
They dance together, makeout and go have sex in the van.
Levi bottoms, Eren asks if they can go to his place after and Levi agrees.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Eren wakes up to the sound of the vacuum. He is shocked and looks around, realizing that he is not in his bedroom. He remembered bits and pieces of last night and is slightly surprised he feels no regret.
Eren goes into the living room and sees Levi cleaning on his hands and knees. He’s cleaning very intensely. Eren asked if he did something wrong last night and Levi dismisses him essentially.

Levi points him to the clothes that eren left when he first crashed into Levi’s backyard.

Eren takes his clothes and feels the rejection hanging in the air. He thanks Levi for everything, and Levi doesnt respond.
Jean picks Eren up.

Jean asks what happened and Eren declines to answer. Eren eventually feels normal enough to talk to jean normally.

They met in high school, quickly becoming the best of frenemies. They played on the same football team together and found each other to be kindred spirits. Armin liked him, as well as the rest of Eren’s friend group so everyone just clicked.
Of course, Mikasa took a strange liking to him as well. As awkward as that phase was for Eren, he was glad that Jean and Mikasa ended up together. They were right for each other, in a weird, respectful and affectionate way. Their mother loved his charming attitude and his willingness to spoil Mikasa, and the rest was history.

He goes to Mikasa’s house with him.
Eren goes to shower.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Eren is showering and scrubbing.

Eren is noticing details around the bathroom, and he wonders what Levi would think. He notices the bathroom isn’t as clean.

Eren isn’t used to being rejected.
He leaves the shower and sees his phone, which would usually be lit with Levi’s teasing messages.
He cries and goes out into the living room.
Mikasa says their mom called but she promised Eren she sent her away, stating that Eren needed more time for himself.
Eren tells Mikasa everything.

Mikasa didn’t seem to mind, though. She was a good listener, not interrupting a single time. Eren would give her pauses to allow her input, but the input was never given. She only had this slight knit on her brows, indicating that she was having trouble processing all this information from her brother.

Mikasa criticizes Eren for being stupid. Concludes Levi is taking advantage of him. She is very angry with the age difference, and treats Eren like he’s stupid.

It wasn’t like he never thought of their age gap. It plagued every thought that succeeded one about Levi. He couldn’t help but notice their difference in cultural references, their sense of humor and their general maturity. This kind of shit always disheartened him, so it was annoying that Mikasa would assume Eren didn’t care to dote on this very important factoid.

Eren points out that Mikasa is being cruel to her, and she softens. She admits that Carla talked about Levi and Eren before, saying that Eren looked happier with him.
They make up though and Eren decides to stay with them until he’s ready to go back home.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Eren wakes up groggy.
He goes to call his mother right away. He feels guilty, as he’s been MIA. His mother curses at him for worrying her, and he clumsily explains that things ‘got crazy’ with Armin. Eren says that he asked Mikasa to pick him up.
His mother is still upset, and insists Eren come straight home next time things get crazy. She values his safety.
Eren wants to stay out there until school starts. His mother doesn’t like that, but understands that Eren needs his own space. Eren asks if he could get his things later that day.
Carla asks if she did anything to make Eren upset. Eren lies and says that he and Armin got into a fight, which is why he needs space.
Eren gets off the phone and Mikasa goes into labor.

Mikasa is bossy.

At the hospital, Mikasa is in the bed and drinking starbucks. Eren thought the baby would’ve come out by now, and Jean corrects him. Eren has no fight in him, and doesn’t want to stress over fighting with jean.
Mikasa sends Jean out to go find Carla.
Eren asks about their father and Mikasa says that she told him, but he wasn’t coming. She only wanted Carla here. Eren doesn’t understand why Mikasa would still be talking to that guy, and Mikasa says that he’s still her father.

Mikasa feels as though she owes Grisha a lot.

Carla makes an entrance with McDonalds and Starbucks.
Carla asks to see Eren in the hallway.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Carla takes Eren to the vending machine. She looks tired, and Eren feels guilty, wondering if he had anything to do with that.
Carla asks Eren if he’s seen Levi anywhere, and Eren says he hasn't. Carla catches him in a lie. He inadvertently admits that Armin is dating one of Levi’s friends, and Carla is shocked.
Carla reveals that she dated a man 20 years her senior in college. She admits that things didn’t work out between them because they both wanted different things in life. Carla then laughs at the idea of being with someone young enough to be her kid.
Eren gets anxious over the conversation and excuses himself.
Eren is sent back to Mikasa’s house. He needed to watch the dogs.

Carla suggests that Eren stop by their house to pick up his things.

Eren drives.

He reflects on how much he enjoyed sex with Levi.
He also reflects on how much he misses Levi.
Levi apparently looked at Eren with pity.
Levi’s body language read to Eren as: he never wants to talk to me again.

Eren goes to the house. Levi’s lights were on. He gets anxious, but manages to get some clothes and belongings together.
Agnes is born. Eren gets extremely attached to her and helps around the house with Agnes.
The rest of the summer happens.

Eren loves his niece.
He still has therapy, and he doesn’t tell her about Levi.
Eren didn’t hang out with his friends.
Eren is feeling less hostile about his dad.
Eren slowly starts to feel more confident about going back home.

One day, while Eren is laying with Agnes, Mikasa mentions that their mom called.
Carla wants Eren to fix Levi’s car.

Eren is freaked out, and Mikasa promises to go with him.

