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Prologue

Levi was washing his hands in the motel sink.  He did so calmly and methodically, getting up his forearms and under his nails.  Less than two feet away was the cheap fiberglass tub.  The curtain was drawn and a broad smear of red swept down the inside.  Approximately six feet up there was a single neat hole.

Ablutions done, Levi stepped over the sill, pausing in the doorway to look back into the bathroom.  The tub and the body inside were fine, the curtain drawn neatly.  He adjusted the rug with the toe of his shoe so that it was square with the sink.  Perfect.

Chapter 1 - The senator
 
Sawee, Florida - August
 
Levi stepped out of his Camaro onto the baking asphalt of the parking lot and squinted into the bright, hot day.  One of his co-workers, a thin, toned blonde leaned, arms crossed, on her Kia nearby.

He carefully locked his doors.  “Annie.”

“Nobody would steal a heap of shit Camaro that’s more primer than paint,” she said

“It’s a work in progress,” Levi grunted.

He gave the car a brief caress then stepped toward the stairs.  Annie trailed after him.

The stairs belonged to the Two Roses Motor Inn which rented by the month, week, day, or hour.  Because of its flexibility, you never knew who you would encounter; a family with kids, a jaded businessman, or a sex worker counting her money.

It was also the new temporary home of his ‘office’.

The stairs were on the outside of the building, made of steel that echoed hollowly as they walked up.  The second floor had a covered balcony which ran the length of the building, dotted every few yards by a green room door.

Levi turned left at the top of the stairs and walked to the room at the very end, opening the door without bothering to knock.  He and Annie stepped in.  The weak air conditioning was a blessing.  Levi already had sweat winding its way down his neck and under his collar.

The tiny room inside held a couch in an unfortunate green color, a round table with hard fiberglass chairs which were incongruously orange, and a desk that dominated one half of the room.  Off to the right was a short hall that Levi knew led to two microscopic bedrooms and the bathroom.

Behind the desk stood a person with square glasses and wild brown hair pulled up into a sloppy ponytail.

“Levi!”

“Hange.”

“Gig go OK?”

Levi flashed them a look.

“Allll righty then.” They took out a battered green cash box and, opening it with a key on a string around their neck, rummaged inside.

The door opened suddenly bringing in an onslaught of heat and a petite blonde.  “I got the mail!  Oh, Levi, you’re here!”

“Hey, Krista.”

Levi, who was bisexual, generally preferred men but he had always thought that Krista with her huge blue eyes and soft-looking mass of blonde hair was attractive.  He liked blonds but he also liked tall people (at 5’3” he didn’t have trouble finding them,) and Krista probably stood five feet even.

Hange held out his pay in cash and disrupted his line of thought.

He counted the contents of the envelope quickly and with a frown.

“Is this fucking it?”

“You know you chose this job,” Hange pointed out. “You could always leave.”

“Tch.  And do what?  Sell my ass on the street?”

“It’s a nice ass.  Isn’t it Annie?”

Annie shrugged looking profoundly bored.

Levi scowled.  “Fucking pervert.  Anyway, what’s up with the next gig?”

Levi’s next gig was a corrupt politician.

“Oxymoron,” Levi said around his cigarette as he sat in the Camaro outside the convention center.  This was going to be an unusual one: he wouldn’t be using a gun.

To be sure he

had

a gun but there was no way he would be able to pull that off.

He dragged his cig down to the filter and crushed out the butt in the ashtray.  He took a quick look around and slipped out of the car.  He was in plain black trousers and a tee shirt and combat boots with a duffle slung over his shoulder.

Making his way casually toward the convention center he kept up a leisurely pace until he got to a corner.  He’d scoped out the place several times before today and discovered a back door—a fire exit—that was out of the arc of sight of any of the cameras.  He picked the lock on the door, (he’d disabled the door alarm earlier), and moved stealthily inside.

Easing the door closed he glanced around the echoey stairwell and crinkled his nose.  They needed to clean down here.  Acting quickly he unzipped his duffle and traded his t-shirt for full tactical gear; black shirt, bulletproof vest, ammo belt, the works.  He pulled on the helmet and goggles.

He jogged up the stairs to the main floor and left the stairwell like he belonged there.  There was no one to see him but a harried PA who startled then relaxed noticeably.

“The senator should be here any minute, sir.”

Levi nodded.  He let his hand rest on the Glock by his side.  He wished he could just shoot the fucker but that was a no-go.  There was too much security, too many people.  He’d be caught or, worse, shot himself.  These were two things he was pretty passionate about not happening.

The stairs had led out onto the back of the stage area and Levi eased up to the curtains that separated the stage from the backstage parts.  He peeked out.

There was a shocking amount of red, white, and blue bunting, no less than five full-sized American flags, and small flags everywhere.  A tiny movement from up high caught his attention.  It was probably the Stockmans’ assassin.  Sure enough, the tiniest sheen of steel from a rifle barrel gave them away.  Levi sneered.  They’d never have spotted

him

.

The other assassin’s mark was the wanna-be whom the Senator was debating tonight.  Levi knew this.  He also knew that when the other assassin killed the man, it would create the perfect opportunity for him to kill the senator.

“And speak of the devil …” Levi murmured.

The senator and his entourage had come in and were walking toward the stage with its two podiums facing each other.  There were two swat team members who spread apart taking up positions in the far corners.  The secret service fanned out to check the room.

Levi stood at ease in roughly the middle of backstage.  Because of the curtains, he couldn’t be seen by the senator, the gunman, or the other two SWAT members who would know he wasn’t one of them.

The secret service appeared backstage and closed on him.

“Who are you?  Why are you back here?”

“I was told to maintain this area, sir!” Levi said smartly.

“Where is your badge?”

Levi showed him immediately.  It was a good forgery and he’d gotten a lot done by having it.  He trusted it.

The secret service man grunted and nodded and gestured at the second man.  “Stay back here with him and keep it secure.  There are too many places to hide.  What’s that door?”

A thin sheen of sweat broke out on Levi’s forehead.  “It’s a fire door, sir.  Open it and the fire alarm goes off in the whole convention center.”

The man glowered at the door.
 
For a moment Levi considered killing both men and just stashing their bodies in a prop closet or something.  Fuck this shit.  All the macho gear was making him hot.

Finally, the first man grunted again and walked through the curtain and out onto the stage.

“All clear back there,” Levi heard him say.  I left Miller back there just in case.”

“Good call,” an unseen man said.

No mention of the extra SWAT team member.
 
The hit went as smoothly as Levi could ask for.  The second assassin, inexplicably, revealed himself right before taking the shot; standing up behind the bannister.  It was actually Levi who gave him away.  Since only he had known where the man was (it was a man) he actually gaped up at him when he revealed himself.

“What?  What is it?” the other secret service man asked anxiously.  He peeked out the curtains where Levi was looking.  “Holy shit!  Gun! GUN!”

The secret service grouped themselves around the senator and the two SWAT team members began firing at the assassin.  Levi smoothly joined the crowd around the senator.

The senator, a chubby, out-of-shape man was twisting to see what was going on and Levi pressed close, one hand splayed on his meaty ribs, looking for the interstitial space.  He found it and slid the long thin knife up between his ribs and into his heart.  There was almost no blood. Levi wiped the blade on the senator’s dark trousers, turned and disappeared behind the curtain.  By the time the secret service realized that the senator had been killed, Levi was pulling on his street clothes at the bottom of the stairwell

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Levi was draped over the couch in the office and hating it.  It was an angular affair in Avocado green that was made circ 1972.  The upholstery felt like burlap.  He squirmed trying to get comfortable.

“So where is Annie?”

“Hit her mark and is on to the next one,” Hange drawled.

Levi scowled.  He let his head drop back off of the arm of the chair and he regarded Hange and Krista upside down.

Hange handed him a manilla folder.  “Mobes rewrote some bits so you could read it.”  Hange had notoriously bad handwriting.

“Moblit?  I haven’t seen him all day.  He’s usually on you like ants on a piece of candy.”

A curious transformation overtook Hange.  She blushed and squirmed in the chair.

“Where is he?”

“Why does it matter?  If you must know he’s on some private business for me.”

Levi’s thin black eyebrows arched toward his hairline.  “Yeah?  Like what?”

Hange suddenly stood and paced the room.

“So look at the job already,” they snapped. “It’s a doozy.”

Levi opened the folder.

“Anything interesting?” Krista asked brightly.

Levi scratched the side of his sharp nose and once again contemplated hooking up with her.  He’d have to flirt though.  He was shit at flirting.

“Real piece of human garbage.  I’ll take care of it.”

Krista grinned and Levi admired her pink lips and small, even teeth.

“Good,” she said and woke the computer on her desk.

Levi snapped out of his reverie.  Well, that was that.

Levi was not happy.  Number one, he was in a stiff rented tuxedo and shiny shoes and his starched collar was digging into his neck.  Number two, the mark was a woman.  Levi hated killing women.  He had a soft spot in his heart for women and had trouble accepting that a woman could do things so horrible as to warrant being assassinated.

Of course, they could and did and this woman in particular was vile.

Second hit in as many days and real scum.  Busy, just like he liked.

He stood on one leg and scratched his ankle with his other foot.  Stupid tux.  Even the socks were uncomfortable.

“Spencer, darling, did you like my little gift to you?”

Levi pressed himself against the wall and listened intently.  The woman, his mark, Yvonne Kraft, was one of those people who had no concept of volume control.  Despite being around the corner, Levi could hear her perfectly.  The man she was speaking with was much quieter.

Levi caught “delightful” and “so fresh.”

For a second Levi just scowled, swallowing down the bile rising in his throat.

“Let me know when you are ready for another … delivery.”

The click of high heels moved away.  Levi had hoped that perhaps she’d come down the hallway where he hid, but that was improbable.  She would never leave a party.

The problem was that he needed her to leave so he could get the hit in.  He absently patted the front of the tux to feel the reassuring bulge of his gun in one inside pocket and his silencer in the other.  He hated having to screw on the silencer right before the kill but the close-fitting tux had limited options for concealing weapons.

There was a murmur of voices and Levi quickly pretended to be scrolling through his phone.  Two men appeared strolling his way, lost in conversation.  One, a representative of this state, appeared to be listening intently to the attorney general of a state nearby.  They stopped speaking to pass him.  Levi never even looked up and their voices resumed a few feet away.

Levi was getting frustrated.  He tapped his lip with his phone and tried to decide what to do.  He could go out into the ballroom and attempt flirting with his mark but he was sure that wouldn’t work.  Levi was a devilishly handsome man but Yvonne Kraft at 5’11” was not a fan of short men.  At 5’3” Levi didn’t stand much of a chance.  Besides he sucked at flirting.

He shifted, pulling at the collar of his shirt and cursing inwardly.

Abruptly the tap of high heels came again. Faster this time, and his mark appeared in the hall towing a young girl.  Levi’s frown returned.  The kid looked to be about 13 or 14 and Yvonne had her shoulder in a death grip.  As soon as they stepped into the hall, the mark spun the girl around to face her, bending low to hiss in her face.

“Now you just reconsider going upstairs with Senator Gleeton!  Do you want me to have to punish you?”

The girl, clearly terrified, shook her head rapidly, her silky, curly, black hair bouncing.

Levi, despite being right there hadn’t been spotted by either one of them.  He quickly withdrew his gun and screwed on the silencer.

When he stepped up to Yvonne Kraft and looked up into her face, she became all smiles.  Then she saw the gun.

Levi calmly put two bullets in her heart and caught her as she fell, lowering her silently to the floor.  The expensive hall rug was quickly soaked in a spreading pool of red.  The girl, jaw agape, took a deep breath to scream and Levi slapped a hand over her mouth and hustled her down the hall away from the body.

They finally came to a door that led to the outside.

“Don’t scream.  I’m not gonna hurt you.”  he cautiously took his hand away.

“You … you … you killed …”

“Yes, I did.  That’s what people who traffick children get.”  He unscrewed the silencer and tucked it and the gun back into his tux.  He dug in his pocket.

“Here, take this.” He handed her the entire contents of his wallet, every dollar.  “Take it and run.  Get on the bus and get to the nearest police station you see.  Tell them everything you’ve gone through.” He shook her gently.  “Everything!  Names, places, everything.  Make sure you leave this little incident out of it.”

She swallowed hard and nodded.

“Come on”

Levi took her by the hand and led her out the door, past the gate and the guards, to the street.  The big house was in the middle of the city and for a moment the girl took deep breaths, seemingly enamored of the out-of-doors.

“Now go.  Hurry.  Run.  Bus then police station.  Got it?”

The girl nodded and turned, rabbiting off down the sidewalk.  Levi followed more slowly—his car was parked a few streets away.  He could hear the party going on even from there.  The alarm hadn’t been raised yet.  He stuffed his hands in his pockets and strolled through the humid night, a small smile on his face.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

The next day, Hange handed him another manilla folder and a similar one to Annie.  Levi spread the contents of his out on the desk.

“Not a whole lot of info.  Somebody high up in the rival mob supposedly.”

There were no pictures, only the vague description (‘tall, young, brunet’), but he had the guy's house number.  No wife, no kids, a good, clean kill.  Fucking mobster.  Levi didn’t care if he was goddamn Santa Claus, he was going down.
 
Levi stood in the relative cool of the room and looked again through the slight number of pages of info on his latest mark.  Annie had briefly scanned hers and was gone, out the door, into the heat.

Levi’s folder consisted of three pages.  No picture. Guy’s address, nothing about where he worked, no personal info.  Nothing more.  A mystery mark.  Levi snorted. Easy peasy.

Levi opened the door, the heat hitting him like a solid object, and gave a half-wave to Hange and Krista.

He had work to do.

Levi headed back to the nondescript clapboard one-story painted a listless yellow that was the house he rented with his uncle.  He pulled up into the yard and traded the Camero for his uncle’s pale blue Buick Regal with the rust spots.  The Camaro was too recognizable.  He cruised to the mark’s area, stopping at a convenience store on the guy’s street where he bought smokes and a Coke.  Relaxing against the fender he surveyed the neighborhood.  Lower-ish middle class—better than his but not exactly Chad-and-Tiffany-who-like-to-play-tennis quality.  It was a quiet neighborhood, which Levi appreciated, lazy in the scorching heat.  He could hear kids playing, see a few youngsters splashing in a wading pool, and hear the sound of some brave soul mowing his lawn.

It didn’t look like a place where a mobster would live.

Levi frowned and got in the car.  Cruising down the street Levi marked the house—a pretty, plain brick 1950s affair.  He looked carefully for signs of kids; toys in the yard, jungle gyms in the back, bicycles.  He saw none.  Levi refused to hit marks in the presence of children, even if those children would grow up to be mobsters themselves.

He cruised slowly by looking neither right nor left and drove off.
 
Back at his house, he opened the door to his uncle, Kenny, wandering across the living room in just his loose boxers.

“Christ, Kenny!  Put on some clothes!  Nobody wants to see that.”

Kenny lit a cigarette, gulped down the smoke, and squinted through the cancerous haze at Levi.  “What?  It’s my fucking house.”

“

Our

fucking house, asshole. Now get dressed. I don’t want to see your dangly junk.”

Levi’s phone buzzed and he wrestled it out of his back pocket while Kenny took a handful of his crotch and bounced it obnoxiously.  Levi mimed throwing up and answered his phone.

“Hans.  What’s up?”

“Hey, cutie!  How’s Kenny?”

“Being a fucking dick as usual.”

“When are you planning on doing this latest job?”

“Jesus, Hans, I just got the info.”

“No, no, It’s not me.  The client seems really antsy.”

Levi lit a cigarette and inhaled the smoke, bouncing his knee agitatedly. He didn’t like to be hurried.  “What’s the rush?”

“This guy must be a real shitheel.”

“I scoped the place out today.  Tell the client that it’ll be done by Friday.”

“Will do.”  They hung up.

