"Eren!" An urgent voice could be heard from the hallway right outside the door accompanied by a sharp, loud knock, effectively waking Eren up.

"What? What?" He sat up, startled, looking around the empty room looking for the source of noise, when the door flew open.

He stared in confusion at Mikasa, who was trying to catch her breath.

"Thank god you're here. I don't know what I'd do if I had to look for you!"

"...And why did you feel the need to wake me up exactly?" Normally, when Mikasa came to his room at this hour, she'd just silently crawl into his bed and sleep the few hours until morning, without Eren ever realizing a thing.

"Because-"

"What the fuck are you doing here again, Ackerman?" a cold voice cut her off.

Her gaze immediately hardened (while Eren's lit up) upon the unwelcome interruption. She slowly turned around, positioning herself protectively between the door and Eren.

"I could ask you the same question, sir."

Levi narrowed his eyes. "I keep telling you I have no reason to explain myself to you. And I think the answer is kind of obvious, so I don't see the point to your question anyway. Now answer me. If it's stupid I'll double the punishment you've already got. And by the way, clean the top floor again. There are still spider webs everywhere."

Mikasa rolled her eyes mumbling quietly, "You mean there are spider webs again."

Eren watched in silence. He has learned from not-so-pleasant experience not to interfere in the fights between his step-sister and his hero-turned-superior-turned-lover.

"Yes sir," started Mikasa, now in a normal voice, but sounding annoyed and in a hurry to get this done. "On my way here I met Hanji-san, who mentioned to me she wanted to go wake up Eren soon to take him for more experiments. I thought it was too soon as Eren has yet to fully recover from her doings two days ago. It would be too much strain on him. But because she's a superior I can't argue with her, so I decided to instead act and hide Eren until tomorrow to at least postpone it a day."

'She doesn't want to argue with Hanji-san, who wouldn't even mind in the least, but she argues with Heichou all the time, when he might kill her for it one day... Where's the logic...?" wondered Eren, shaking his head in disbelief.

"Hey, I'm perfectly fine already, I don't-" Eren tried, but in vain.

"You do have a point. I'll talk to Hanji," answered Levi to Mikasa's explanation after a second of contemplation, ignoring Eren's attempt beautifully. "You," he pointed at Eren, "will stay here." He turned around at promptly left, Mikasa and Eren staring after him in shock.

A minute passed, then two, then ten. After twenty, just when Mikasa thought 'to hell with it' and proceeded to drag Eren away, Levi returned with an unreadable look in his eyes. "Eren, get up. We're leaving."

"Huh? Why?"

He sighed exasperatedly. "Hanji said she has to do all those experiments as soon as possible, that she doesn't care if it kills you, or gets her suspended, or both, as long as she gets it done. Looked like she meant it."

"Tsk. Useless," murmured Mikasa – loud enough for them all to hear. Levi scowled but didn't say anything back, probably agreeing with her, more or less. Not that he'd ever admit it.

Mikasa grabbed Eren's arm and without a word forcefully made him get up. "Wait, Mikasa, what are you doing?"

"I'm taking you to safety whether you like it or not. By force if I must." Her voice was low and quiet. Eren contemplated fighting back but the look she sent him told him that might maybe be a little unwise.

"No, you don't. I'll take care of it," growled Levi.

"I don't think so, Heichou," countered Mikasa. "You tried and failed miserably already. And I don't trust you with Eren, sir. No offense." Eren thought that was definitely offense.

Levi thought so, too.

"I failed, while you didn't even try; you ran away," he growled irritably. "And I wasn't trying to be fucking nice. I'll take care of it."

Mikasa exchanged glares with him before reluctantly giving in.

Meanwhile, Eren was getting more and more annoyed. 'What the hell!? Don't I get a say even in things that concern me and only me with these two?'

But he still held back. Mainly because of his instinct of self-preservation. Both of them seemed willing to beat him up and kidnap him if necessary, and they were both more than capable of executing that option alone. Eren shivered at the thought of them ganging up on him.

"Why the hell are you following us, Ackerman?" hissed Levi quietly, as he led Eren by the hand somewhere far enough from the distant scream of 'Where did you hide my Eren you evil midget!'

"Because I'm not leaving him alone with you."

Eren's adopted attitude of breathe-deeply-and-deal-with-it was crumbling rather quickly by now.

He loved them both and he loved spending time with either one of them, but right now they were so pissing him off with the bickering. He was starting to think that he would be better off with Hanji-san. He didn't really mind the whole experiment thing from the beginning anyway.

"Then you can stop. Leave," Levi barked over his shoulder.

"I refuse, sir."

Levi stopped to turn around and glare. "You're refusing a direct order?"

"That's exactly what it was."

Eren couldn't take it anymore.

"Do you seriously, seriously need to fight every bloody time you see each other? Can't you just... give it a rest already?"

Levi and Mikasa both looked at him as if he had lost his mind. He rolled his eyes before continuing, "Anyway, I don't really mind going with Hanji-san. If it helps us kill the titans faster, I'd be happy to do it, actually. So you can just let it be and let Hanji-san do what she has to."

""No way.""

"Eren, you don't realize what you'd be in for! The crazy maniac could kill you without even noticing!"

"That's right Eren. I know you're enthusiastic about the idea of revenge but at least wait till you're in a normal condition, before taking on something as dangerous as she is."

Eren glared at them both. He was now seriously irritated. "What the hell! I'm not some stupid little kid so stop treating me as one! You're both way too overprotective, I can't stand it!"

"But you are a kid. You're only 15."

"I turned 16 quite a while ago, you know!"

"The fact you're so defensive about it just makes farther proof you indeed are still just a brat."

"Really Eren, you're even more of a kid than I thought."

"You shut up! You're only two months older!"

"This is about maturity, not age."

"Are you saying I'm immature?!"

""...""

Now Eren was pissed off. He huffed and turned around to go to Hanji.

However, two hands grabbed him from behind, another one covered his mouth and the poor struggling boy was dragged in exactly the opposite direction to the one he desired.

It's ironic how the only things the two of them ever agree on are not agreeing, (over)protecting of Eren (in Levi's case it's more along the lines of overpossessiveness – 'No one dares to bully Eren in any way but me!' – but the result is the same either way) and making fun of Eren – all of which Eren hates them for...

"Erwin! Start a search immediately!"

Erwin looked up from the papers he was working on until late at night to the flushed face of Hanji. "Search for what and why?"

"Eren's been kidnapped!"

"WHAT?! When? By whom? How?!" He shot up, reaching for his 3DMG.

"About 10 minutes ago, by Levi and possibly Mikasa Ackerman. I told only Mikasa I wanted to experiment on Eren again and a while later it was Levi who came to talk me out of it. When I refused, he ran off! They're in it together, I'm telling you; I'm almost positive!" She sounded as scary as Hanji can possibly sound, her eyes shining with determination to get her precious specimen back and anger from having it actually stolen.

Erwin gaped at her for a while, just processing the information. After he managed to warp his mind around it, he sat back down on his chair, with a heavy sigh, trying to resist the urge to face-palm himself.

'The humanity's fate rests on the shoulders of a lovesick idiot, a brother-complex idiot, a maniacal idiot, and the-one-who-keeps-getting-jerked-around-by-the-three-of-them idiot...

'...And I'm supposed to command them? What did I ever do to anyone?'

A/N: I'm not sure at all about this... I feel like they're getting more and more out of character with each sequel, but I don't know what to do about it... Sorry... Hope at least someone likes it anyway...