CHAPTER TWENTY

The siblings are driving.

Eren has packed all his things in order to return home, as school was starting in a couple of weeks and Eren may as well go back home.
Mikasa laments over Eren leaving, but they promise to keep in contact.

They arrive at their mom’s house and she greets them warmly. She looks pretty and Eren feels slightly jealous at this, but then he gets rid of those feelings right away because it's ridiculous.

It’s implied that Levi and Carla hang out often.

Carla makes everyone go inside, mentioning that Levi asked about Eren in his absence.

Eren is flustered, and knows then that Levi still thinks about him.

Eren goes inside the house. Levi compliments Agnes and Eren is tense, avoiding looking over at Levi. He remembers meeting Levi for the first time.
Carla pulls him out of thoughts. Eren looks at Levi, who is incredibly handsome. Levi loosely refers to Eren as a kid, who blushes and feels ashamed at that.

Eren looks to Mikasa, who is staring at Levi protectively.

Eren asks what’s wrong with his car, and Levi explains it’s the brake pads. Eren is eager to get it done, much to the annoyance of their mom. Mikasa steps in and lies that Eren has plans.
Once outside, everyone has awkward small talk.
Mikasa is dragged away by Carla to assist her with something else. Mikasa wants to stay, but Carla insists. Eren allows it.

Eren admits his mother is acting strange.

Levi and Eren are alone again. Levi is straightforward and asks how much Mikasa knows. Eren says that Mikasa knows everything. Levi seems unaffected by the news, saying that it isn’t any of his business what Eren does in his free time.
Eren calls him an asshole. Levi tries to deflect and say they shouldn’t talk about it. Eren is angrier, throwing in the towel and insisting they don’t speak. Levi points him to the tools. Levi leaves and it hurts Eren.
Eren wants Levi to fight with him on his level.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Eren is fixing the car. He looks very attractive. Levi was gawking at him from his window before turning around, disgusted.

Levi didn’t want Eren to fix the car. In fact, he wanted to do it himself. He bought all the parts himself.
Carla caught him fixing the car and got mad at him because it was so dangerous. She suggested calling Eren.

Levi was tormented while Eren was gone. He was afraid that Carla hated him, and that they were found out. Carla, however, gave no such indication and mentioned that Eren needed a break.

Levi asked about Eren through Carla, keeping tabs on his well-being.

Levi feels as he has no right to miss Eren, as he was the one to push him away.

The primary reason was that Eren would eventually resent him like Nile.

A few weeks later, Levi finds out that Eren is registered in his class. He is shook.
Eren comes into the house and tells Levi he finished with the breaks. Levi isn’t sure if he’s gotten taller.

He aches at the sight of him because Levi finds him attractive.

Eren is surprisingly docile in asking Levi for his keys.
Levi and Eren have a civil back and forth. Levi remembers that Eren accused him of being an asshole that didn’t care.

Levi cared so much, that’s why they can’t be together.

Levi is reminded of the time they used to do yard work together. It was different this time because Eren entered Levi’s home.
Levi prods at Eren to see if he knows about being enrolled in his class. He prompts him to check his email.
Eren wakes up from a sex dream with levi. He remembers that Levi told him to check his email, and he tries, but the website is down.
Eren decides to hold it off and go to sleep.
First day of campus. It’s crowded, and Levi and Hanji are walking together.

Hanji had been surprisingly respectful during this time. While she definitely encouraged Levi to go ahead with Eren, she also see how tormented the raven was from the prospects of it. Levi expected her to grate him and slap him into the happier choice, but she was more receptive than she looked. She did her best during this time to distract him as well, allowing his presence to preside at her dinner table and have late night coffee sessions over their syllabus revisions.

Once Hanji turns into her class, Levi bumps into Zeke. Zeke mistakes him for another student, and asks where room 2429 is.

That’s Levi’s class.

Levi opts to show him the way.

Zeke reveals he was studying abroad in Germany to get away from his father’s horrendous divorce.

Levi makes his way to the front of the class and notices Eren is shocked at him.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

Eren’s first day of college. His mom is excited but he has been dreading this whole day.
He goes to orientation and gets a welcome folder.
His very first class is Petra’s sociology class.

He thought about Levi, who might be teaching somewhere on campus. He gets jealous.

Eren goes into his literature class.

Armin helped him register for classes.

A girl asks him if he bought the book and Eren gets slightly confused.
Levi walks in and Eren is shocked. Eren wants to go into denial, almost.

He checks his schedule and is convinced Levi walked into the wrong class.

Eren is still in disbelief as Levi talks.

Levi is a humorous, serious and work-oriented professor. He speaks passionately about the books and reading.

He kicks out the students who did not do the reading.
LEVI POV
Eren stared at him a lot.

The students had a nice discussion during class.

Levi ends the class and feels someone staring at him, but it’s Zeke.

Zeke compliments Levi but insults Jane Austen.
Zeke offers to bring Levi coffee during office hours.

Zeke flirts.