Levi drew on his cigarette and listened to Kenny crashing around in the kitchen.  Probably ‘cooking supper’.  Levi wandered that way.

Kenny was standing over a battered pot, boiling something, the cig between his lips occasionally dropping a gentle shower of ash into the water.

Levi decided to go out to eat.

Levi worked out at the gym first thing in the morning on weekdays and Ymir often met him there.  The gym, an old boxing gym, had limited showers so they usually drove to the motel room that was their office to shower.

That morning Levi puttered about the kitchenette, putting on water for tea and toasting a bagel while Ymir bathed first.  He automatically set up the coffeemaker for Hange and everyone else trickled in.  Moblit arrived and carefully inspected the coffee set up (he insisted that it was perfect despite the fact that it was the very anal Levi doing the prep) and Annie showed up, yawning.

Ymir emerged from the bathroom toweling her hair and the room door opened again.  At eight in the morning, it was already hot enough to let a gust of warm air into the room and Krista stepped in.

Levi almost choked on his bagel and Ymir made a small noise.

Krista was a surfer and often did her surfing first thing in the morning around sunrise.  That was obviously the case today and she, like Levi and Ymir, showered there in the office.  She had on a royal blue one-piece swimsuit that complimented her eyes and a filmy gauze-like skirt tied over it around her waist.  Her skin was dewy and sun-kissed even beneath her sunscreen, and her long blonde hair tumbled down her back, tangled with salt and sand.

“Good morning everyone!”

Levi swallowed hard and glanced at Ymir.  Ymir was staring reverently at Krisa.  He carefully averted his gaze.

“I’m gonna go shower,” he grunted.

“Krista!  You look beautiful this morning!” Ymir was saying as Levi left the room.

He carefully got his clean clothes out of his bag and arranged them on the counter and quickly stepped into the shower.  Sighing under the piping hot spray he palmed his semi-hard cock and contemplated rubbing one out.  Of course, he would be attracted to a girl who Ymir liked.  He couldn't catch a break.

Aware that Krista also had to bathe Levi quickly washed—disregarding the idea of a wank—and rinsed off.

Toweling off he stared at himself in the big mirror over the sink.  Not too bad looking, angular face, tight body, plump cock resting on its bed of midnight black pubic hair.  He even had some nice tattoos including a half sleeve with a Japanese motif of cherry blossoms and camellias in soft pinks and reds.

But he was short.  And girls didn’t go for short guys.  Guys seemed less prejudiced on that front but everyone expected him to be a bottom and he wasn’t.  He absently ran his hand over his sharp abs and the smattering of black hair there.  Maybe he would hit the bars this weekend.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Levi’s MO was up close and personal.  He had no bizarre egotistical fantasies about the mark seeing his face just before he died or any shit like that he just preferred it that way.  Since Levi was short, people tended to overlook him.  Underneath his plain jeans and tee shirt he was lean and hard but his clothes hid that.  He didn’t look intimidating.  He rarely had a mark try to cut and run.  So when he killed, he simply walked up to the person and shot them.  If he was in public—which he hated—he used a silencer, shot, and walked away.

Today he was jimmying a window open on the mystery mark’s house.  He would use the window as a method of ingress if he couldn’t use a door when the time came.  He crept through the house, checking for cameras.

As he crossed the living room there was a heavy thump that startled him but it was just a fat orange tabby who purred and rubbed against his hand when he bent down.

“What a fine puss-puss you are,” Levi murmured paying special attention to the ears. The purring got louder.  Regretfully Levi stood, he had a job to do.  He scoured the living room; Xbox and a ton of games filling a shelf to overflowing and scattered on the rug.  Levi resisted the urge to tidy them up.  He moved to the kitchen.  A few dirty dishes pizza boxes in the trash, cereal in the cupboards.

Levi frowned.  How old was this guy?  The papers hadn’t said but everything he’d seen indicated that he was young, like college kid young.  Levi didn’t like hitting young people and absolutely refused to kill kids or kill anyone in the presence of kids.  That shit could scar you for life.  He should know.

He absently filled up the cat’s food dish and scrubbed his water dish in the sink and refilled it.

Levi wandered into the bedroom.  Like the rest of the house, the place looked like a dorm room.  The bed was unmade, there were dirty clothes on the floor.  Again, resisting the urge to tidy up Levi picked up a dirty pair of underpants off the foot of the bed with thumb and forefinger and flung them into the hamper, which was mostly full and had clothes hanging out of it.  Levi shuddered.  The ensuite bathroom was cluttered but not nasty.  He opened the closet half expecting a mountain of clothes to fall on him.  He froze, staring.

Suits.

The closet was full of suits.  Expensive suits. St laurent, Dolce & Gabbana, Dior.  No college student was affording $4000 suits.  What the fuck?  He was supposed to work for the crime family.  Perhaps he wore them in his work?  Levi spotted a box on a shelf and pulled it down.  His eyebrows climbed up his forehead.

It was sex toys and most of them of a penetrative variety.  Was the guy gay?  Was that why they had ordered the hit?  Levi, being Bi, frowned at this notion.

He carefully replaced the box and walked into the living room.  He loved on the cat one more time and, carefully pulling the window down so It would look like it was locked, let himself out the back door.  It closed and locked with a click.

He casually walked between houses and out onto the sidewalk.
 
“C’mon, Hans, pick up.”

Levi was standing at a food vendor's cart, phone pinched between his shoulder and his ear and shawarma threatening to fall apart in his hands.  He took a big bite, listening to the phone ringing.

Of course they picked up right then.

“Levi!”

Levi, mouth full of food, grunted.  “Hang on.”

He swallowed and coughed.

“You OK, cutie?”

“Just trying to eat something.  Say, tell me all you know about this mark.”

“You’re still on schedule to make the hit today?”

“Absolutely, but there are some inconsistencies.”

“Like what?”

Levi told them about the house, the suits.

“That’s weird.  Could it be two people who live there?”

Levi hadn’t considered that.  A mobster and his young lover?  That made everything messier.  Levi didn’t like messy.

He chewed on the inside of his cheek.  “I guess we’ll see.”
 
Levi was in Kenny’s Buick Regal down the street from the mark’s house and looking down at his lap as if he was, perhaps, someone who was lost.  He had on grey trousers and a grey shirt with a vague logo on it and a name patch sewn onto the right breast (‘Nick’).  On the seat beside him was a clipboard.  Beside that was a bizarre jumble of wires emanating from a black box that was meant to fool the average person into thinking it was legitimate.

A car came up the road.  Levi pretended to not pay attention.  It passed on by.

Time went on.

Just when Levi was thinking that the mark was just not going to show up (not to mention that he had to take a piss,) a gorgeous black Jaguar cruised past him and pulled into the driveway of the mark’s house.

The man who got out stunned him.  He was young—no older than 25—but dressed in a Yves St Laurent suit of a muted blue with a crimson tie.  He was a gorgeous thing; long, lean, tall, with big, capable hands.  Levi’s breath hitched in his throat.

For just a second the man surveyed the street, his silky fall of chocolate-colored hair brushing the shoulders of his suit and falling past his collar.

Satisfied, the man went into the house.  Levi swallowed with a click, his mouth suddenly dry.
 
This was his mark?  What the actual fuck?  He was so young—and fuck he was hot—and what was up with the suits?  He’d looked grim but sleek.  A sugar baby?  Maybe he was a high-dollar prostitute.

Levi cranked the Buick and cruised slowly down the street looking neither right nor left.
 
He arrived at the office and stormed in the door.  Krista was behind her desk and Hange was on her cell on the couch.  Levi paced back and forth smoothing his hair back agitatedly.  Finally Hange clicked off her call.  “Something eating you, sugarpie?”

“I can’t do this hit.  Give it to someone else, give me another one.  Switch mine with Annie’s.”

Hange’s eyebrows arched up and she looked soberly at Krista who shrugged and looked alarmed.

“Let me get this straight.  You.  You are turning down a gig?  What happened?”

“The mark looks like a goddamned teenager; his house looks like a teenager lives there, but he’s hot as fuck and something’s definitely hinkey, here, Hans.  He wears these three, four thousand dollar designer suits.  What sort of teenager wears $4000 suits?

Hange pursed her lips.  “A teenager in the mob.  He must be the kid of a higher up in the organization.”

“Well, whatever.” Levi handed her the manilla folder with the mark’s info.  “Give it to someone else.”

Hange just sat, staring contemplatively at Levi.

Krista stood up and grasped the other edge of the folder.  Levi didn’t let go.  She tugged.  He stared back at Hange and kept his grip on the folder.

“Levi?” Krista said.

“Hang on, let me think.”

“There’s something else here, Levi,” Hange said slowly.

Levi chewed the inside of his cheek.

“Would that be something to do with the ‘he’s hot as fuck’ bit?” Hange drawled.

Levi flinched.

Hange knew that Levi lived a very lonely life.  He had no family except Kenny; no friends except them.  He’d had a few lovers, male and female, but nothing that lasted.  He just wasn’t lucky in love.  He was cold and stoic—the perfect assassin—and a notorious clean freak.  None of this lent a good chance at a significant other.
 
Krista had let go of the folder and sat down.  She was looking at Levi with concern.

Levi dropped the arm that held the folder.  “I’ll do it,” he muttered.  “I’ll do the hit.”  Hange opened their mouth to speak but Levi turned and went out the door into the blistering afternoon.
 
Levi stalked the mark’s house from then on.  He didn't bother following the young man; he had no desire to make himself known to the sharp-eyed underworld.
 
He discovered the man’s routines.  He never walked around the neighborhood, never grilled out, never did yard work—including his lawn which looked like a jungle.  The only time the man came out was to leave in the morning in his sleek black Jaguar, coming back home, or … taking out his garbage.

Levi discovered this by accident.  He was walking behind the house wishing he had borrowed a dog to seem like he was walking it.  One evening, Levi was startled by the man coming out of the house with an overfull black trash bag.  The young man obviously didn’t take the trash out unless it was literally overflowing.

Levi wrinkled his nose at that notion and ducked behind the neighbor’s brick wall.  When he peeked back out, the man was trotting back up the steps.

All he had to do was wait out the man and he could kill him the next time he took out his rubbish.  Perfect.

Levi waited a week.  The client went ballistic and Hange had to do damage control.  Levi said that the man was never in a position to kill.

It was Thursday when Levi, dressed in black, with a balaclava in hand. Scoped out the man’s back door. If his calculations were correct the man would be bringing out his bulging bag of trash any minute now.

Levi crouched behind the brick wall and gently cocked his gun.  This was it.  He would wait for the squeak of the screen door and shoot the man in the chest then walk up and put a bullet in his head.

He risked a glance around the corner before pulling on his mask.  Where was the guy?
 
Levi had no idea what told him to move.  Some assassin’s instinct or just dumb luck?  He started to draw back and the brick right next to his head exploded outward, flying shards cutting his face along his cheekbone.  He scrambled backwards, and lay, panting, on his back and elbows.  The fuck had that come from?  That shot had come from somewhere else.  Someplace up high.

He rolled up onto his feet and ran, crouched, along the brick wall till he could cut through to Kenny's car.

Levi forced himself to drive sedately until he was past the house then he floored it.  He had to talk to Hange.

“Jesus, Levi, are you OK?  You’re bleeding!  Krista go get the first aid kit.”

“Hans I gotta talk to you about this hit.”

“I take it it went south?”

“By express train.  Someone shot at me.”

“What?” said Krista reappearing with Moblit who had the first aid kit.

“Just how many people are after this guy?”

“Do you think it was another hitman?”

“It has to be.  This wasn’t some neighborhood yahoo defending his property.  It was an attempted hit.  High caliber, aimed at my head, from somewhere up high.”

“Sniper,” Hange said thoughtfully.

“And he had a silencer.  No report.”

“Shit.” Krista said with feeling.  Hange was rummaging through their absolute nightmare of a satchel.

“Hold still,” Moblit murmured wiping at Levi’s face with a wet washcloth.

“I got a … goddamned papers … got a little more …” They cursed and flung a handful of papers onto Krista’s desk. “...Info on the mark … ah!  Here it is!”

Moblit dabbed betadine on Levi’s cut.

“Ow!  Fuck, Mobes!”

Hange squinted through her smeared glasses. “Says he’s an Eren Yeager.  Twenty three.  Son of Dr. Grisha Yeager.  Not married, no girlfriend.  That’s it.”

“Why the fuck have they ordered a hit on him?”

Krista parked her pert ass on the edge of the desk. “Something to do with Dr. Yeager I’d guess.”

“Well, they must have hired another firm to do the job as well.  That was a professional.”

Hange looked at him soberly. “Are you still doing the job?”

“It’s the principle of the thing, now,” Levi said grimly.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Levi was just opening the door to the Buick when Krista ran across the parking lot.  “Hey, Levi.  Can I catch a ride?”

“Uh, sure.”

It was only six o’clock in the evening and it was still blazing hot and humid.  Levi could feel a drop of sweat winding its way between his shoulder blades.  He hurried around the car and opened the door for Krista and she blushed prettily.  Levi swallowed hard.

Krista settled, Levi went back around and got in.  He cranked the car and it roared to life.  “So why did you need uh … a ride today?  Don’t you normally ride with Hange or take the bus?”

Secretly, of course, Levi wished that she’d say “well it was to be with you,” and put her delicate hand on his thigh.  That didn’t happen.  “Moblit and Hange had something to do at the office and I missed the last bus.”

Levi, whose every hookup was a slightly drunk man or woman in a bar suddenly leaning on his arm and saying “wanna fuck?” and Levi saying “okay, ” had absolutely no idea what to say to Krista.  He needn't have worried.  Krista kept up a continuous bright chatter that Levi tuned out after a few miles.

When they pulled up to Krista’s apartment, Levi leapt out to open her door and was gobsmacked when she pecked a little kiss on his jaw on his unhurt side.  He watched her plump ass as she walked away before resignedly leaving.

Levi parked the Buick on the balding grass of the yard in front of the house and got out.  Moblit had said he needed stitches but Levi had refused so he had a ladder of steri-strips holding his skin closed and it pulled.  He resisted the urge to scratch.
 
“Jesus Christ on a pony, boy!  What happened to your face?  It looks like hamburger.”

Levi self-consciously checked his face in the cloudy bathroom mirror.  It was pretty gruesome.  The jagged cut ran from his top lip to the top of his ear on the right-hand side and was bruised badly.  The steri-strips stood out vividly.  Levi sighed.  Of course, Krista would never hook up with him looking like this.
 
Crossing to his room he peeled off his black shirt and black trousers.  Kenny appeared in the doorway, in just boxers, scratching his belly.  “Did you get in a bar fight?  Fuck with a regular-sized guy?  Proposition some straight guy?”

“Fuck off.”

“So what happened?”

Levi pulled on some battered jeans. “Got in the way of a hit.”

Kenny’s eyebrows climbed up his face.  “Someone tried to off you?”

“Yep.”  He shrugged into a plain white undershirt.  “What’s for supper?”

“Spaghetti.”
 
Spaghetti was the only thing Kenny could cook and Kenny’s idea of spaghetti was overcooked spaghetti noodles drowned in a jar of store-brand spaghetti sauce.  Levi poked through his meal, half of his mind on the sniper incident and half of his mind on the possible identity of the sniper.  It had to be some third gang, although Levi couldn’t think of anyone other than the Stockmans or the Reisses who had a skilled marksman.  Of course, they could have hired the hit out.  But the problem with that was that his outfit was the best in town—and the cheapest.

But was the person hired to kill Eren Yeager or Levi?  Could be that they’d been hired to hit Yeager but had fired at Levi to keep him from hitting their mark.

Would he have called the person a skilled marksman, though?  After all, they’d missed.  Levi gingerly touched the steri-strips.  No, they’d been good.  Only the merest sliver of brick had saved Levi’s life.