Levi reveals he’s been hit on by students before, but those were young women. Zeke was a man.
Zeke introduces himself by his full name, which makes Levi shocked.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Eren is texting Armin freaking out. He wanted to stay and confront Levi. He goes into Hanji's lecture. Realizes it’s Hanji and is incredibly shocked.
He messages Armin and Armin is hurt by Eren for ignoring him.
Armin reveals he has no clue why Eren’s been aloof and Eren is shocked. Armin promises he doesn’t know anything.
Eren tells him that Levi is his professor and Armin is shocked.
Armin reveals that professors do get a list of their students before the semester and invites Eren to Erwin’s office.
Eren decides to leave Hanji’s lecture in a rush. Hanji notices him and looks surprised, but doesn’t say anything.
Goes to Erwin’s office.
Armin greets him and assures that Erwin will be done shortly. Eren insists he stay.

Eren notices that Armin looks completely natural in Erwin’s office, and wonders if he could do the same one day.

Eren asks erwin if Levi knew, and erwin says ‘it would be hard to imagine he didn’t’.
Eren leaves, angry.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Hanji shows up at Levi's office and they chat. Hanji mentions Eren being in her class and Levi says he knows nothing about that.

Hanji doesn’t suspect Levi.

Hanji checks in on him, and he belittles her for treating him like a ‘wounded animal’. She invites him over for wine and charcuterie, but he declines.
Once alone, Levi checks his email and finds it empty. He almost expected Eren to send him something after today.
Levi has a suspicion that Zeke and Eren are related. He should investigate, in case Eren is upset with him for not knowing.
Eren shows up to his office and confronts him.

Eren is feeling betrayed because he assumes that Levi had sex with him, knowing that Eren was going to be his professor.

Levi is condescending during the argument, talking down to him. Levi explains that Eren would’ve never understood why they couldn’t be together until he showed him.
Levi lets it slip that he likes Eren back, which Eren hammers on. Eren tries to get him to admit it, but Levi throws it aside because of the age gap.
Eren ends up bringing up his divorce which makes Levi mad.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Levi canceled Thursday’s lecture. Eren was fine with this and carried on per usual.
During lecture on Tuesday, Levi is ruthless. He is also a dry lecturer.

Eren mentions that in high school, Annie was the one to do all of his work for him because she enjoyed English.

Levi calls on someone behind Eren, who stammers out a question. Levi accepts this.
Levi says that Jane, a rebel, is not exempt from what people think of one another, though her thoughts and ideas may be progressive.
He then goes on to talk about Elizabeth being a ‘rebel’ for her time, but she is still a victim to the societal expectations around her.
Eren raises his hand because the lecture reminds him a lot about their argument in Levi’s office. Levi calls on him not by name, but by the shirt he is wearing.
Eren is at Jean’s house and seeks advice. He asks if Jean thinks he makes snap judgments about people, and Jean agrees. Jean also adds that Eren steps over what people want.
Jean offers to order food and Eren agrees, thinking that if he were to push with the conversation, he would only prove Jean right.
They eat their order together, with Eren not talking about Levi once.
Eren asks for advice now, and Jean allows it.
Eren recants the argument in the last chapter. Eren then talks about saying some angry words that he regretted, and Jean guesses that Eren brought up Levi’s divorce.

Jean explains that the Jaegers hit below the belt when they’re mad.

Jean jokefully suggests that Eren kill himself. Eren begins to cry, and Jean insists that he apologize. He tells him that if Levi really liked him, then the apology was what he needed.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

Eren laments on his attitude towards apologizing; he opted to not show regret through his words, but through his actions.

This may have come from his father, who apologized through gifts and words but still cheated on his mom and chose the other woman.

Carla knocks on Eren’s door and curses at him about the dishes.
Eren steps out of his room and sees his mother washing the dishes. He tells her to relax, and he starts doing them, but Carla is still angry and starts rifling through the fridge. She starts venting about Eren’s dad, and Eren is shocked.
She is angry and nonsensical. He hugs her and apologizes for not doing the dishes.
He realizes the necessity of apologizing.
Two weeks pass.
In the first few days, Eren is restless and wants to challenge every word Levi says, but he never does. Other days, Eren is simply exhausted and goes in and out of classes.
School consumes his life. He wakes up, tracks his homework and tracks his reading. He was grateful for these days, as he could enter Levi’s lectures unassumingly. He was finally proving to Levi that they could remain as professor and student, until Saturday.
On Saturday night, Eren is playing video games when he receives an email from Levi, who says that he has been injured and will cancel classes through Wednesday.
Eren leaps out of bed and goes to Levi’s house, where it appears as though nobody is home.
Eren enters through the back door. He runs down the hallway and scares Levi, who’s laying in bed with his laptop. Eren is relieved that he doesn’t look sick or injured.
Eren gets awkward as he realizes how long it’s been since he’s been in this house, and Levi offers tea.
Levi makes him tea and teases him, asking if he always stays up late to read his emails. Eren replies back that he was up talking to girls and Levi laughs.
Eren asks if Levi is still upset with him, and Levi affirms it, implying that Eren must be still upset with him as well. Eren denies this and apologizes.
Levi apologizes and he vows to tell Eren the truth. He explains that he didn’t know that Eren was going to be his student until after they had sex. He then continues by saying that he was self-conscious, and that Eren wouldn’t want to be with him anyway.
Eren was awash with emotions, but quieted when he realized that Levi was at his limit.
Eren prompts they ‘start over’, and they agree and Eren leaves. Levi asks him to come by tomorrow to help out.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

On Friday, on the way home from classes, Levi stops by a liquor store to get ingredients for a cocktail. He enjoys his drink while staring off into the backyard.
On his way to his bedroom, Levi notices Eren in his bedroom, which perfectly matches Levi’s hallway window.
In his room, Eren was laying on his bed shirtless. He was playing games with a controller in his hands.
Levi admires his physique. He lets himself get carried away before he rushes into the shower of his bathroom.
He masturbates to the fantasy of Eren. He thinks of how intense Eren was while he was angry and he thinks of their night together in the van.
After his shower, Levi takes a step forward only to fall and land harshly on his wrist, spraining it.
On Sunday, Levi gets up early and washes his counters. Eren arrives early and is nervous.
They go out to the backyard, where Levi has these planters he wants moved into the shed. Eren moves them with ease, which impresses Levi. They speak easily as the job is done.
Eren also offers to organize the shed and Levi moves to help, but Eren stops him and orders him inside.
Once inside, Levi makes him breakfast. After Eren is done cleaning, he tries to come inside and Levi stops him, saying he is dirty. Eren goes home to shower, and they text each other.
Levi texts to make sure Eren is still coming over and Eren asks if he needs help with anything else. Levi declines, and Eren says he is on his way.
Eren comes back and sweeps Levi into a kiss.

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

Eren and Levi are kissing in Levi’s kitchen. This was after a series of flirting back and forth over breakfast.
Levi finally decided to kiss him again after he saw Eren washing dishes. Eren was not only washing the dishes, but he shoved Levi away to do them.
Carla calls Eren, who tells her that he was simply helping Levi with some of his pots and they were just eating breakfast.
Eren goes home after kissing Levi. He promises to call Levi that evening.
Eren and Levi have a phone call while Levi is in the bath.
They talk. Eren says his mom knows he likes Levi, but in a weird fatherly sense. Levi teases Eren and tells him that it’s okay to have second thoughts, and Eren assures Levi that he doesn’t. Levi lets slip his insecurities. He feels like he doesn’t meet Eren’s mother’s expectations, and Eren argues that he’s never done what his parents have expected of him.
Eren asks if Levi and Carla ever talked about him.
Levi says that Carla complained about Eren’s promiscuity.

Levi doesn’t judge Eren on this. He knows that Eren is complex. He tells Eren that it doesn’t matter to him.

Eren talks about his complicated feelings with having sex with women. He wasn’t into casual sex with women, he preferred pleasuring them, but these interactions still felt empty. Eren professes that sex with Levi felt like scratching a deep itch he didn’t know he had.
Levi posits that he wants to take things slow. Eren is fine with that, but he lets it be known that he doesn’t believe Levi will agree to these terms. He thinks Levi is ‘down bad’ for Eren.
Eren also jokes that his window is never locked, so if Levi wanted to hop a fence or two, he was more than welcome.
Levi teases him about being the one who was down bad before hanging up.

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

Levi wakes up tired. Exhaustion was usual, but it was more intense this time because of Eren keeping him up late at night.
The night prior was Eren trying to ask about Levi’s past. Levi kept his own past vague during this conversation. He then falls asleep to the sound of Eren playing games.
Levi is now at his Thursday lecture. Eren texts him to let him know that he was going to be late to the lecture. Levi isn’t surprised. Eren jokes that Levi was talking in his sleep.
Levi accidentally knocks over his laptop bag. He bends down to pick these items up, but Zeke is there helping him. Levi studies him up close and tries to find a resemblance between him and Eren.
Zeke asks about Levi’s wrist and offers to help Levi throughout the semester. He talks about his degree in IT and Levi is moved by the offer, seeing as he was inept with technology.
Eren enters the lecture and notices them.

Before Levi could react, Eren’s vibrant eyes flickered upwards and darted between Levi and Zeke curiously. Levi was hoping for one of his trademark smirks to appear, but it never did. Instead, his brows furrowed some more before he finally sat himself down in the middle of the seats, near some girl Levi remembered kicking out two days prior.

Eren is still staring at them.
After class, Levi is unsurprised to find Eren waiting for him outside of his office. Levi lectures him briefly about skipping Hanji’s class.
Once alone in the office, Eren picks up Levi and throws him on top of his own desk.
They argue about going slow, but Eren admits it’s been difficult for him. He calls Levi a tease before they go ahead and mess around.

CHAPTER THIRTY

Eren and Armin are having a picnic at the duck pond in the center of campus. Armin asks how Eren’s freshman year was going so far.
Eren has a flashback to Thursday, where he tried to go out with Levi after, but Levi declined.
Armin is suspect about Eren’s behavior. He tells Eren that he looks happy and asks if anything has happened lately. Eren lies to him.
Armin tells him that he cares about him and that he hopes Eren makes smart and safe choices. He also tells Eren that he thinks he could come on too strong at times and he should tread carefully with people’s boundaries.

Eren would’ve liked to tell Armin, but he and Levi already agreed to keep their relationship under wraps for right now. Not that they were ashamed or anything (at least that’s what Eren hoped), but they’d much rather enjoy each other’s company without the scrutiny of their friends.