Levi finished his nearly tasteless meal and sat on the sagging couch and watched the late news to see if the Yeager hit had been reported.  Nothing.  So Yeager was still alive.

Levi’s mind darted back to the image of Yeager, slim, tall, and classy in his suit with that chocolate-colored curtain of hair.  Sexy.

Levi blinked.  Sexy?  He was talking about a mobster’s son here.  He switched off the television and grunted a good night to Kenny.

In his room, he stripped off, locked the door and climbed into bed.

He stared at the ceiling.  What a day.  Rub one out?  Hmmm.  He stroked his cock experimentally and it immediately woke up.  Excellent.
 
He scooted down on the bed a bit and spread his legs slightly, rubbing his cock through his underpants, relishing the sensation.  He imagined sitting in his car with the person in the passenger seat getting ready to give him a hand job.  He groaned.

He immediately imagined Krista and how good her little hand would look on his rock-hard cock.  Maybe he could get a blowie.  He thought of Krista’s little pink mouth and … abruptly the image of Eren Yeager thrust itself into his mind.  He had looked so classy, so elegant, and way out of Levi’s league.  Those big tan hands would look so handsome on his cock and that long silky hair would fall into his crotch artfully.  He wondered if it was as soft as it looked.  He imagined holding it back as he watched Yeager go down on him …

Levi’s hand sped up and he added a little twist on the upstroke.  He had been thinking he could make the session last but he was just too horny and the picture of Yeager with his mouth stretched over his cock was irresistible.

Panting, he made himself pause and run his hand over his glans just to tease himself but it didn’t last long.  Soon he was jerking it wildly, trying to stay quiet, hand flying.

Finally, he turned his head to the good side and bit into his pillow hard and came with a muffled cry.

Anybody listening wouldn't be sure that the name he’d called was ‘Yeager’.
 
Levi laid on his bed, gasping, recovering.  What the actual fuck?  Had he really fantasized about his mark?  He was going off his rocker.  Yeah, the guy was cute as fuck but still.  Wasn’t there some work decorum thing he was supposed to be following?  He had to kill him for fuck’s sake!  Shit.

He got up and wet a washcloth in the sink and wiped himself off, trying not to think about it.

A muted thumping sounded on the other side of the wall.  “You done in there?  Some of us are tryin’ ta sleep!”

Levi cringed and crept back to bed.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

The next day, early, Levi was walking through Eren Yeager’s living room.  He intended to hide somewhere in the house and shoot the kid on sight.  Enough of this bullshit.  The fat orange tabby wound around his ankles, making it difficult to walk.

Levi was contemplating the closet off of the living room when he heard the tiny click of the latch on the back door.  Closer to the couch than the closet he crouched down behind the couch.
 
He heard the tapping of expensive leather shoes on the hardwood of the hall then the silence as the person stepped onto the living room carpet.  The cat dashed out from behind the couch, presumably to the person.

Was this Yeager?  Shit, where was he?  Why was he home?  Or was it the other assassin?
 
There was complete silence except for the tabbie’s loud-as-fuck purr.

“You can come out now.” a voice said.

Levi frowned.

“I won’t kill you.”

It

was

Yeager.  This fucking kid!  Why was he talking to him like everything was normal?

“What the fuck are you?!” Levi called.

“Well, duh, dude, I’m an assassin like you.”

Well, that explained the suits.  And the attempt on Levi's life.

“I guess not like you.  I dress better and drive a better car.”

“Hey, asshole!” Levi said. “Some of us aren’t so prissy!  And my car is a work in progress!”

Levi heard a warm chuckle and was suddenly overwhelmed by the desire to see the handsome young man.

The guy must have been a mind reader.  “You can come out.  I swear.  Truce?”

Levi knew better.  He really did and he was fighting himself all the way.  He peeked around the couch.

The young man was in a sleek silver suit with a burgundy tie.  His silky brown hair was caught up in a manbun that was threatening to come down.  He held a gun with a silencer in his right hand but down by his side.

“I know you were in my house,” the guy said.  “So you met Georgie.”

Georgie?  Who the fuck was Georgie?

“My cat,” said the man and Levi jerked at the mind-reading perception.

Levi tried to decide what to do.  He couldn’t just walk out the door and back to his car, the guy clearly knew he was staking him out.  He couldn’t shoot him unless the kid was a slower draw than him (which he doubted.  Youth had its advantages.)

Levi straightened and stepped out into the light cast by the morning sun through the window.

The man jerked and stared.  “Hey, you’re even hotter close up.”

Levi had no idea what to say.  The guy could've killed him right then he was so confused.

Realizing that he was blushing, Levi ducked his head then stared hard at the man.  He tried to not notice his long, lean legs and broad shoulders.

“So what do we do now?” Levi growled.

The man seemed to think it over.  “Would you … uh … like to have a drink and let’s talk about it?”

“Are you asking me to have a drink with you?  This isn’t some singles bar.  I’m here to kill you and you clearly want to kill me.  Besides, it’s first thing in the morning.”

“It’s twelve noon somewhere.  We can still sit down and talk about it over a cold beer.  I have pizza.”

Levi, who wouldn’t touch take-out pizza with a ten foot pole, grimaced.

The man shrugged.  “OK, no pizza, but beer is good, right?  You must be exhausted.  You’ve been staking me out for over a week.”

Levi, chagrined, sighed.  This kid was good.  He’d seen Levi stalking him.  He’d known Levi was in his house.  He was clearly not afraid.

“Fine,” he grunted and stood hesitantly.

“Just go through to the kitchen—you know where it is,” the man said.  “I gotta put this gun up.”

Levi crossed to the kitchen in a daze and sat at the counter.  Georgie rubbed against his toes.  He laid his gun down on the counter then blanched at how that looked.  Like something out of a Tarantino film.  He picked it back up and put it in the waistband of his trousers.

The young man returned and Levi noticed that he’d taken off the suit and was in his boxers and a t-shirt.  Levi breathed quietly through his nose and tried not to stare.

The kid tossed a couple of slices of pizza into the microwave and zapped them for a minute.  “So howcome you got this gig?  Why are you an assassin?  You could be a fucking underwear model.  I’m Eren by the way.  Eren Yeager.”

He held out his hand to a Levi who had blushed crimson at the unexpected praise.

“Levi,” Levi mumbled, shaking his hand.  “How would you know I’d make a good underwear model?”

“Tailed you to the Y.  You swam that day.”  Eren looked dreamy at the recollection and Levi didn’t know what to say.  Was this all a ruse?  Subterfuge?  A way to get him to drop his guard so he could kill him?  Or perhaps he wanted to fuck him then kill him.  Levi had heard of such things.

Despite the air conditioning, Levi was sweating.  He was absolutely at a loss as to what to do about this kid—Eren, that was his name.  He searched his brain for a topic.

“So why is the Stockman gang trying to hit you?”

“It’s not the Stockman gang.  It’s the Reisses.”

“Reiss?  But that’s your own fucking gang.”

Eren nodded and took a huge bite of pizza.  “They’re mad at my dad.” he said with his mouth full.

Levi shuddered. “Why?”

“He’s the doctor for the gang.  He got pressed into service years ago and they used me to keep him docile.”

“You?”

Eren shrugged his broad shoulders. “They said either he could stitch up the gang members and remove bullets and stuff or they’d kill me.  Then, when I got older they recruited me as an assassin.”

“So what did your dad do to piss them off?”

“There was a heist and the Reisses got surprised by the Stockmans.  Reiss’s men got the loot but two of them were injured.  My dad went in to do clean up and there were three injured men from Stockman’s gang.  Dad bandaged ‘em up and they got away.  The Reisses were pissed.  Apparently one of them was the son of someone important.”

“So they ordered a hit on you because of that?”

“That and I’ll only kill bad guys.  I refuse to kill innocent people or kids.”

Levi’s heart warmed suddenly at that.

Eren leaned onto the counter on his elbows and the stretched-out neck of his t-shirt gaped, showing a slice of smooth tan chest and a brown nipple.  Levi had to clear his throat.

“So what about you?  What’s your story?  I know you work for a freelance outfit.  I know you live in a shitty house down Paradis road.  I know you drive a beat-up Camaro that’s a ‘work in progress’.  I know you work out five days a week.  I know you’re cute as fuck.”

Levi could feel his cheeks heating up.

“How can you say I’m cute?  I’m a guy.”

“I’m hella gay, dude.  Please tell me you are too.”

A guy this good-looking and he’s gay?  Was he dead?  Was this heaven?

He smoothed his undercut at the back of his head.  “I’m bi.”

Eren grinned, making him look even younger.  “We should go out sometime!”

“How the hell old are you, anyway, Kid?”

“Twenty-three.”

Levi’s face fell and he picked at a tiny flaw in the granite counter with his thumbnail.  Eren settled on a stool opposite him.  “You look my age but I take it you’re not?” he asked slowly.

“Twenty-nine.”

“It’s OK.  I don't mind being a sugar baby.”

Levi snorted.  “With me you would.  I’m as poor as a churchmouse … why are we talking about this anyway?!”  Levi shoved away from the counter and stood.  “I gotta go.”

“Are you still going to try to kill me?”

Levi stopped, head down.  “No, but I can’t guarantee my boss won’t send someone else.”

Levi bent and rubbed Georgie briefly then walked out the door without looking back.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

The next day, early, Hange, Levi, Annie, and Ymir crouched on the roof of an abandoned building across the street from their marks.  They were contracted to take out a four-person drug ring so each person had one hit.  Ymir had set up her sniper rifle (her preferred weapon) and Levi was checking the scope periodically for their marks.
 
Hange came up beside him.  “Lemme look.  I’m going across the street to the convenience store, you want anything?”  She squinted through the sight.

“Nah, I’m fine.  What are you gonna do if they move?”

“I’ll catch up to you.  Oooh, hey that one’s cute.  Annie come look.”

Levi punched Hange on the arm.  “Quit trying to hook her up, dipshit.  Let her go at her own pace.”

“Ow!  Bully!  I’m just trying to help!”

“Also, we’re here to

kill

these guys!  Why do you want to hook her up with a dead man?”

“Oh, now you’re just being dramatic.  I never said she should fuck him.  Alright, I’ll be right back!”  They nimbly swung onto the ladder bolted to the side of the building and began to climb down.

Ymir looked slyly at Levi.  “Speaking of cute marks … What about that Yeager kid?”

“I’m supposed to be killing him, not fucking him!” Levi hissed.

“Oh come on, you’d bang him in a heartbeat,” Ymir said. Annie nodded.

“Fuck the two of you.” Levi sprang up and walked away.

“No, thank you!” Ymir called.  “I think someone has a crush,” she said to Annie. “And that’s gonna bite him in the ass here soon.”

Levi smoked a cigarette and then wandered back over.

“Boy, that Krista is something else,” Ymir said, side-eyeing Levi.

Levi nodded, not really listening.

“Yeah, she’s gorgeous; those big blue eyes, all that blonde hair, her figure,” Ymir said.

Levi squinted through the rifle’s sight, seeing if their marks had moved.

Ymir elbowed him, “I’ll bet you’ve gotten a stiffy or two just working with her.”

Levi started and stared at her.  The fact that she had hit that right on the head bothered him.  Was he that obvious?  Worse, were his boners that obvious?  First, she mentioned the Yeager kid and now Krista?  He ducked his head, embarrassed.  Christ, he needed to get laid.

Ymir laughed and slapped him on the back.  “Aww, I’m just messing with you!  You’ve got to admit she’s pretty though.”

“Yes, she is.”

Hange popped up so suddenly Levi jumped.  “What’re we talking about?”

“Krista,” Ymir said dreamily.

Hange peeled the wrapper off of a Snickers bar and took an ungodly huge bite.  “You shoof hit dat, ‘Mir” she said around candy bar.

“Jesus, Hans!” Levi said, picking the few spitty bits of chocolate that had landed on his shirt. “Chew your food and then talk!”

Hange chewed then swallowed.  “Bully.”
 
Ymir and Annie crossed to the middle of the roof to sit on some empty crates.

Levi glanced their way to make sure they were out of earshot.  “Have you thought any more about the Yeager hit?”

Hange shrugged.  “You’ve said that you aren’t gonna do it … I can respect that.”

“I don’t think any of us should do it.  I don’t think it should be done at all.  Yeager’s innocent.  They’re angry at his dad for fuck’s sake.”

“Levi, if we don’t do it then they’ll just hire someone else who might fuck it up and make him suffer.”

Levi blanched at that.  He couldn’t bear the thought of the handsome, cheerful guy suffering.  The mental image of him shot in a non vital place and bleeding out on his nice hardwood floors made Levi’s teeth clench.  And what would happen to Georgie?

Levi shook his head.

“You okay there?” Hange asked.

“I’ll handle it.  I’ll talk to him.”

Hange took a bite of candy bar.  “Tawk to him?  Wha’ goo’ will dat do?”

“We’ll see what happens.”

He stepped over to the rifle and checked the gunsight again.  “They’re on the move.”

Hange nodded.  “Does everyone know which mark is theirs?”  Ymir, Annie, and Levi all nodded.  Hange stripped the candy bar of its wrapper and tossed it on the ground.

“Fuck, Hans!  You slob!” Levi darted to pick up the fallen wrapper.

Hange turned to leave the roof. “I only do that cause I know you’ll pick it up!” she said over her shoulder.  Ymir laughed, settling comfortably behind the rifle.  Levi cursed and followed Hange off the roof.

Their marks were walking—three of them—to the warehouse down the street.  The fourth guy lit a joint and smoked it in the driveway, watching them go.  Hange, Levi, and Annie—and their marks—would never hear the precise shot from Ymir’s silenced rifle. Behind the abandoned building, they split up.

Levi walked quickly toward the dirt road that ran along the west side of the building.  The neighborhood was right on the edge of the Everglades and the road in question was all that separated it from the black water with its cypress trees draped in Spanish moss.  As Levi stepped out of the shade of the building an alligator, easily eight feet long, sauntered down the side of the road before turning and sliding under the water without a splash.

The three men had turned the corner of the warehouse and were approaching a rusted metal door.  Levi heard the muted sound of a silencer.  Hange had hit her mark from the corner of the building.  The remaining two men panicked and Levi broke into a jog.

“Damnit, Hans!  Too soon!” He said to himself.

Annie joined him from an alleyway.

They passed Hange and one of the men scrabbled at the door lock while the other cut and ran.

“Fuck.  Why do mine always run?” Annie grumbled and set off like a greyhound after him.

The last guy turned to Levi and held up his hands.  “What did I ever do, Man?!  You can’t kill me!”

Levi raised his gun.  “I can and I will.  Just business.  Nothing personal.  No, I take that back.  It is personal to me.”

“B-but what’d I do?  I’m a good guy!”

“Good guys don’t sell fentanyl to school kids.”

Levi’s shot—he hadn’t bothered with a silencer—rang out and a small flock of birds startled up from the swamp, beautiful against the bright blue sky.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

The next day Levi was on another job, quickly jogging down a stairwell, gun out, to get to the floor his mark was on.  Just as he passed a landing, the door below opened suddenly—the door he needed to go in.

Shit!

Levi leaned over the railing silently and carefully pointed his gun.

He jerked when he recognized the person.  It was Eren Yeager and he had his weapon trained on Levi.  “Drop the gun.”

“What the fuck?”

Eren, sleek in his pale grey pinstriped suit, never took his eyes off Levi.  “I said drop the gun”

“Fuck you, fuckhead!  Are you stalking me?”

“I’ll shoot you.”

“Will you?” Levi challenged.

Eren hesitated.

“I don’t want to shoot you.”

“Then you drop

your

gun.”

Eren sighed like he was explaining something to a not-terribly-bright kindergartener.  “Then you’ll kill me.”

Levi uncocked his gun and dropped his hand to his side.  “I’m not here to kill

you

.”

“No, you’re here to kill Mr. Crowder.”

“And how did you know that?”