Armin swoons over Erwin. He also shares with Eren on why Erwin and his ex divorced. He also tells Eren that he was nervous over being with Erwin due to the age difference, but he learned to not let it bother him. He also subtly guilts Eren over not telling him.
Armin finishes by telling Eren that he was safe to tell him about Levi. He reiterates that Eren should be careful because he comes on strongly. He also isn’t upset, but he is still concerned because Levi is opposite to all the girls he’s been with except for Annie.
Eren asks if Armin thinks Eren is gay. Armin avoids the question.
Eren is in philosophy class and is bored. He has gone the entire weekend without seeing Levi, but he was in a worse mood because this was his least favorite class.
He reads a text message from Levi and texts him back. He asks where Levi is, and Levi is short with him. He replies that he’s in class and for Eren to stop texting him.
Texts Levi. Levi is aloof.
Eren finds out where Levi’s class is through emailing Hanji. She catches on quickly and asks if Levi is being stubborn and Eren lies, saying he was only bringing him food at request of his mother. Hanji doesn’t buy it. She tells Eren where his class is, and that Eren could’ve found out on his own through the school’s website. She promises to interrogate Levi later.

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

Levi is in class feeling guilty over not texting Eren.

“Levi, in all his hectic happenings during the day, could only afford to scan through Eren’s messages a few at a time. Only at night would he have the time to chuckle at some of these videos and jokes before he passed out cold and woke up to missed calls from Eren. He always woke up with the guilt of having ignored Eren in some form. It wasn’t on purpose, really. Levi just had classes and students he was in charge of, so he didn’t have as much space to occupy himself with Eren like he used to.”

He leaves class to apologize and he hits Eren with the door.
Eren tells Levi that he wanted to walk home with Levi. He wanted to come see him.
Levi is flustered that Eren would come to see him.
Levi admits they take the bus when he needs a moment or two to think. Levi invites Eren to ride with him.

Eren offers to carry Levi’s bag. He looks jumpy and nervous, which makes Levi suspicious.

Eren vents about his philosophy class. Levi takes the initiative to be a comforting boyfriend, even complimenting Eren.
They board the bus together, with Eren thinking to listen to music with Levi. They listen to ‘Heat Wave’. Eren is surprisingly vulnerable as the music plays.
Levi calls him cute.

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

Eren and Levi are walking home, with Eren filling the air with pleasant chatter.
They arrive at the houses, and Levi is worried that Eren will want to invite himself in. Eren does, and Levi finds himself unable to say no.
They go in and Eren is polite. Levi asks if Eren really isn’t going to ‘jump his bones’. Eren laughs, Levi offers him something to drink. They migrate to Levi’s office, where they could work together. Levi is still suspicious of Eren.
Levi reads an email from Zeke, who promises to bring him a book.

He flirts with him.

Eren startles Levi with a hand on his thigh. He reads the email alongside Levi and this is where he finds out Zeke’s name for the first time.
Levi deletes the email, and Eren makes a pass at Levi. Eren insists, much to Levi’s protests.
Levi is scared that Eren will lose interest once he gets bored of having sex. He’s not used to the amount of attention Eren is giving him.

Eren is upset by that reaction, assuming that Levi is underestimating him.

Levi shows hesitance and they bicker before having a heart to heart about Levi’s previous marriage.

“But it was not functional. My marriage wasn’t functional. It wasn’t healthy,” Levi began. His voice broke. Levi cleared his throat and he began talking as apathetically as he could about the situation, as if he were describing a movie he saw last weekend.
“He . . . Nile was . . . he wasn’t the warmest person around. I know Hanji can call me the Ice King and whatever, but Nile was more severe. He was callous because I wasn’t something he wanted, you know? I couldn’t give him kids, I couldn’t be his arm candy to all his work parties—I couldn’t be more than someone he could gratify himself with in private. Yes, we were married but for fuck’s sake I had two whole guests at my wedding.”

Eren admits he is not used to being rejected. Eren tells Levi that he was in an abusive relationship.

Levi denies this, and says it was simply a shitty relationship.

Eren calls him his boyfriend.

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

Levi and Eren are working in his office.
Levi throws forth the idea of ordering a pizza. Eren teases him about the text on his phone being big. Levi also promises a movie after Levi is done grading. Eren asks about the food, and it is implied that Levi is paying for the meal, which is something Eren isn’t used to.
Levi asks if Eren is done with his work. He makes it clear that he doesn’t want their relationship to get in the way of his school work.
Carla shows up.

She mentions that she texted Levi, but he didn’t respond, which is why she showed up.

Levi goes to check his phone, but accidentally drops it to where Carla can see Eren’s messages. Carla teases a very obviously flustered Levi.
Carla pushes herself in.
Levi texts Eren to leave, as his mother showed up. Eren is in denial, but Levi insists.
Carla mentions Grisha trying to reach out to make amends with Eren.

Grisha wants to be talking to Eren by his 21st birthday.
Levi realizes that it wasn’t his place.

Levi feels protective over Eren but tells Carla he’s sure he will make the right choice.

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

Eren is pacing around Levi’s office when he hears his mom and decides to sneak out.
He falls in some rose bushes and runs home. He even looks up to make sure no one is watching him before he goes back home.
He is in his bathroom stripped down to his underwear. He’s thinking heavily to himself about Zeke and his uncommon last name, so he decides to call Armin.
Eren shares his crazy theory. He tells Armin Zeke’s last name. Armin encourages Eren to talk to his mom before it gets ugly. Armin asks Eren if he wants to come over, and Eren declines. They say ‘love you’ to each other.
Eren is encouraged by his background of Levi, who would want Eren to find out the truth.
Eren goes out into the kitchen.
Carla and Levi are there. Carla is eating pizza while Levi is sipping water. Eren eats pizza with them.
Carla accuses Eren of sneaking out again, name drops Annie, which gets Eren annoyed.

Eren didn’t see his mother drunk often and truth be told, he hated it. His father was the one who was always drunk at parties, belligerent and out of control most times. His mother would be the streak of calm Eren needed, always taking care of everyone and keeping his father in check. To know that his one shred of calm was drunk in front of Levi like this was irritating.

Eren snaps at his mom and asks her to mind her own business. Levi interjects and asks if Eren really talks to his mother like that. Levi excuses himself.
They chat about Levi being Eren’s professor, and Carla brings up his good looks. She gossips a little, in disbelief that Levi was single.
Eren wants to ask her about zeke but Carla looks so happy and he doesn’t want to ruin it. Eren eventually takes her to bed.

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

Carla POV.

She’s had a rough upbringing where her mother died when she was 18. She was the youngest and spent her days fighting and partying.
She changed for the better and became a mom.

She met Grisha, an older, smarter man who listened to her and her troubles. As a young woman, Carla worked at a firm where she made a good amount of money. They were good as a couple, horrible as parents and they divorced nearly twenty years later. Carla doesn’t like to dwell on that part of her life, at least not yet.

She sees Eren on the floor and tries to get him into bed.

It is revealed that Eren is a ‘miracle baby’, because he was born after it was believed that Carla had fertility issues.

When fetching the paper, she runs into her neighbor who alludes that Levi is seeing someone, as she saw a man jump out of his window last night.

Amanda hints that she knows it was Eren, Carla’s son, that snuck out of his window. She encourages Carla to ask about it.

Eren wakes up and tries to call levi, but he doesn’t answer.

Levi is mad at the way Eren spoke to his mom. Eren is annoyed that Levi is overstepping.

Eren decides to skip class and wash dishes. He pushes up his sleeves, which means his arms are exposed. Carla comes back in and points out his arms. Eren says that he fell in a bush. Carla asks him about class, and Eren says there is none today.
Carla wants to take him out for lunch.
Eren calls levi, who relaxes him.

Levi encourages him to go to lunch with his mom. Levi leaves the choice up to Eren.

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

Levi is a nervous wreck in class.

He is scared that Carla will be upset if Eren were to tell her the truth. He wasn’t sure if Eren would tell his mother. He trusted Eren to make that choice for himself, however.

Levi ends class early.
Zeke is still there. Levi knows he’s Eren’s older half brother.

He burned with a new impatience at the sight of the blond. Levi couldn’t put his finger on it, but Zeke crawled under his skin. He also couldn’t help but think of all the circumstances that surrounded Zeke. He was a child of Grisha, Eren’s older half-brother. His mother was Dina, a woman who worked with Grisha at his auto repair shop. Zeke was a part of Grisha’s secret family, his affair away from home.

Levi wants to tell Zeke the truth, and almost doesn’t. Instead, he tells Zeke that have the same last name, which makes Zeke sit up.
Eren’s POV. Eren is sure that if his parents weren’t micromanagers, he would be a good kid.
He has a flashback to his time with Annie.

Eren dropped his football scholarship to smoke weed and play video games all day.
Annie interrogated him about college.

They met in a sophomore year history class when they were assigned to a presentation together. After Eren’s persistence and Annie’s eventual agreement, the two began dating. They were a bit of a marvel, as most were afraid of Annie and attracted to Eren. Their relationship was like any high school relationship: full of ups and downs. That’s all Eren could say.

They get into a brief argument. Annie pressures him to register for school and implies that she thinks he is stupid.
His mom walks in on them. She’s angry and begins to swat at Eren while cursing in Spanish. He runs out of the house.

Eren is back in the present.

He didn’t have a plan for telling his mom about Levi because to be completely honest, he thought Levi would’ve given up on him by now. Disregarding gender, Eren’s only been romantically involved with Levi for a few months, with a lot of that time spent away or fighting. It was a wild wave of a romance that Eren enjoyed riding, but he wouldn’t tell his mom right away even if Levi was a woman and his age.

Carla asks about his arms and why he’s skipped class. She eventually confesses that she knows he was at Levi’s house last night and that he snuck out.
Eren lies and says that Levi has been tutoring him because he’s scared of failing.

CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

Eren is amazed he got away with that lie.
Carla asks him how long he’s been tutored by Levi, but Eren changes the subject and asks about her car. She falls for it. He answers her question and says he’s been tutored by him for a few weeks.

“Eren usually wasn’t the kind of person to dwell. He used to be an easy thinking kind of guy who never sought to look for double meanings in the words of everyday life. That kind of thinking was exhausting. It landed him in trouble. It made him stressed.”

Eren is feeling like such a boy after his mom makes him feel immature. He is questioning his manhood.
Levi welcomes him in and asks. Eren admits he lied and Levi is conflicted.
Levi admits that he thought Eren would’ve told her and he hurts. Eren doesn’t want to disappoint Levi. Remembering his manhood, Eren tries to make a move on Levi.
Eren makes a move on him and Levi pushes him away, wanting to confess something.
Levi confesses that Zeke is Eren’s brother.
Eren is angry at first, but he is so shocked he can hardly react.
Levi is apologetic. Eren is not mad at him. They joke and Levi goes to make him tea.
They say ‘I love you’ to each other for the first time.

CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

Eren wants to have sex, but Levi doesn’t. Levi says it doesn’t feel right after today.
Eren goes home and plays Xbox with Connie, Jean and Armin.