“I’m here to kill him, too.”

“What the hell, dude?”

“No stalking.  The Reisses hired you and the Stockmans hired me.”

“Well, fuck me sideways.”

“Gladly.” Yeager grinned.

“Pervo.  It’s getting awfully crowded.  So what are we gonna do?”

“Kill him and go get fish tacos?  My treat.”

“Did you just ask me on a post-murder date?”

Yeager grinned again and Levi’s heart did a little double thump.

“Maybe.”

Thirty minutes later the two were sat at a weathered picnic table next to the street food van.  Eren, a napkin tucked into his collar, ate like a pig.  Levi, frowning at the mess, ate in precise bites and plied his napkin often.

Eren spoke with his mouth full.  “So your outfit is the cheapest in town but also the best?  How do you explain that?”

Levi shrugged.  “We get gigs because of our prices and then get return business because of our skill.  It evens out.”

Eren gestured at Levi’s cut and bruised face.  “I meant to ask you before but you left so fast.  Did I do that?”

Levi grimaced, “Yep.”

“I’m sorry.  I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

“What?!  You weren’t trying to off me?”

“Of course not.”

“The fuck?  You missed me on purpose?”

“Well, yeah.  I don’t know you.  You might be a good guy.”

“I’m a fucking

assassin

!  I tried to

kill

your scrawny ass!”

Eren laughed. “Hey, fuck you!  I’m not that scrawny!”

“No thanks.  I like doing the fucking, not getting fucked.”

Eren let out a slow breath. “The gods are looking out for me today.”

Levi seemed to realize what he said and blushed

“Y’know, you look different than I thought you would,” Eren said.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.  Your operation is so cheap I thought you’d be, like … I dunno …  a hobo with a gun.”

“Fuck off asshole.”

Eren laughed again.  “But you’re not.  And you’re good, too.  I guess what everybody says is true.  Your guys are the cheapest and the best.  Are all of your assassins as gorgeous as you?”

“You want to fuck my co-workers now?!”

“No, just you.”

Levi, with almost no experience with being flirted with—much less this aggressively—studied his fish taco to buy himself time to think.  Abruptly his phone buzzed.

“Yeah?  Oh, hey Hans.  Yeah, it’s done.  Just getting myself something to eat.  Yeah, I’m coming.  See you soon.”

“Girlfriend?” Eren asked a little shortly.

“Boss.”

“Oh.” Eren reached across the table and snagged Levi’s phone.

“What are you doing, dickhead?  Give me my phone back!”

“I’m just getting your number and putting mine in your phone.”

“Why the fuck would you do that you psycho?”

“I might want to call you.  Or maybe you want to call me and ask me out.”

Levi ran his fingers through his hair, dishevelling it. “Jesus Christ!  Are you always like this or is today a special occasion?”

Eren grinned so beautifully that Levi’s breath caught.

A half an hour later Levi was having a cigarette next to the Camaro in the parking lot of the motel, lost in thought.

“Say … Levi?”

Levi started at the voice and turned.  It was Annie.

She smoothed her almost white blonde hair down …

nervously?  Annie?

Levi’s breath quickened. “What is it? Is something wrong?”

“Oh, no.  I just wanted to ask your … advice.  About relationships.”

Levi could feel the sweat springing out on his brow.

Him?  The most socially awkward man on the planet?  Jesus what if she wanted sex advice?!

“I asked Krista how to make guys like you and her answer wasn’t helpful.”

“Let me guess.  ‘Be yourself’”

“Yeah!  She said that there were guys who liked her type and guys who like my type.  I just had to wait for the right guy.”

“That’s the truth.”

“No it isn’t!  Guys like Krista-types better!  Who do you like better?  Me or Krista?!”

“Annie!  Don’t back me into a corner!”

“Come on.  Tell me.  Or do you like Hange or Ymir’s type?”

She was literally walking him backwards and after three steps he backed up against his car.  Annie pressed close.

Levi held up both hands, palms out.  “Okay, okay!  I like Krista’s type better!”

Annie looked smug.

“But I like soft women.  The athletic type, like you and Hange and Ymir, don’t appeal to me that much.  But a LOT of guys love that.”

“If you had to date one of us ‘athletic types’ who would it be?”

Levi frowned. “Well, it’d have to be you.  Ymir is a lesbian and if I dated Hange it would be; one, squicky, since she’s my best friend, and, two, Moblit would kill me in my sleep.”

Annie did something then that startled Levi.  She laughed.

“Oh my God, he would!”

Levi relaxed a bit.  “So why all the questions?  Do you have someone you want to date?  Please don’t say it’s me …”

“Oh god, no!  I’d slit your throat on our first date.”

“Jesus I’m dying a lot here!”

Annie laughed again, a low little snort-laugh.

“So you have a person you want to daaaate …”

Annie’s pale face colored pink and she ducked her head.  “How do you tell if a guy likes you?”

“Well, guys—unlike girls—are not subtle at all.  We call you, text you, bring you shit, do stuff for you.  Who is this guy and when do we get to meet him?  Does he know what you do?”

Annie’s pink tint turned darker and she backed away, up against her car.

“I met him at the coffee shop and he just started talking to me and he’s really cute.”

“Do you two talk?”

“Oh, yeah.  Well, he does.  I never know what to say.”

“Sounds like he does like you.”

Annie smiled a little secretive smile and turned abruptly to walk toward the stairs.

He was just relaxing against his car, watching Annie jog up the stairs, and trying to finish his cigarette when his phone buzzed.

“Look at me being Mr. Popular.”

He looked at his phone.  It was a text.

[Cute Guy]

“Hi again.  What are you doing?”

Cute guy?  Who the fuck was that?

“Who the fuck is this?”

[Cute Guy]

“It’s me Eren”

Levi remembered the kid putting his info in his phone and closed his eyes and rested his forehead in his palm for a second.  Abruptly he clicked settings on his phone and keyed something in.

[Crazy Guy]

“U still there?”

“Why are you texting me, asshole?”

[Crazy Guy]

“Cuz I lik u”

Levi cringed at the abbreviated language.  Were kids just that lazy?

“You can’t like me.  My company has accepted a contract to kill you!”

[Crazy Guy]

“I cn take care of myself.  Georgie sez hi.”

Levi pictured the big orange cat and cursed himself for being so sappy.

“You still haven’t told me why you’re harassing me.”

[Crazy Guy]

“Not harassing!  Thout maybe youd like to come over.”

“In your dreams, dickcheese.”

Levi immediately felt contrite about that comment.  It was uncalled for.  Levi wasn’t usually an asshole.  He looked anxiously at the phone.  Nothing.

“I’ve got to go to work.  Pet Georgie for me.”

[Crazy Guy]

“You bet!  Talk later!”

Levi could almost see the kid’s delighted grin.

Jesus, what the hell was he doing?

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Hange drove a silver Chrysler Town and Country minivan with a long scratch down the side and a crumpled fender.  When asked why a crack assassin would do that they shrugged and replied “I can fit everybody in it.”

They were driving it right then, way too fast, on the way to the grocery store.

Hange, Krista, and Annie were doing their weekly shopping for the ‘office’.  Food and beer and toilet paper, etc.  No sexist attitudes here.  They had let Levi do it once and it was a total disaster.  He forgot stuff they needed (that was on the list!) and bought stuff they didn’t need and they couldn’t burden Moblit with it every week.

Today they had split up and Hange, sans cart, had volunteered to get the beer.  Krista headed for the frozen foods and Annie peeled off to get the toilet paper and such.  They had a brief argument about getting Levi’s requested cigarettes and Krista said she wasn’t getting ‘those nasty cancer sticks’.  Hange, who also smoked, shrugged and headed for the beer aisle.

Hange stopped midway to the beer coolers to grab an eight-pack of Snickers.  They were at the beer cooler, struggling with three twelve-packs when a tall, handsome man with dark skin rushed to their assistance.

“Oh, thank you so much!”

The man chuckled; a deep, sexy sound. “You might want to get a cart …”

“Ahh, carts are for losers!”  Hange grabbed the corner of the Snickers pack in their teeth, tucked one twelve-pack under their arm, and grabbed another.  “Can you carry one more?  I’m Hange by the way!”

“Onyankopon.  But you can call me ‘On’”

“Well, On, you are a godsend today!”  They began to make their way up to the registers.  Onyankopon followed behind.

“Are you having a party?”

“Oh, no … we’re just heavy drinkers.” Hange smiled winningly around her candy bar packaging.

Annie and Krista met them (with a cart) at the check-out.

“This is Onyankopon!  He’s helping me out!”

Onyankopon shook hands gravely with Annie and Krista. “Call me ‘On’, please.”  he unloaded his twelve packs into the cart.

“Thank you for your help!”

“No problem!”
 
Onyankopon strolled along with them as they walked out to the van in the simmering heat, chatting with Krista as if they were old friends.  None of them seemed to notice that Onyankopon hadn’t bought anything in the store.

While Annie and Krista quickly unloaded the cart into the hatchback, Hange cranked the van to get the air conditioner going.

“Say,” Onyakopon said, “do you know where the closest post office is?”

“There’s one right close by,” said Hange, standing in the open doorway of the van.  “Just go down—” they turned, pointing down the street.  Only a slight noise—the slide of metal out of a leather holster—alerted them to the danger and they ducked violently just as a gunshot sounded right in their right ear.

The bullet dug itself into the upholstery of the third row of seats in the van and Annie dragged Krista down behind the vehicle.  Hange swept one foot out, trying to knock Onyankopon off of his feet but he was at least 250lbs and they only succeeded in throwing him off balance.  They drew their own gun and fired wildly in his direction.

“Get in the van!”

Annie and Krista scrambled around to the right side of the van and jerked open the right-hand sliding door and tumbled into the floorboard in front of the middle row of seats.  Onyankopon, who had crouched down when Hange had fired her weapon, calmly stood and shot into the car.  The two left-hand windows disintegrated and Hange spun the wheel and stomped on the gas.

Onyankopon stood and watched the van high-tail it out of the parking lot in a screeching of tires.  He held his right arm in his left hand and blood seeped between his fingers.  He didn’t seem too perturbed.

By the time they made it back to the office Annie had texted everybody else and all three of them were dripping with sweat from the blown-out windows.  They looked around the lot carefully, then trudged up the stairs to the second floor.
 
Inside, the air conditioning was blissful.

Hange flopped into a hard fiberglass chair and let themselves droop.  “Jesus Christ.”

Krista pushed her mass of blonde hair out of her face where strands were sticking to her skin.  “You can say that again!”

“Who the fuck was that?”  Hange asked the ceiling.

“Beats me,” Krista said.  “I feel like I’ll never get the glass out of my hair!”

Hange tilted their head sideways “Annie?  Have you ever seen them?”

Annie shook her head.

Just then the door to the room slammed open, bouncing off the wall and letting a huge breath of piping hot air in.  Ymir rushed into the room followed closely by Moblit.

“Krista are you okay?!”

Moblit didn't say anything he just hovered anxiously around Hange.

“I’m fine Ymir.  Close that door before all our cool air gets out.”

“What the fuck happened?!”

Hange lifted up her head.  “Got shot at.  It sucked.”

“Jesus, Krista you have to be careful!”

Moblit had wet a washcloth and laid it carefully on Hange’s forehead.  They sighed contentedly.

Levi slipped in the door next.  “What the fuck?!”

They relayed the story for the second time, describing Onyankopon.

“I’ve never seen him either.  Was it an ordered hit, I wonder?”

“It had to be.  You don’t think some guy in a suit just suddenly decided to try to kill them in the parking lot of the Aldi do you!?” Ymir said, fists clenched.

“Get the fuck off my back.  I’m just thinking out loud!”

“Both of you settle down,” Hange said, turning their face so that Moblit could tend to the cuts on their neck and ear from the window glass.

“Can you hear anything out of that ear?” Moblit asked, touching their right ear—the one closest to the gun when it went off.

“Nope.”

“You’ll probably be deaf in that ear for a while.”

“Yep.”

“We’ve gotta find out what the hell is going on,” Ymir said grimly, gently pushing stray hairs out of Krista’s eyes.

“Before one of us gets killed,” Levi added.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

The whole group had agreed to not reveal where each other lived so that in case they were captured and tortured they couldn’t give away anyone else's home location.  The exception to this was Levi and Hange who were best friends.  No one except Hange knew where Levi lived but Hange had told everyone where they lived and, indeed, had invited everyone over to their house many times.

Hange’s house was right on the edge of the Everglades and was an old family house stuffed with dusty antiques and cobwebs.  It was falling apart around Hange’s ears but they didn’t seem to mind.  The back half of the house jutted out into the swamp on pilings and there was a boat tied right up to the back porch.
 
Levi was out on the porch right that second, swatting mosquitos and leaning on the railing looking down at the black water and drinking a beer.  Hange joined him.

“The Captain still with us?  I don’t see him.”

“Oh, yeah.  You know he’s too mean to die.”

The Captain was a 16+ foot ‘gator who lived under Hange’s house.  They swore that The Captain had been there their whole life.  A biologist had once surmised that the Captain was over 40 years old.  Hange was only 33 so there was merit to the tale.

“I think he’s out chasing the lady ‘gators”

“Not a bad hobby,” Levi said, draining his beer.
 
They all moved very familiarly around each other over the torn linoleum on the kitchen floor.  The table was circa 1960 with metal legs and once-shiny chrome around the top.  The turquoise-colored Formica surface was scratched and worn and just felt like home.

By general consensus, Moblit and Krista cooked.  Everyone else was hopeless in the kitchen and Hange cooked but honestly it was terrible.

Everyone had a job.  Set the table, pour the tea and lemonade, get out the plates for dessert.  Levi had drawn dish duty and was disgruntled about it.

“Oh, come off it, Levi,” Hange said.  “You know you’re a neat freak.  My dishes are never so clean as when you wash them.”

Levi, slightly mollified, opened the ancient fridge (Hange still called it an ‘icebox’) and grabbed another beer.  He settled into one of the mismatched chairs around the table and sighed contentedly.  He’d never, ever admit this to anyone but he felt like this was his family.

Ymir, who had had a bit too much to drink, swatted at a mosquito, missed, and frowned.  “So what about this Yeager hit?  Levi, are you ever gonna do it?”

Levi pressed his lips together.  “No.”

“No?”

“No.  He’s innocent.”

“He’s a fucking assassin!”

“So you think you and I should be offed?!”

Levi had come halfway out of his chair and Moblit and Hange had to gently press him back down.

“So what are we doing about this new guy?  People are fucking shooting at Levi and now at the rest of us.  What the fuck?”

“I don’t think they’re related,” Hange said.

“Me either,” Levi added.

“They have to be,” Ymir insisted, sitting forward and setting down her beer bottle a little too firmly.  “You were supposed to kill that kid and they shot at you and now these guys get ambushed?  I think it’s the Stockmans”

“That kid—as you call him—told me that the Reisses were the ones with a contract out on him.  And it was the kid himself who shot at me!”

“But that’s his own gang,” Hange said.

“He says that his doctor dad pissed them off somehow.”

“Oh, that’s bullshit!” Ymir said.

Krista put a hand on Ymir’s thigh. “Ymir …”

Ymir’s reaction was immediate.  She blushed under her freckles and smiled shyly at Krista.  Both of them drank their beers.

Krista never took her small hand off of Ymir’s thigh and the subject of who hired whom was dropped.

Supper was Beaufort Stew, a favorite of everyone but especially Levi.  He crowded the big stock pot and poked a fork in.  Thick slices of smoked sausage, half-cob corn, baby potatoes, chunks of onion, and fat shrimp simmered quietly.  He fished a shrimp out, peeled it and ate it.

“Hey!  Get out of the stew!” Hange said.

Levi grinned and snagged another shrimp.

Krista put the lid back on the pot with a stern look.  “It’s because of you that we have to put twice as many shrimp in!”

Levi chewed happily.