Jean accidentally lets it be known that Eren and Armin are messing around with older dudes, and Connie doesn’t care.

They go into game chat and Eren is called a faggot. Eren is angry and fires back.
His mom comes in and asks when he got home. Eren tells her a few hours ago.
She asked how tutoring went, and he said it was good. Eren accusingly asks her where she’s been and she goes off to sleep.
Eren tries to log back on and play more Xbox, but everyone is heading to sleep. Eren decides to sleep for the night after his friends confess that they’re logging off for the night.
Eren has a nightmare that’s more of a memory. It’s when he lost a football game and his dad is quietly angry at him.

“Grisha Jaeger was also a sore loser.
So whenever Eren would lose, he would sometimes believe his father took it harder than he did. Eren was an extension of Grisha, so to have anything but a flawless football season was outlandish.
Whenever Eren would lose, things were always quiet. Not a word was spoken.”

Annie isn’t supportive and Eren wakes up.
He calls Levi, who answers. Eren burns to tell him about his dream, but invites himself over instead.
He goes over to Levi’s house, where Levi reassures him. Eren wanted to have sex with him, but it didn’t feel right after today.
They fall asleep together.

CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

Eren wakes up tired. There’s a text from his mom asking if he’s left early. He lies and says he is studying.
Levi comes in the room to get dressed and Eren gawks at him.

“Levi was short—like a girl. His skin was milky and smooth, like a girl’s also. But his hair was short and dark, unlike all the girls Eren’s ever been with. His nose was strong, but perfect, like it’d been molded from marble. His eyes were narrow, tired, masculine and dark. His lips were—Eren squinted—medium? Pale? Pink? Frowning all the time?”

Eren tells Levi he’s taking the day off. Levi accepts this and tells him to sleep in.
Levi comes home with fast food for Eren. He is clear that he is eager to try his best, even if it’s becoming a good partner to Eren.
He misinterprets a few of Eren’s cues as hostile, which they aren’t.
Eren asks if Levi has ever been called a faggot. Levi wants to know who or what happened, but he simply answers that he’s been called a faggot by his family and Nile.
Eren is confused as to why Nile would have called him a faggot, and Levi says he never liked to bottom. They tease each other.
Levi fingers Eren but fails to keep him hard.
Eren’s turn.

CHAPTER FORTY

Levi has sex with Eren.
As they’re making food, Eren asks why Levi’s Uncle called him that.
Levi teases him and Eren presses him for details, clearly hurt he never talks about his family.
Levi divulges, much against his own hesitance.

“My parents called me a faggot out of anger,” Levi gave in, but he turned away from Eren while speaking. “Because I was, well, a rebellious teen having sex with dudes right under their noses. We were supposed to be good, American Christians that went to church and help the needy.”

Levi admits he’s adopted. His birth family are refugees in Texas from the Vietnam war.
Eren mentions that Mikasa is adopted.
Levi feels guilty for keeping everything so secretive. He finally tells Eren that he has a sister in California. She has graduate school there. They don’t talk because he skipped out on their dad’s funeral.

He was such a saint when other people were around, but behind doors, he was a passive aggressive, judgmental asshole. He pretended to be religious when it benefited him, like-like when it came to calling me a fucking faggot—“

Eren hugs him and says he’s sorry. Levi is touched by the simple gesture. He says Eren is annoying and Eren tells him he loves it.

CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

Eren is in class, but he’s been a tense wreck. His anxiety has gotten worse.
Eren is sitting behind Zeke and looking at him, disbelieving that this was his half-brother.
Levi comes into class. Zeke stands and makes his way to Levi, where they chat about something Eren can’t hear. Zeke shows Levi something on his phone.
Eren distracts himself with something else. He wrote questions for Zeke on his phone. Zeke comes back to his seat, and Eren tells him they have to talk. Zeke agrees easily, which initially puts Eren at a discomfort, but he is grateful that it was easy.
Eren comes out of Hanji’s lecture and finds Zeke sitting at a table, hunched over his laptop. Eren reflects about how easily Zeke blends into his surroundings and Eren seemingly doesn’t.
Zeke speaks first and is formal. He offers Eren the chance to ask questions, and the first thing Eren asks is how Dina and Grisha met.

“From what I’ve heard, he’s known my mom since high school, but opted for your mom. And, no, my mom was never okay with that. I don’t know why she waited around for that piece of shit to fully commit, but it is what it is.”

Eren makes a loose statement about Zeke not liking Grisha, to which Zeke confirms. Eren admits that his feelings are ‘hard’ towards him. Eren suddenly feels a hesitance to speak poorly about Grisha. Eren instinctively apologizes, saying he feels like he got the better end of the stick. Zeke is insulted.

“That Grisha Jaeger is a spineless, hopeless pile of shit,” Zeke nodded coldly. “He was in and out of my childhood, tossing gifts and money to my mom and I, as if that’d ever make up for the lack of a half I felt. Now, he’s back with my mom in the house that I grew up in without him, and I am meant to sleep in a tiny, uncomfortable bed in a shared dorm on campus.”

Zeke confesses he feels nothing to Eren. Zeke also tells Eren that he doesn’t think that Eren got the better bargain, because he thinks if he were to have Grisha around, he would be a little fucked up. Eren gets defensive.

Eren remembers talking about it with Levi, who tells Eren he doesn’t quite believe him.

Eren doesn’t care what Zeke thinks. He leaves.

CHAPTER FORTY-TWO

Eren is working out at the gym, angrily thinking about Zeke and how he wanted to get into Levi’s pants.

Eren’s frustrations include trying to do the right thing by talking to Zeke, but instead, he found himself mocked. This brings into question the consequences of telling the truth.

Levi texts him, and Eren ignores the first few text messages. He didn’t want Levi to coddle him or see him like this. Levi was someone who brought out tortured feelings (embarrassment and pride) from Eren.

Levi was someone who saw Eren as a vulnerable person, which made Eren self-conscious.

Eren calls Levi. Eren sternly tells Levi that he’s not in the mood to speak at the moment. Eren is stern, his voice angry, making Levi quiet. Eren is guilted over Levi’s quietness, and confesses that he feels hurt and angry, and he isn’t sure why.
Levi asks if it’s Zeke, which forces Eren to take his anger out on Levi, referring to Zeke as Levi’s ‘boyfriend’.
They two begin to bicker. Eren bitterly mentions Levi meddling in their affairs, and Levi boldly states that Eren isn’t mad about that. Levi is right, Eren knows it, and it only makes Eren that much more upset.
Eren asks why Levi went to Zeke first. Levi asks if it went poorly with Zeke, and if it didn’t, would Eren still be acting like this? Eren gets increasingly frustrated that Levi is talking down to him, as if Eren weren’t capable of knowing his own emotions.
While they’re arguing, Porco asks if Eren is using the bench, to which Eren snaps and tells Porco to get off his dick. Levi assumes this is directed towards him and hangs up.
In Levi’s mind, he is very zen with anger. In his divorce, he has learned that being angry will not change circumstances and that life goes on. However, Levi acknowledges that it’s different, since he likes Eren.
Levi walks out of his house, ruminating on the million ways he could’ve helped Eren, both in attitude and advice. He believed that he was comforting, but Eren only offered anger in return. Levi wasn’t at fault for delivering the truth.
Levi is reminded of his time with Nile, who would gripe about his sexuality. This makes Levi feel like a ‘rehab center for fucked up straight men’. Levi also doesn’t understand Eren telling him to ‘talk to him like a normal person’ because Levi believed he was doing that.
Levi buys a pack of cigarettes from the gas station and walks back.
Eren is standing in front of his house, upset at the sight of Levi holding a pack of cigarettes. Levi promptly tells him that it’s none of his business.
Eren tells him that he is tired of running away, and he wants to clear things up. He wants to talk, and Levi says that he’s willing, but only if he can smoke. Eren reluctantly agrees.
Levi teasingly asks if Eren has come to apologize, and Eren says yes. He says that the difference between them is that he knows when his emotions get the best of him and admit when he’s wrong. He tells Levi that the way he talked to him earlier was not acceptable.
Levi points out that Eren called Zeke his boyfriend, and Eren acknowledges that, citing his jealousy. Levi is confused on why he’d be jealous over Zeke, and Eren argues that Zeke drools all over him and emails him and Levi does nothing about it. Levi tells Eren that he’s a student, and that Eren needs to grow up. Levi points out that Eren has thrown women in his face multiple times, prompting Eren to storm out.

CHAPTER FORTY-THREE

Eren walks home angry. If he was particularly angry, he would go to the gym or ‘remove himself’ at the advice of his therapist, Dr. Brzenska.
He opens his front door and finds his mother there, curled on the sofa and looking at Eren. She asks if he’s okay in a very sweet voice and he is sobered by the memory of his father’s own anger. He feels shame because he remembers how his father’s anger would haunt the household.
Eren gets overwhelmed by these thoughts as well as the idea of disappointing his mother by confessing to his homosexuality.
He runs into his room and shuts himself in the closet. He breathes and reassures himself through his anxiety.
A few days pass and Levi is in class. He feels miserable without Eren’s company but relents that the space is possibly healthy for them.
In class, he finds that a string of messages from Eren waits for him. Levi is relieved that Eren apologizes, but finds the timing to be incredibly inappropriate.
After class, Zeke notices that Levi is tense and approaches him. Eren lingers behind Zeke, looking upset.
Zeke is bold and decides to ask Levi to hang out once the semester is over, seeing as their academic relationship will end soon. Levi rejects him and tells him he’s seeing someone, and it’s serious. Levi reveals himself as gay and Zeke respectfully backs off.
Eren approaches. He shyly asks Levi for an extension on the final paper and prefers to ask in person. He explains that he and his mother are going out of town next week and he was hoping to get his paper in after.
Levi considers himself a strict professor, hardly giving out extensions. He does relent and gives Eren the extension.
Levi cancels his office hours and goes home, ruminating on his relationship with Eren. He calms himself and reminds himself that Eren does not lash out on purpose. He eventually calls Eren and they talk, where they both apologize.
Eren elaborates further on his trip out of town, where his cousin is having a quinceanera. They end the phone call with an ‘I love you’.

CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR

Levi sneaks out of his house. He did so quite a bit in his youth, for his parents were controlling. He enjoyed the freedom of it.
He gets Eren’s attention, who excitedly lets him in. They kiss and join one another on his bed, where Eren teases him about giving him an extension. Eren teases him further by showing him reviews about his teaching and calls him cute.
They have sex. Eren hurts his back.