Levi was inspecting a taxidermied squirrel on the mantle in one of the bedrooms with a bit of trepidation.  Supper was not quite ready and he was bored and wandering around the old house.  The squirrel was moth-eaten and draped in cobwebs and it stood on its hind legs on its base with its teeth bared aggressively. He was just lifting his hand to touch it when Moblit came into the room.

Moblit was a very low-key guy and his rubber soled shoes made no noise on the harwood floor.  “Levi.”

“Jesus!” Levi yelped, snatched his hand back, and clutched his chest.

Moblit chuckled—something unlike him—and waved his beer.  “Nope.  Just me.”

Levi realized immediately that Moblit was drunk.

“Whew!  Hey, Mobes, what’s up?”

Moblit squinted at the stuffed squirrel.  “Thass a special squirrel.”

Yep.  Moblit was three sheets to the wind.

“Special?”

“Yep.  It’s mel’nistic.  See?  Is black.  Most squirrels are grey.”

Levi looked.  Sure enough, Moblit was right.

“Is there anything I can do for you, Mobes?”

Moblit took a long swig of beer.  “Wanted to tell somebody … but didn’t know who to tell … can’t tell Hange, they’d freak out …”

Levi braced himself.  Was this it?  Was Moblit about to tell him what everybody except Hange already knew?  That he loved every molecule of their being?

“That ‘sassin … uh … ass … sassin?  I think I’ve seen him before.”

Levi’s eyes widened.  “Yeah?”

“In the parking lot of the Aldi.  Jus’ hanging out next to a car.”

“When?”

“A week ago.”

“Shit.  Shit, shit, shit.  That was before the contract on Yeager.”

They all sat down to supper, crowded around the kitchen table, and Levi, as casually as possible, introduced the subject of Moblit’s seeing the assassin.

“You didn’t tell me?!” Hange screeched.

“I … I didn’t know for sure.  When you mentioned the Aldi it kinda … kinda all made sense,” Moblit said quietly.

“Give him a break, Hans,” Levi said, picking up a half a cob corn.

Ymir spoke with her mouth full.  “This doesn’t make sense, though.  Who is sending an assassin to kill us?  And why?  Is he after all of us or just one of us?”

“Probably me,” Hange said grimly.

Moblit went pale.

“What kind of car was it?” Annie asked.

“Why would that matter?” Krista said.

“We can keep an eye out for it.”

“I don’t know cars but it was black and kinda low like Levi’s car but it looked, y’know, new.”

“Here’s the thing, though,” Levi said.  “Mobes saw this guy last week.”

Hange’s jaw dropped open.  “That’s before …”

“Exactly.”

“Fuck me.  So this isn’t connected to him at all.”

Ymir sat back and pushed her plate away (and Levi quickly claimed it).  “So let me get this straight.  Somebody wants Yeager dead—probably the Reisses—and somebody wants one or all of us dead … for unknown reasons.”

A heavy thump made the whole place shudder as The Captain bumped a pole under the house.  A bottle of olive oil tipped over on the counter.

Everyone continued eating somberly.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Hange and Moblit officially lived in the two tiny rooms in the motel suite, so the only people who had to check in at the motel room were Levi, Krista, Ymir, and Annie.  Since Krista was the receptionist/secretary/scheduler, she got there very early.  Moblit was already up, as always, puttering around getting the papers Hange had been working on the night before straight and making coffee.  Krista always stopped and got breakfast for everyone—usually pastry because Levi and Hange had awful sweet tooths.

She had doughnuts that day and put them on the edge of her desk as she went around it.  She herself, who was into fitness and good nutrition, had a green smoothie.

“No surfing today?” Moblit asked.

“Nope,” Krista said brightly.  “I got stung by a jellyfish yesterday and it’s still a bit sore.  You should try surfing Mobes.”

He shook his head seriously. “No.  I’m too clumsy.”

“Who’s clumsy?”

It was Hange, still in their tshirt (no bra) and drooping sleep pants, hair disheveled, scratching their head and yawning.

“I am,” Moblit said as if that was some major character flaw and blushed, clearly trying not to ogle their state of semi-dress. “How did you sleep?”

“Pretty good.”

Moblit hastened to open their laptop and bring them a cup of black coffee and two doughnuts.

Hange yawned hugely again.  “How many jobs do we have today?”

“Just printing them out right now,” Krista said.

Hange sat upright. “Jesus!  Five hits in one morning?  That’s a lot of dead people.  Why the uptick?  We normally only get one or two.”

Levi walked in the door followed by Ymir.  “One or two whats?” he asked.

“Jobs a day.  Krista’s got five just this morning!”

“Krista, did you buy space on a billboard?” Levi asked, pushing her smoothie away from himself with a little moue of disgust.

Krista giggled and Ymir shot an absolutely murderous glance at Levi.  Levi carefully ignored her.

“Well, let’s see these hits.  Times a wastin’”

Krista nodded and tipped up her smoothie to her mouth.  Levi grimaced.

Levi was done with his job—an easy hit inside in an empty college hallway—and had just gotten two hotdogs from a street vendor when he felt a hand on his arm and, spinning around, almost drew his gun.  It was—of all people—Yeager.  He was in a grey hoodie and blue sweatpants and he looked amazing.

“The fuck?!  Don’t sneak up on me like that!  I almost dropped my ‘dogs and shot you!”

“Sorry!  Sorry!  It comes with the job.”  He held both hands up palms outward.

“Alright,” Levi grumped.  “I guess I’ll forgive you this time.”

“Listen …”  Eren looked unusually contrite, playing with his hoodie strings and not looking Levi in the eye.

“What is it, Kid?  Cough it up.”

Eren chewed his lip.  “I know who's trying to kill you and why.”

“Fuck!  Tell me!”

“You won’t be happy.”

“Kid, I’m gonna kick you in the dick …”

“Okay, okay!  I killed somebody.”

“Well, alright, you’re an assassin.”

“No, somebody important and …”  He grimaced.  “His people think it was your outfit.”

“Christ on a pony, who was it?”

“Brayden Stockman.”

“Brayd—?  Stanley Stockman’s

son

?!  Fucking,

why

?!”

“He pissed me off.  He was a homophobe.”

Levi carded his finger through his hair, “Lots of assholes are homophobes but we don’t go around killing them!”

“He also killed kids,” Eren said stubbornly.

Levi stared, silent.

“He killed a whole family.  Mom and three kids under 12.  He even killed their dog.  Their dog, Levi!  And the mark was the man!  He killed them for the fun of it!”

Levi paced back and forth.  “Jesus Christ!”  He smoothed his disheveled hair back.  “Fuck what am I gonna do?  You could even be lying to me!”

Eren looked sincerely hurt.

“I could never lie to you.”

Levi looked at him soberly.  “I’ll let my people know.  They are going to be pissed as hell.”

They both stood there awkwardly for a minute.

“Can I join you while you eat?” Eren asked.

Levi glared, then waved his free hand. “Shit, why not?”

Eren hurried to get himself some food and they settled on a low wall behind the food trucks.

Levi took a bite and waved his hotdog.  “So why are you doing this?  Why are you stalking me?”

“I’m not stalking you!”  Eren played with his napkins. “I just like you”

Levi shook his head. “But why?  I’m short, bad tempered, and work for an outfit that wants you dead!”

“You’re hot and sweet and then there’s the whole ‘you didn’t kill me’ thing.

Levi scratched his jaw, his face pink.  “‘Sweet’?  I think you’ve got me confused with someone else.”  He took a bite of hotdog so that he wouldn’t have to say anything else.

Eren looked at his hands.  “Every day when I get home Georgie’s food dish is empty.  That first day you were in my house it was full and the water dish was cleaner than it’s been since it was new.”

Levi looked anywhere but at Eren.  “Well … that’s a cat.”

“Yeah and I’m a man.  A man you were contracted to kill and you’ve been nothing but nice to me.”

Levi, face red, aggressively bit into one of his hotdogs.  “Eat your food,” he said once he’d swallowed. “You’re too skinny.”

When Levi got back to the motel, he jogged up the stairs.  As he was hoping, almost everybody was there in the room.  Annie must still be after a mark.

“Annie still working?”

“Yup.  She won’t be long if I know her,” Hange said.

Levi rubbed the back of his head, his undercut prickly against his palm.  “I’ve got some news.”

Everyone stared at him.

“I figured out what happened; why people are trying to kill us.”

Hange looked up and Krista's mouth opened slightly.

“Brayden Stockman has been killed.”

“What the hell?” Hange said, sitting up straight.

“It was a professional hit.”

“Braydon Stockman the beloved son of Stanley Stockman?  Heir apparent to the Stockman empire?!”

Levi nodded.  “Aaaand they think it was us.”

“Fuck!”

“They want us

all

dead.”

“Double fuck!”

“Can we convince them that it wasn’t us?” Krista said, “It wasn’t any of us, right?”

Everyone shook their heads.

“So

that’s

why our jobs list has exploded,” Hange mused.
 
Later Levi was nursing a beer and Hange sidled up close.

“So how did you come by your little tidbit of knowledge?” they asked in a low voice.

“I … uh … know the guy who killed him.”

“Yeah?  So spill.”

Levi peeled the label on his beer bottle.  “It was Yeager.”

“Jesus,” Hange said, “this is like a soap opera.”
 
They all ordered pizza in (wings for Levi) and sat around drinking beer, eating pizza, and talking.

“We have to be super careful,” Hange said.

Ymir grimaced. “It’s going to be fucking hard to hit marks with a target on our backs.”

“Maybe they’ll fuck up and we can kill them.”

“You’re such an optimist, Hans,” Levi said.
 
It was late when Annie got back, almost dark, which was unusual in itself, but something was different, special.
 
She was accompanied by a young man.
 
And she was holding his hand.
 
He was a tall, skinny thing with a mop of stick-straight blond hair.  His eyes were pale blue and he looked overwhelmingly nervous.  Annie rubbed his arm soothingly. “Everybody, this is Armin.”

Later Hange sidled up close to Annie.  “So have you told him what you do?”

Annie shook her head tersely.  “I told him we were in sales.”

“You’ll need to tell him eventually.”

“Let’s see how it goes,” Annie murmured.
 
The non-drivers drank and joked over take-out pizza and wings  Annie and Armin dug into the pizza and everyone asked polite questions of the young man.  All in all it was a pleasant evening.

Eventually, Armin and Annie left
 
Not long after Levi stood and stretched.  “Well, this has been fun, children, but I gotta go.”
 
As Levi walked toward his car he became aware of a strange rhythmic sound.  He stopped and frowned.  It was sort of a low squeaking and he couldn’t figure out where it was coming from.  He moved slowly toward his car and the noise got louder.  The only two cars that far out in the lot were Levi’s Camaro and Annie’s Kia.  What the hell was it?

He reached his car and slid the key into the lock and his gaze fell on Annie’s car.  Why was it still out here?  Annie and Armin had left twenty minutes ago.

Abruptly everything coalesced in his brain and he looked closely at the Kia.  Sure enough, it was bouncing gently on its springs and making the repetitive noise.  Levi smiled slightly and backtracked toward the building.  He’d sit on the steps and smoke a cig while the two lovebirds finished.

After a few minutes, Hange came out to get a coke out of the machine.

“Hey, get me one too.”

“What are you doing sitting out here?  I thought you were gone.”

“Betcha you thought Annie was gone too,” Levi said, gesturing with his cigarette.

Hange frowned at the Kia across the lot.  “What gives?”

Levi took another drag on his smoke. “Annie and Armin going at it like rabbits.”

Hange looked fit to bust and her grin threatened to break her face.  “Get it, Annie!  How can you fuck in a Kia?”

“Very carefully?”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Levi—and the rest of the crew—did every hit on high alert, now.  Levi hit a mobster in a stall in the bathroom of a department store and, when he left, regarded everyone he saw in the mall as a potential assassin.  It was exhausting.

But the worst part was Yeager.  The kid had it bad and seemed terrified that Levi would be killed, so he stuck to him like glue.  Levi would never have told him that he felt the same way.

They had this bizarre routine where they came together in public in the park to eat lunch from one of the food trucks.  The brat was growing on Levi.
 
Then one day he was gone.
 
Levi didn’t get nervous for a day then he started to have some reservations.  The kid hadn’t met him for lunch in two days.  Maybe he was busy.

Maybe he was dead.

Levi shivered.  When he didn’t see or hear from him by the evening he decided to go to his house.
 
Yeager’s car wasn’t in the driveway so Levi let himself in the window.  He was looking for clues.  What he found was a complete stranger in the living room, rooting through the couch cushions.

“In the mood for some Netflix, lover?”

The big man froze.

“Stay where you are.  Hands up.  Turn around … slowly.”

The man did so.  He was a fat, sweaty man and the gun he carried looked small in his big hand.

“You must be Eren Yeager,” he said.  His voice sounded like gravel in a fifty-five-gallon steel drum.

This guy must work for the Stockmans. They didn’t know what Eren looked like.  Excellent.

“Fuck you.”

“Jesus, who pissed in your Cheerios this morning?”

“I just don’t take too kindly to someone in my house trying to kill me.”

Georgie came in the room and ran to the big man, purring and winding around his legs.  The man looked like he didn’t notice.

“I’m putting my gun away,” he said.  “Let’s talk why don’t we?”

The big man tucked his gun into its holster under his jacket.

“I say again: fuck you.”

Abruptly the man scooped up Georgie, holding him like a shield.

“Put the cat down,” Levi said slowly, aiming his gun.

“So you can kill me?  No fucking way.”  The man held the cat under his front legs, belly outward and hind legs trailing.  Georgie was a big cat.  He covered most vital areas.

“I’ll just shoot the cat.”

This, of course, was a lie.  Levi would no sooner shoot Georgie than he would shoot his own foot.  “Put him down!”

“Lower your gun or I’ll break his fucking neck.”  One beefy hand closed over the back of Georgie’s neck and the big cat’s purr boomed through the room.

Levi’s mind raced.

What to do?

“Lower the goddamned gun, Yeager.”

Without warning, two precise holes appeared in the man’s forehead one after the other and the double report of a gun sounded loudly in the room.  Georgie sprang out of the man’s loosened grip and fled.  The man’s body collapsed.
 
Levi spun around to find Eren in a tan pinstriped suit with a pumpkin-colored tie looking cool and collected despite holding a smoking gun.  “Levi,” he said.

“Yeager.”

“Thank you for trying to save my cat.”

“I threatened to shoot him.”

Georgie, as if he knew he was being talked about, padded out to wind around Eren’s legs.  He bent to pet him.  “You wouldn’t kill Georgie.  You love him, too.”

Levi couldn’t say anything to that.

“Where the fuck have you been?”

“The Reisses sent somebody out for me.  I had to lay low for a while.”

“Tell me next time.  I thought you were dead.”

Eren went red, clearly pleased.

“So, how the fuck are we going to dispose of this body?” Levi asked.

“No problem.  We’ll just leave.” Eren opened the closet and extracted a plastic pet carrier.

“What?  But you live here.”

“And I can live somewhere else.  I’ve had to move multiple times.”

“But … but don’t you own this house?”

“Nope.  The Reiss gang does.”

Eren became Levi’s own personal shadow.  He showed up at his gym when he was working out, looking like a million dollars in plain cotton shorts and a stretched out teeshirt.

Levi tried valiantly to ignore him.  Finally, he got done working out and couldn’t keep up the charade any longer.
 
He dismounted the machine.  He was drenched in sweat and his pale skin glistened.  He grabbed his water bottle and drank.  Eren appeared mesmerized by the movement of his throat.

Eren’s gaze wandered over Levi’s tattoos.  Camillia and cherry blossoms on his right shoulder and a sinuous dragon across his shoulder blades.  Along with his other tattoos,

there was another; the name ‘Kuchel’ tattooed under his left clavicle.  Eren glared at it, clearly thinking it was a girlfriend or wife.

He toyed with his water bottle.  “So are you seeing anyone?  Is that why you won’t go out with me?”

“Nope.”

“Are you not attracted to me?”

“Kid …”

“Tell me!”

“You’re fucking gorgeous.”

“Then let’s go ouuuuuut!”

Levi gently put his hand over Eren’s face and pushed him away.

“Bully,” Eren pouted.

Levi barked out a laugh.  “A friend of mine says the same thing.”

“See?  We’d get on wonderfully.  Hey, is this friend a girl?”

“Nope.  They’re not a girl and not a boy.  They’re non-binary.”

“Huh.”

Levi carefully wiped down his machine and moved to another.

“We could go to the beach!  Big blanket, food, wine …”

“I hate the beach.”

“You live in Florida, dude!”

“Don’t you have to be stupid somewhere else?”

“Not until four.”

Levi sighed and climbed onto the machine.

Levi came into the office just as Krista and Ymir came out of one of the bedrooms in their swimsuits, laughing. Levi’s eyebrows climbed up his forehead.  Krista was in her royal blue one-piece and Ymir was in an itty bitty bikini that showed off her abs.

“What’s up with you two?  You doing the boingy boingy right here in the office?”

Krista went red as a tomato and slapped his arm gently.  “No, dirty mind!  We were just changing.  Ymir is coming to watch me surf.”

“I didn’t know you were a surfing groupie.”

Ymir shrugged. “I was a beach bunny in my youth.  A little surfing, a lot of drinking …”

Krista headed for the door.  “Come on Ymir we’ll miss the best waves!”

Hange crashed in the door (moblit, behind her, very gently closed it) just as Levi was dozing off on the uncomfortable couch.  He startled awake.  “The fuck Hans?!”

Hange waved some papers. “They’ve put out official hits on us.  We have to be extra careful.  We don’t know who they know about.”

“Call Krista and Ymir, they're at the beach.”

“I’ve tried to get in touch with them but they’re not picking up,” Moblit said.

“They might be surfing …”

“Somebody needs to go out and tell them in person.”

Levi hadn’t been lying when he’d told Eren that he hated the beach.  It was hot, sandy, and he couldn’t swim so the intimidating waves made him uneasy.

He was from the stench and graffiti and heat of Liberty City, the poorest neighborhood in Miami.  The vast, clean beach was weird to him.  He crunched along in the sand unhappily until he spotted Krista’s bright blue swimsuit.  She was just catching a wave.  Levi watched in awe as she nimbly stood up on her board and rode the wave down, the muscles in her thighs flexing, ending up in the surf where Ymir splashed out to meet her.

Levi slowed and stopped when Ymir kissed her.

The other surfers—all male—made various obnoxious noises as Krista clearly kissed her back.

Well.  He hadn’t known it had gone so far.  Cross Krista off the list of bangable partners.  He waited until they parted and then walked up to them.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Hange dropped the rumor that their crack assassin was returning on a certain flight from Atlanta.  If the Reisses wanted to kill one of them they’d go for their best and do it at the airport.  They only knew of Hange and Levi so they would surmise it was Levi.  Fortunately, they only knew what Hange looked like.  Levi left for the airport.
 
Levi was doing as he liked in the terminal, that is; hiding in plain sight.  He was sat on a bench with a newspaper.  Surely some runty, crabby-looking guy couldn’t be an assassin, right?  He was dressed purposely casually: khakis and an excruciatingly loud Hawaiian shirt borrowed from Kenny.

He’d spotted a  blond-haired, muscular man named Reiner Braun who was one of the Reiss’s bodyguards and was hoping he would lead him to something he could use.  Sure enough, he did—two men in suits with the tell-tale bulge of a gun on one side.  One was an extremely tall man with dark hair and a worried expression.  The other was a black-haired man with freckles who looked no older than eighteen and as if he wouldn’t kill a housefly much less a human.  Was this who Reiss had working for them?  No wonder they hired Hange’s crew so often.

Braun exchanged words with the men.  The tall one listened intently, the other kept an eye on the room.  As Braun left he did an odd thing.  He put his big hand on the arm of the tall man and trailed it downward in what looked for all the world like a caress.

Hmm.  Illicit love affair?  Something Levi could use against Braun if it came to it?

Levi turned the page of the newspaper.  He had the appearance of the Reiss assassins down pat but he didn’t want to draw undue attention to himself by standing.

Abruptly the loudspeakers announced the arrival of ‘his’ flight and the two men strode off.

Levi gave a glance around to make sure Braun wasn’t lurking and quickly left.
 
Levi described the two men to Hange who dug through their bag.  “Ahah!  Here … are any of these them?”

Levi glanced at the pictures, typical poor quality surveillance photos, and nodded.  “This guy and this one, with the freckles.”

“They sent two.” Hange mused then punched his arm, “You have a reputation!  That’s Bertholdt Hoover and Marco Bodt.”

“Ow!  They don’t look like much.”

“Don’t be fooled.  Bertholdt is a crack shot—specializes in a rifle—and they say Marco is a cold blooded killer.”

“Bodt looks like a teenager.”

“Don’t cross him though.  Some minor gang tried kidnapping Marco’s boyfriend last year and Marco went to the guy’s motel room, rescued his man, and, when his gun jammed, drowned the kidnapper in the toilet.”

“Jesus!”

“Stone cold, I’m telling ya.”
 
Eren had secured a luxury apartment in a nearby building and Levi had met him there.  It went south immediately.  Eren was letting them both in, chattering happily as if they were on a date.  “It’s actually an old Reiss safe house an—”

“Stop what you’re doing and turn around.”

Levi held his hands up at shoulder height and turned very slowly.  It was the stone cold killer Marco Bodt.  He had a gun in each hand like a cowboy and had them leveled at Levi and Eren.

“Why don’t you fuck off, Marco?” Eren snarled.

Bodt regarded him calmly.  “Actually I think I'll shoot you first, Yeager.”

Levi had to think of something. “So who is this handsome young man, Eren?”

Eren’s face flushed red.  “It’s Marco, Marco Bodt,” he said tightly.

Bodt eyeballed Levi.  “And who might you be?  I know you’re with Hange’s gang.”

Levi spread his hands. “We’re not a gang.  More like a social club.”

Bodt snorted at that.

“You can’t kill us.  We all work for the same organization!  Why don’t you just let us go and we’ll call it even?  I don’t want to get shot today.”

Bodt shook his head.  “You should have thought about that before you killed Brayden Stockman.  They put a hit out on Reiss’s wife.”

Eren opened his mouth and Levi hastily spoke.  “A job’s a job!  You know that.  It’s nothing personal.”

During this convo Levi and Eren had been easing away from each other, making Bodt have to swing his head farther to either side to keep them both in sight.

“The boss is pissed.  That was his favorite wife so far.”

Levi clutched his hands together.  “But I didn’t do anything to the Reisses!  It was the Stockmans!  They—”

Eren lunged then and both of Bodt’s guns went off.  The kid was quick.  Eren had dodged left and gotten his arm over Bodt’s wrist, twisting till he dropped the gun. He jerked that arm behind Bodt’s back.

“Shit, Yeager!”

“Just drop it, Marco.”

He did.

“You know you should have brought Bertoldt with you since there are two of us. Are you gonna play nice?  Truce?”  Bodt nodded.  Eren looked up.  “Levi, you okay?  Levi?”

Levi was standing crookedly, sort of bent in on himself.  He clutched his left side where a huge stain of blood spread frighteningly quickly on his shirt.  He looked up muzzily.  “Shit …” he said and collapsed.

“LEVI!”

Eren dragged Bodt to a kitchen chair and sat him down.

“Stay there!”

Eren scooped up both the guns and unceremoniously tossed them into the tall kitchen trash can and ran to Levi.

“Oh, jesus, oh, jesus, it’ll be okay, It will, I’ll get you to a hospital—”

“And explain the gunshot wound how?” Bodt asked drily. 
 
“Oh, shut up!  Oh, god.  Marco’s right.  Oh, fuck, oh, shit. Levi, who do I call?  My dad wouldn’t come, that fucknugget. Do you have anybody?”

Levi handed him his bloody cell phone.  “Hange,”  he said and passed out.

Hange and Moblit met them in the parking lot of the motel, Hange skidding sideways in their banged-up El Camino.

Eren got out of the car and Hange blanched at all the blood.  “Is he alive?”

Eren nodded.

“Mobes, you and Eren get him upstairs before someone sees.”
 
When they burst in the door Krista screamed.

“It’s okay,” Eren panted, “We have Levi.  He’s hurt.”

Krista took one look at Levi and, picking up her laptop, swept everything else off her desk and onto the floor.  “Put him up here.”

Krista quickly cut Levi’s shirt off and used the hotel washcloths to apply pressure to the wound.  She got Eren to lean Levi up so she could look at his back.

“It went straight through, thank goodness.  Here put pressure on this, you’re stronger than I am.” Eren took over and Moblit hurried out of the bedroom with his first aid kit.

“Are … are you a doctor?” Eren asked.

“Four years in the Marines as a medic,” Hange said. “Went to Afghanistan.  We both did.”

Eren stared, mouth slightly open.

“How do you know Levi?”

“He’s my best friend.”

A peculiar look crossed Moblit’s face, so quickly Eren wasn’t sure he’d seen it.

“So who are you?” Krista asked, small fists perched on her hips, fine blonde brows drawn down into a scowl.

“I’m Eren Yeager.”

“The one Levi couldn’t kill,” Krista murmured.

Eren actually blushed as Krista looked him up and down.

“Oh!  And I’ve got a guy in my trunk …”

“What?!” Hange said.

“Marco Bodt.  He was sent to kill us.  I figured you could set up a sweet trade for him back.”

“He shot Levi!  Why didn’t you just kill him?”

Eren shrugged. “He was just doing his job.”

“He’s a dangerous killer!”

“Aren’t we all?”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

“I’m not positive, but I think the bullet missed everything vital,” Moblit said, stripping off his bloody latex gloves.  “Normally there would be fat there but Levi doesn’t have an ounce on him so it went through muscle.  I know it barely missed his pelvis.”

“What are the chances of infection?”

“The theatre of operation was on a bare desk in a seedy motel room …”

“So we should look for it.”

Moblit nodded tiredly.  “I stitched him up—front and back—so all we can do is wait.”

Hange nodded soberly.  “Anything we can do to help?”

“The wounds need to be washed gently with plain water twice a day and have the dressing replaced, but I’ll do that.”

“I’ll help!” Krista said.

“He can take my bed,” Moblit said.  “I’ll take the couch.”

An odd look crossed Hange’s face and they looked as if they were about to say something when Levi groaned.

Hange and Krista ran to him, barely beating Eren.

“Jesus fuck what?”

“It’s okay, you got shot,” Hange said, smoothing his sweaty hair back off of his face.

“Shit.  Is it bad?”

“Not so much.  Mobes fixed you up.”

Levi, who hated to touch people or be touched reached one pale hand out to Moblit, who took it, bewildered.

“Thanks, man.”

Moblit nodded.  “We’re a team.”

“Yeah.” Levi dropped his hand and felt over the dressing on his wound.  “Hurts like a motherfucker.”

“I can get you some codeine,” Moblit said.

“Can I do anything to help?” Eren asked anxiously.  He’d been hovering around since they got there.

“Did you get Bodt out of the trunk?  A fucker could suffocate in this heat.”

Eren nodded eagerly, gesturing across the room at Bodt who was secured to a chair with duct tape.

“And here I thought you were just beautiful and useless.”

“Hey!” Eren said but he blushed all the same.

Moblit returned from his room with two hydrocodone and they struggled to sit Levi up.

“Ow, fuck, ow, fuck!

Moblit gave him the codeine and Krista brought him some water.

“Come on,” Hange said.  “Let’s get you in bed.  I changed the sheets and everything and I’ve got towels down to catch any leakage.”

With Eren on one side and Moblit on the other Levi painfully hobbled to the bedroom.

Annie and Ymir showed up and they all ordered pizza and went out for more beer so they could discuss their plans.
 
Bodt, was dragged, chair and all, into Hange’s bedroom so he couldn’t hear.
 
They all sat in a rough circle around the coffee table in front of the couch.  As they ate and drank the tension seemed to seep from the room a bit.

“Okay,” Ymir said, wiping her greasy hands on a napkin.  “We’ve got Yeager here who shot at Levi and killed Brayden Stockman, Bodt who shot Levi and tried to shoot Eren, Hoover, and another guy …”

“Santini,” Eren murmured.

“And they are all with the Reisses?  Who needs all those assassins?  Especially when we’re so cheap,” Hange said.

“Santini works for the Stockmans,” Eren said.

“So who does Onyankopon work for?” Krista asked.

Eren scratched his jaw.  “My guess would be the Stockmans.  Unless there’s some other gang you pissed off.”

Hange sat back.  “Shut yer mouth.  That’s all we need; another gang!”

“We’ve got four people after us?” Ymir asked.  “Bodt over there, Hoover, Onyankopon, and Santini—”

“Santini’s dead,” Eren said.

“How do you know?”

“I shot him myself.  He was threatening my cat.”
 
“So, how do we know we can trust you?” Annie asked Eren  “You’ve seen the office, our cars, by rights we should put a bullet in your head.  You work for the Reisses.”

“Fuck the Reisses,” Eren said. “I’m not with them anymore.  The only reason I shot at Levi was because I thought he was there to kill me.”

“He was,” Hange said drily.

“But I talked him out of it.”

“You tried to blow his head off!”

“I told him that I missed him on purpose,” Eren pouted.  “The Reisses can fuck off.  They put out a hit on me.”  He crossed his arms over his chest.

“So what do we do now?” Ymir asked.

“First we try to see if the Reisses will see reason that we didn’t hit the boss's wife,” Hange said running her fingers through her already disheveled hair. “Maybe they’ll leave us alone if we give them Bodt.”

“Eren,” Hange said, “go fetch Bodt.”

Eren dragged him out of the bedroom.

Annie got up and kicked Bodt’s chair.  “Are you anybody?  Or just expendable?”

Bodt, his mouth covered by duct tape, glared at Annie with murder in his eyes, his freckles standing out lividly.

“Come on, Marco,” Eren said, “I’ll take the tape off if you tell me how good of a bargaining chip you would be.”

“He’s their best assassin,” Hange said.

Eren nodded.  “That might be enough to convince the boss.”

The meeting place was a lover’s lane of sorts.  No romantic cliff overlooking the city lights here but the bare, sandy area did just fine.  No couples were there as it was still daylight and the hot wind whipped the dust up which ticked on the windows of the car.

“The fuck are they?” Hange asked.  They lit a cigarette, puffing agitatedly.

“They’ll be here,” Bodt said, looking calmly out the window.

Finally a long, black Suburban pulled up.  Two men got out; an extremely tall man with brown hair and a gun in his hand and a sandy haired man with an undercut.  Hange drew their gun and got out of the car with a grunt.

“Are we clear on the terms?”  Hange said loudly.

The tall man—Hange marked him as Hoover— looked at the other who nodded a bit too eagerly.

Hoover folded himself back into the car and the other man stepped forward.  He and Hange met in the middle of the open space like gunslingers.

“Who the fuck are you?” Hange asked.

“Jean Kirstein.  I’m a bodyguard for Mr. Reiss.  Marco is my … my boyfriend.”

Hange took a long drag on their cigarette, squinting in the expelled smoke.

“Well, we took good care of him.  He’s whole and healthy.”

“Thank you,” Jean said.

“Thank Eren,” Hange said

Jean ducked his head.  “I’m sorry about the … misunderstanding.”

Hange hummed in agreement. “Are your people willing to abide by the deal?”

“Yes.  You didn’t kill the boss’s wife.  We want things to go back as they were.  The boss appreciates your service.”

Hange bristled a bit at that, shuffling their feet on the sandy, dusty ground.  They weren’t in ‘service’ to anyone.  They were strictly freelance.  Finally, they decide to let it go.

Hange walked back to the El Camino and Jean followed them.

“Stay away from the car.”

Jean backed off, all but wringing his hands in anxiety.  Hange opened the car door and  Bodt got out awkwardly, his hands secured in front of him with duct tape.  Hange flicked open a knife and cut the tape, turning Bodt around to face his boyfriend and giving him a gentle push.  Jean hurried to him.

They kissed briefly and Hange’s heart melted a bit.  What must it be like to have someone care that much about you?

They cleared their throat and got in the car.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

It was two weeks before Levi could walk on his own and that was with crutches.  The bullet had damaged the muscles of his hip and he couldn’t walk unassisted.  He was crutching around the office at that moment with a mighty scowl on his face.

“Well, what did you expect, silly?  You need both hands to use the crutches,” Krista said.

Levi muttered under his breath then exploded.  “A man can’t even get a coke out of the machine!”

Krista, who was typing on her computer, didn’t look up—hadn’t looked up the whole time.  “If you’re good I’ll go get you a coke before I `leave.”

That pissed Levi off even more and he stumped into the bedroom and slammed the door.

Moblit came in the door right then.  “What’s all the ruckus?”

Krista shook her head.  “They’re like a bunch of toddlers.  I swear.”

A look of understanding came over Moblit’s face and he nodded, crossing to the kitchenette to put down his grocery bags pulling out eggs and broccoli and chicken that he would try to get Hange to eat..
 
Hange bounded in the door a moment later.  “How’s our patient?”

“We just left an hour ago,” Moblit said rather gruffly, setting pasta on the counter.

“He’s fine,” Krista said.  “In a perpetual state of pissed off, of course.”

Hange threw themself onto the couch.  “He needs to get laid.  How long has it been since he’s had a boyfriend or girlfriend?”

Krista considered.  “A long time.  Certainly he’s hooking up, though.  He’s a handsome man.”

“And I have my left hand!” filtered belligerently through the door to the bedroom.

Hange laughed and raised their voice to match.  “Eavesdropping?  Really?”

“These walls are like tissue paper.  I can hear you snoring at night!”

“Well, I don’t want to hear you wanking off!”

This was met with a grumpy silence.

Hange and Krista giggled and Moblit, who had secretly jerked off many times in that room—since he slept there normally—went scarlet red and busied himself putting the cheese away.
 
Eren came every day to check on Levi and that caused a bunch of raised eyebrows.  He sat familiarly on the edge of the bed and tried to adjust his dressing but Levi slapped his hand away.

“Moblit has that!”

Eren’s brows drew down into a frown.  “Sometimes I think you like Moblit more than me!”

“Of course I do!  He’s my friend!”

Eren looked sorry for himself.  “And I’m not?”

Levi picked at the edge of his blanket. “Well, I guess we were enemies and now I don’t know what we are.”

“Could we try going out?”

“Awww, Kid.  You don’t want a short, grumpy, socially inept guy who—”

“Don’t tell me what I want!” Eren said hotly.

Kid can go from zero to sixty in seconds

Levi mused.

“I like you!  I’ve liked you since the first time I saw you!”

Hange eased into the room.  “What’re we talking about?”

Eren stood up from the bed, red-faced.

Levi jerked his thumb toward Eren “This stupid kid.”

“What’s the issue?”

“He says I like Moblit more than him.”

“You and Mobes have been friends for a while.”

Eren belligerently crossed his arms over his chest.  “I wasn’t talking about ‘like’ like friends,” he muttered.

“I don’t see—oh … oh!” Hange almost vibrated with excitement. “You and Levi should try going out!”

“That’s what I told him!”

Hange clasped their hands over their bosom dramatically. “Two assassins on different sides of the job, brought together by love!”

“Oh, dear god,” Levi said and fell back on the bed, pretending to be passed out.

Eren and Hange sighed in unison.  Hange patted his hand.

“Let me work on him,” they whispered.

Eren was trepidacious but, at this point, he’d take what he could get.

“It feels weird not working,” Eren said one day chewing his lip and frowning.

“I agree.  I’m itching to get back to it.  We’re behind because of this.” Levi gestured with disgust at his wound dressing.  “Ask Hange if you can do some of mine.”

“Do you think they’d let me?”

“Won’t know unless you ask.  You’re a good assassin.  You’d be an asset.”

Eren blushed and fiddled with the edge of Levi’s top sheet. “I dunno.  I’ve been coming by to check on you then leaving immediately.  I don’t want anybody to feel uncomfortable.”

“It would take a LOT to make this crowd uncomfortable.”

“Still …”

“Armin comes over all the time and Annie actually told him what she does.”

“Armin never worked for the Reisses,” Eren said darkly.
 
Levi was sitting at the tiny table in the kitchenette nursing a beer.  He was disgruntled in general but something was niggling at him.  They had gotten Chinese food and the whole crew was there at the office/motel room—including Eren and Armin—fighting in a good-natured manner over lo mein, fried rice, chicken and broccoli, and steamed dumplings.

Krista and Ymir were all over each other, often getting so gross that the rest of them threw beer bottle caps at them.  Annie was sitting so close to Armin that you couldn't slide a piece of paper between them.  Moblit was doting on Hange.

Then there was Levi.

He was alone.  True, he sat next to Eren, (or Eren had sat next to him) who was fidgeting.  He cut his eyes sideways toward Eren and took him in for a second.  He had to admit the man was gorgeous.  Big, capable hands, sun-kissed tan skin, long legs. Masses of brown hair and those eyes …

Levi frowned.  What the hell?  He didn’t find the kid attractive.  He couldn’t get into a relationship now anyway.  Levi could get killed on every job.

If Eren continued to work as an assassin—and he should, he had a lot of talent—then he also could die at any time.  Abruptly Levi’s chest clenched.  He patted his sternum.

What was that?

He coughed.

Eren turned to look at him.  “You okay?”

“Just some indigestion.”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

At three weeks Levi was walking more or less on his own with just one crutch to steady himself.  Hange called a group meeting.  It was brief.

“Celebration time for Levi’s recovery!  Chicken bog.  My house. Nine o’clock.”

Moblit pulled up at Hange’s house from a beer run just as Levi and Eren did.

Eren fidgeted miserably.  “What if it turns out they hate me?”

“Stop acting like a high school freshman!  You’ve been around for three weeks now.  Drooling over me, I might add.  Nobody’s shot you.”

“I felt like Annie and Ymir might have wanted to.”

Levi snorted.

Eren stepped into Hange’s house like an archeologist into an Egyptian tomb.  He looked around in awe.

“Remind me to show you the melanistic squirrel,” Levi grunted, pushing past.  “You want a beer?”

There was a tremendous thump and the house shook.  Eren braced himself on a table.  “What the fuck?!”

“That’s just the Captain,” Moblit murmured, walking past with a crate of beer.

“Big fucking ‘gator,” Levi said, handing Eren a beer.  “Lives under the house.”
 
A lot of the time the crew simply chilled in the kitchen as food was usually cooking or ready to be eaten.  When they wanted to relax elsewhere, they went to the ‘front parlor’ which held an incongruous giant flat-screen TV.
 
There was a small TV in the kitchen which was usually on low unless there was a game, or a Nascar race or the weather so if there were any squabbles about watching they could just divide people up.

Eren fidgeted at the kitchen table.  “Is there anything I can do?”

“Well … we … “ Moblit began.

“Can you cook?” asked Krista.

“No,” Eren admitted.

She patted him on the shoulder.  “Then we got it.”

“What exactly is ‘Chicken Bog’?”

Moblit hummed and Hange stepped in waving her beer enthusiastically.

“It’s similar to chicken perlow.”

Eren stayed blank.

“It’s from the Lowcountry of South Carolina, where I’m from,” Levi said.

“It’s chicken and smoked sausage and rice.  Mmmmm!”

“Well, that sounds amazing.  Why the weird name? “

“Nobody knows.  People surmise that it comes from the fact that it’s moister than perlow and the chicken is ‘bogged down’ in the rice.”
 
Levi snagged another two beers and plucked at Eren’s sleeve.  “C’mon, I wanna show you something.”

They both stepped out onto the back porch and into the muggy heat.  It smelled fishy and somehow green.

Eren looked curiously at the boat which was tied up where steps would be to get off the porch.  He was bent down to look at the pilings that the house stood on when a ‘gator, perhaps ten feet long, surfaced eight or ten feet away and cruised through the murky black water.  Eren jerked back with a cry.

“Fuck!”

“It’s okay,” Levi said, “they won’t come climbing onto the porch!”

“Are you sure?”

Levi patted his arm.  “Yep.  Relax.”

Eren had just taken his beer from Levi and had chilled out a bit when something unusual happened.  The Captain himself cruised slowly out from under the house, nothing but the nostrils on his broad snout above water.

“Christ!”  Eren backpedaled until he was against the outside wall of the house.  Levi chuckled.

“Eren, meet the Captain.”

“Jesus that’s a fucking big-assed thing!”

“He’s pretty large and in charge.”

“It’s like seeing a dinosaur.”

“Actually it’s pretty much that.  Apex predators like sharks and alligators have remained unchanged for millions of years.”

“Sorry for acting like a wuss.”

“You’re doing better than me.  When I first saw the Captain, Hange had to physically restrain me from jumping in my car and speeding off!”
 
They both rested their elbows on the porch railing and drank their beers.  Levi swatted at mosquitos.

“Goddamn things love me.”

“You must taste good.”

Levi smirked.

Eren’s mind drifted off into dangerous territory.  He studied Levi surreptitiously.  Pale smooth skin, coal black hair, and silvery grey eyes.  He’d like to taste that skin.  See if it tasted as good as he imagined.  He shifted uncomfortably as his cock swelled.

Shit, it wouldn’t do to get a hard-on in the middle of a work outing.

Levi looked at him, fine black brows drawing down into a frown.  “Are you okay?  Not still worried about ‘gators?”

“No … no.”

Levi turned back to contemplating the murky swamp and Eren gazed longingly at his hands.  They were big for his size and long-fingered.  Capable hands.  Hands that would look perfect on his dick.  His forearms were no less gorgeous.  Pale and muscular with almost no hair, just a dusting along the top.

Eren sighed.

Levi looked at him again.  “What’s up?  You’re acting funny.”

Eren had turned a little bit toward him and his semi-erection was pretty evident.  Levi stared then cut his eyes away, clearing his throat.

“You weren’t joking about liking me.”

“I wasn’t joking,” Eren said miserably.

Later Levi and Eren were sitting at the kitchen table watching Moblit gently chastizing Hange.

“If you don’t eat it you need to throw it away,” he said.

Hange pouted.  “I’m too busy.  I forget!”

Moblit calmly threw away containers and zip-lok bags of food.  “Just clear out the fridge before you leave.”

“So what’s up with those two?” Eren asked quietly, gesturing with his chin.

Levi shrugged.  “Hange’s the boss, Moblit’s their assistant.”

“Their assistant?  Why does he look at them like they hung the moon?”

“Because he thinks they did.  I’ve known Hange a long time and ever since Moblit first got hired he’s been madly in love with them.”

“Does Hange not like him?  That seems like an awkward situation.”

Levi lit a cigarette and took a long drag.  “They don’t fucking know.  Hans is so clueless that they don’t realize that Moblit is head over heels for them.”

“Man, I feel sorry for the dude.  Why doesn’t he just tell them?”

“He’s afraid of rejection.  If they freak out then he could never see them again and that would break his heart.  That’s what he told me, anyway.  Swore us all to secrecy.”

Hange grabbed another beer and wandered out of the room.

Moblit stepped over to the table.  “Hey, guys did you need anything?  I saw you looking at me.”

“We were talking about you and Hans.”

“There is no ‘me and Hans’.” He stuffed both hands into his pockets and shrugged.

“But there could be!”  Eren insisted.  “Just try flirting a bit.”

Moblit stared at the floor.  “I’m not very good at that.”

Levi nodded sympathetically.  “Me either, dude.”

“But you get plenty of …” Moblit went red, “... women and stuff.”  He fiddled with his fingers.  “Of course you’re hot and I’m …”

“Bullshit, Mobes!” Levi said.  “You’re good-looking as hell and you’re tall.  I’d fuck you.”

Moblit looked like his face might catch on fire.

He shuffled his feet and finally looked up. “Do you mean it?”

Levi took a swig of beer and gestured broadly. “Fuck yeah.  There're plenty of empty bedrooms, lets go do it right now!”

Eren looked like he was about to choke on his own spit and Moblit made a face.

“Oh, hah, hah.  Funny.”

Levi gave him a rare smile and clapped him on the back

“I still stand by the fact that you’re handsome as hell an Hange would be a fool not to jump on you and fuck your brains out.”

“Th…Thank you.  I think.”

“What are y’all doing back here whispering together?”

All three men startled.  It was Hange.

“And did I hear my name?”

“We were just saying how fucking crazy you are four-eyes,” Levi said.

They grinned like a maniac.  “Crazy is relative.”

“Yeah and you are relatively—read completely—crazy.”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

It was finally agreed on that Eren would join the crew as another assassin.  He was as pleased as a little kid and Levi couldn’t help but smile his small smile at his enthusiasm.  To be honest Levi was happy he’d been accepted.  He liked being around the kid and talking to him.  Not to mention that he was easy on the eyes.
 
Two days later they were on an assignment together, trying to catch a murderer coming out of one of his houses.  Sure enough, they caught him slinking out like a rat out of his hidey hole.  Eren (who was the better shot at a distance) leveled his gun at him but the mark suddenly looked around as if he could sense them.  He ducked behind a fence and Eren cursed.

“Damn … where did he go?”

“That fence goes all the way down to the road.”

“I don’t see him …”

“Shit we missed him!  He’s gotten in his car.”

The older sedan pulled away from the curb and Eren stood up and calmly put three bullets through the windshield.  The car veered left and, hopping the curb, struck a fire hydrant that began spraying water.

Levi was aghast. “The fuck dude?  Draw attention much?!”

Eren shrugged.

Levi hurried to the car, skirted around the back, and opened the driver’s side door.  Eren’s bullets had struck the mark in the shoulder and the chest.  He was still alive.  Levi put two bullets in his head and hurried back toward Eren.

Police sirens wailed in the distance.

“Fucking fuck,” Levi said with feeling, jumping into their car. “How did they know so fast?”

Eren pulled out sedately onto the road and cruised at a rate that said “I’m not causing any trouble officer”.  Two police cars passed them going the opposite way, lights flashing.

Levi turned to Eren who flinched under his gaze.

“That was a fucking stupid thing to do!  We could've gotten caught!”

“It was just a spur-of-the-moment thing!”

“Tch!  You’re gonna be the death of me … literally!”

Levi was trying to find a good food truck so they could eat.

“We should go to a restaurant,” Eren said suddenly.  “Y’know for variety.”  He cut his eyes at Levi.  “My treat!”

Levi hesitated.  “I guess.  But let’s do shawarma today.”

Eren grinned like a kid on Christmas morning.

Levi looked over his clothes anxiously.  He wanted to wear something nice to the restaurant.  Eren had $3000 suits.  He had jeans and t-thirts.

He dragged out the only button-up shirt he had, a plain white one.  Getting a brainstorm he found his black jeans.  They would look better.
 
Turns out Eren was wearing just a nice muted green button-up and khaki trousers.  He sat, nervously drumming his fingers on the table, and staring at the entrance.  Surely Levi wouldn’t stand him up.

He had ordered them a pitcher of beer and he took a long drought out of his glass to steady his nerves.  When he looked back at the restaurant entrance he froze.
 
He couldn’t catch his breath.  It was Levi.  Levi in a crisply starched white button-up and black jeans.  He looked amazing.  Eren let his gaze run over him slowly.  Broad shoulders, trim waist, muscular thighs.  Amazing and … clearly uncomfortable.  He was really an anti-social bastard, wasn’t he?  Eren’s gaze was drawn to a table nearby where a lovely woman stared, lips parted, at Levi.  Eren glanced around.  There were at least a half a dozen men and women appraising him.  Eren’s jealousy flared.  How dare they look at Levi!

Levi spotted him and made his way to the table.  The admiring woman actually turned around in her seat to follow him with her gaze.  Apparently, the view from behind was even better.

Eren quietly fumed but put on a pleasant smile as Levi sat down.

“What’s wrong with you?” Levi asked, pouring himself a glass of beer.  “You look like you need to take a shit.”

Eren couldn’t help himself; he laughed.  “I’m just glad you didn’t ghost me.”

Levi’s fine black brows drew down in a frown.  “I would never do that.”

Eren’s eyes twinkled. “So you’d kill me but not ghost me?”

“No to both.  Well, unless you bludgeoned some little old lady …”

Eren laughed out loud and picked up his menu.  It was going to be a good night.

Levi was a tough nut to crack.  Eren, between bites of his steak, tried to find a common ground between the two of them.  Levi didn’t follow sports or popular television, he didn’t game, but he did like movies—made for TV movies included—and, oddly, historical fiction.  They spent the night talking about Kenneth Branagh’s Poirot as well as basic work stuff.

“Do you think Mobes will ever confess to Hange?”

Levi paused over his tilapia, considering.  “I don’t know.  He’s an incredibly brave man.  I mean back in our earlier days he was caught in firefights totally unarmed and protected us by driving the car, but I think he’s terrified of what Hange would think about his love.  It’s a tough one.”

“Krista and Ymir seem … close.”

“Yeah, wrapped around each other like two vines.  Y’know Krista is a surfer?  You should see her in a swimsuit.  Yow.”

Eren scowled.  “Gay here.  Remember?”

“Oh, sorry, I keep forgetting everyone isn’t bi like me.”

Eren stabbed aggressively at his steak.  “You’d fuck her?”

“Sure.  Who wouldn’t?  Or I should say what straight or bi or lesbian wouldn’t?”

They sat in uncomfortable silence as Eren stewed.

“I’m sorry, kid, I’m just telling the truth,” Levi said, waving his fork.  He was bothered and flattered at how badly Eren had taken that but didn’t know what to say to make it right.

“Would you fuck me?  Is that why you won’t date me?  I’m unfuckable?”

Levi set his fork down and sighed.  “Kid, in a different universe I’d be dicking you down in the back seat of that fancy car of yours right now.  Making you scream my name.”

Eren went red with pleasure and arousal.  “Then let’s do it, Levi, c’mon”

Levi picked his fork back up and poked at his fish.  “No.  I’m not going to treat you like that, like a hook-up.”

Eren felt like tearing his hair out.

They finished up their dinner amicably, Eren paid, and they walked toward the Jag in silence.

It was beastly hot out even this late and Levi unbuttoned the top two buttons of his shirt and fanned himself.

Suddenly Eren was pulling him toward himself, wrapping his arms around him, kissing him.

Levi stiffened but didn’t pull away.  It had been a long time, a

long

time since he’d kissed anyone.  Eren's mouth was soft and warm and wet and kissing him felt … good.  The long strands of his hair tickled Levi’s jaw.

Levi allowed himself a scant few seconds to just enjoy the contact then he backed up.

“The fuck, Eren?”

“Levi, Levi, please.  I like you so much.  Just give me a chance.”

Levi shook him gently then looked around to make sure they weren’t overheard.  “Eren we’re assassins!  We could—either of us—be killed any day.”

Eren searched Levi’s eyes.

Levi dropped his hands from Eren’s arms.  “I don’t want to fall for you then …” he swallowed thickly, “lose you.”

Eren’s heart just melted. “So you’re just not going to be happy?  Ever?”

Levi shook his head and turned away.

“We could die at any time, Levi.  Anyone could!  Heart attack, car accident, you never know!  At least if we were together we could have a little bit of happiness …”

“Come on, Kid, let’s go.” Levi sighed and put his hand on the handle of the car door.  Eren clenched his fists.

“Levi, I … I think love you.”

Levi began to turn sharply around, aghast, when a bullet obliterated the driver’s side mirror.  If Levi hadn’t moved that would have been in his back.

They both scrambled around the other side of the car and drew their guns.

“Where is that bastard?  Do you see him?”

Bullets plinked into the chassis of the car.  “My Jag!” Eren moaned.

Levi ran his fingers through his hair agitatedly.  “What is it with the near misses?  I'm getting gray hairs over this!”

Eren loosed a volley of shots from around the Jag’s bumper.  “I told you I missed you on purpose!”

“Tch!”

Levi hiked himself up over the fender just enough to see.  He dove back down a second later and bullets zinged overhead.  “That’s Onyankopon, I think, and some blond woman.”

“Great,” Eren said drily, “Another assassin.”

“I’m gonna try to get into the driver’s seat,” Levi said.

“It’s my car, I’ll do it.”

Levi was suddenly gripped with fear.  If he let Eren try to slide across the console and get behind the wheel he might get shot.  “No … let me.”

Eren set his jaw.  “I’ve got this.”

Levi nodded reluctantly and scrambled to the rear of the car to draw fire away from Eren.  He fired the rest of his magazine and heard more bullets hit the ground and the car.  He shoved in another magazine as Eren was wriggling his way over the seats to the driver’s side.

“Levi! All set!”

Levi ran, crouched, to the passenger side door and hauled himself in, slamming the door.  Eren peeled out like a teenager, the powerful, bullet-ridden Jaguar not hesitating one bit.
 
Eren drove a random circuitous route, crossing over his path, and doubling back.  When they were confident of not being followed, they headed for the office.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

“I’m pretty sure it was Onyankopon and a blond woman.”  Levi threw himself down on the couch beside Krista.

“You’ve never seen On.”

“Big, good-looking, black fella in a sharp suit?”

“That sounds like him,” Krista admitted, nodding.

Hange frowned.  “So who’s this blonde?”

Levi shrugged.  “She was tall, like really tall, and her hair was chopped off kinda.  About here.”  Levi made a cutting motion at his jawline.

“You noticed all that?” Krista asked.

“I’m an assassin.  I’ve got to notice everything.”

Krista nodded, clearly impressed, and Ymir scowled.

“All these years I’ve known you and I had no idea you noticed details like that.”

“I notice stuff too,” Ymir pouted.

Krista stroked her face soothingly.  “Of course you do sweetheart.  I’m just shocked that a

man

would.”

Ymir smirked at Levi.

“Okay, okay,” Hange snapped.  “Enough of this petty stuff.  How do we find Onyankopon and mystery blonde?”

“Set a trap?” Eren said.  “Use me as bait?”

“No,” Levi growled.

“That’s actually a good idea, Levi …”

“I said no!  You can use me as bait.”

“You’re not nearly as pretty as Eren,”  Hange said with a straight face.

“Oh, hah hah.  Eren is

not

risking his life.”

“I risk my life every day!”

“Back off, Kid.  If I could keep you from doing that I would.”

Eren blushed and smiled bashfully down at his toes, obviously pleased.
 
“We’ve got to lay low,” Hange said “These guys aren’t nearly as good as us but they are focused.  No more going out alone.  Krista no more surfing.”

Krista looked so bereft that Hange hastened to explain. “You out there alone surfing at dawn or dusk?  You’d be an easy target and everyone would think it was a shark or something.”

Krista scoffed at the shark idea but was moodily silent.

“I could go with her,” Ymir said.

“Every single time?” Levi said.

“So what if it was someone who favored a rifle like you do?  The beach is too wide open.  They could hide in the dunes or in a building across the street and kill the both of you,” Hange said.

Ymir went pale at that, her freckles standing out starkly.  She reached out her hand to Krista who took it immediately, squeezing reassuringly.

“I say we only go out in pairs for the forseeable future,” Levi said.  “I’ll go with Yeager.”

Eren grinned.

“So that’s me and Mobes, Krista and Ymir, you and Eren … what about Annie?”

“I can take care of myself.”

“I’ll stay with her,” Armin said suddenly.

Annie’s look of affection completely transformed her usually stoic face.  “I can’t let you do that.”

“Why not?” Armin demanded.  “I love you and I’m going to protect you!”

Everybody in the room stared.  Annie went red as a beet.  “You mean it?”

“I do,” Armin said.  You can move into my apartment with me.  I doubt they know where it is.”

“Yet,” Moblit said ominously.

Annie didn’t hear.  She was staring lovingly into Armin’s face and smiling a tiny smile.

Hange clapped her hands together, startling everyone.  “Well, that sounds like a plan! We’ll check in eve—”

Shots rang out and the mirror bolted to the wall over the side table exploded in a rain of glass shards.  Everyone hit the floor.

Hange fell onto their hands and knees behind the couch along with Moblit.  They both cowered as bullets embedded themselves into the wall above them.  Finally, the noise stopped and they heard a car squeal away.

“Jesus fuck that was close!”  Hange patted themself down as if to reassure themself that they hadn’t been shot.  “Am I okay?  I’m covered in glass!  Again!”

Moblit gripped her arms gently. “You’re okay, you're fine, just breathe.”

And then he kissed them.

The only two people who could see them were Levi and Eren, behind the desk, and they both froze and stared.  Levi’s mouth actually fell open.

It wasn’t a quick kiss

Moblit had obviously waited years for this and was not about to let it go quickly.
 
They finally separated and Hange seemed at a loss for words.  Levi had never, ever seen them at a loss for words.

“M-Moblit!”

“I’m so sorry!  I just got carried away!  I didn’t want you to be afrai—”

Hange launched themselves at him, tackling him to the floor and kissing his entire face.

Levi cleared his throat and the two of them broke apart.  Eren was grinning like a fool and even Levi had a small smile tugging at his lips.

“So … you were saying?”

“Smartass,” Hange said.
 
A bullet had parted Krista’s gorgeous blond hair almost right down the middle leaving a shallow bloody gash about four inches long.  No one else seemed to be hurt.

“Do you think they followed us?” Eren asked.

“Could be,” Levi said, “or they’ve been sitting on the information all this time.”

Krista was stoically sitting while Moblit tended to the cut on her head and Ymir fluttered around, obviously wanting to be useful but not knowing how.
 
Hange was still trying to get glass out of their hair.  “They weren’t trying to kill anyone here, they did this as intimidation,”  they said.

“And if one of us was shot all the better,“  Levi said grimly.
 
“We need to get out of here before the cops get here.  Everyone ready to go?”

Annie and Armin scooted off first followed by Krista, toting her laptop, and Ymir.  Levi was in the bedrooms packing as much of Moblit’s and Hange’s clothes and stuff as he could find.

Eren hurried into the room and handed him a tangle of cords. “Phone charger, etcetera.”

Levi grabbed them, “Which bag?”

“Hange.”

The person in question appeared at the doorway.  “Are we ready to go?  Cops should be here any second.  You two get out of here.”

Levi and Eren hurried out, Hange and Moblit’s bags over their shoulders and clattered down the steps.  A crowd of motel patrons were gathered around and ogling.  They slipped between them and headed for the Camaro, Levi limping badly trying to keep up.

Hange and Moblit, playacting being husband and wife, stayed to spin a story of innocence to the police.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

The Camaro cruised smoothly through the city’s streets.  “Shit,” Levi said, hitting the steering wheel. “I don’t want to go home.  What if they are following?  My uncle is completely unprotected.”

“I thought he was pretty tough for an old fart.”

“He’s fine if he’s attacked with bare hands or a knife.  But if he answers the door and someone has a gun …”

“I could get us a motel room …”

“Don’t do me any favors, asshole.  I have my own money.”

Eren subsided, clearly hurt.

Levi cut his eyes at him and reached over to pat his hand as it lay on his long thigh.  “Sorry.  I didn’t mean that.  I’m just tense.”

“I can think of something that will relax you.”  Eren grinned wolfishly.

“Jesus, you horndog.”  Levi turned a corner. “While it must confess that it’d be cathartic to fuck your ass into the mattress, we can’t think about that right now.”

Eren tossed his silky brown hair over his shoulder and smiled to himself.  It was apparent that he was thinking about exactly that.

Levi glanced in the rearview mirror, then looked again.  “Shit, fuck, and damn!  We’re being followed.”

Eren twisted around in his seat looking through the long sloping glass of the back window.  “Which one?”

“Green sedan, three cars back on the left.”

“Slow down a little.” He drew his gun. “I’ll see if I can hit them.”

“Oh hell no!  Sit back down and put your seatbelt on!  I refuse to get into a gunfight in my car!  No bullet holes!”

“So what are you going to do, big man?”

“Oh, I’ll show you how big I am,” Levi growled and spun the wheel.  The Camaro lurched into an alleyway and their pursuers drove past.  Slamming it Into reverse, he spun the wheel the opposite way.  They ended up screeching down the road going back the way they came.

Eren clung to the seat grinning like a school kid.  “That was fun!”

Levi gave him a look.  “You’re not taking this very seriously.”

“I am,” Eren said petulantly.

“See if you see them”

Eren looked.  “Nope.”

“Hah!  They assumed we went to the end of the alleyway.”

Levi darted onto a side road and opened the Camaro up.  The car gladly accelerated and soon they were going a hundred miles an hour down a road in between the tall

chain link fences of industrial sites, churning up twin plumes of dust and sand.

Several switchbacks later they were on a quiet residential street without a moving car in sight.

“We met in a neighborhood like this,” Eren said dreamily, “You remember?”

“Don’t get all nostalgic on me, Yeager.”  But his face had softened.  “Say, where is Georgie?”

“At a very expensive boarding facility.  He has his own cat tree for climbing and an outdoor run.”

“Lucky cat.  I know he misses you, though.”

Eren blinked rapidly and cleared his throat.  “So where are we going?”

“My place.  The Camaro is just too easy to spot.  If we tried a motel all they’d have to do is drive by to know where we were.”
 
They pulled up to the threadbare yard of the house and Levi drove the car behind it (blithely ignoring the fact that he was driving on the ‘lawn’.)

“Just in case?” Eren asked.

“Just in case.”

The back steps were wooden and rickety and looked like cheap mobile home steps.  “Careful this shit’ll give you splinters,” Levi warned.

Levi had to kick the bottom of the door to get it to open and they strode in.  The back door led directly to the tiny kitchen with its yellow linoleum whose pattern was so faded you had to look close to the wall to discern what it had been.  The kitchen was also painted yellow but the color did absolutely nothing to brighten up the dim room.  Standing in the open doorway of the fridge was a very tall, very skinny man who bore a resemblance to Levi; black hair, silvery grey eyes, sharp face.

“Comin’ in the back door are ya?  Somebody after ya?”

Levi grimaced at the perfect guess.

“Who’s yer pretty friend?”  Kenny asked, leaning on a counter and leering.

“This is Eren Yeager and he’s a colleague.”

Eren looked hurt.

“So you kill people for money too?”

“Yes, Sir.”

“Fuck, don’t call me Sir!  It’s just Kenny.”  Kenny stepped forward, into Eren’s space and ran a strand of his hair through his fingers.  He smelled of cigarettes and cheap beer.  “Nice hair.  I like it.”

“Knock it off Kenny and shut the damned fridge.”

Kenny retreated to the appliance and Eren smoothed his hair back self consciously.

“Beer?  Either of ya?”

“It’s like fucking eleven o’clock in the morning, you lush!”

“Yeah, yeah …”

“I’ll take one,” Eren said.  “It’s been an interesting morning.”

“So where are you?”

“We’re in the Sundown Motel on highway nine.”

“What did you do with the El Camino?”

“Took it to the house. Stowed it in the shed.  Mobes got us a rental car.”

“How are you and Mobes … uh, doing?”

“Oh, we’re fine. Convincing the police was easy peasy.”

“That’s not what I meant.”

There was a silence over the line and Levi had to look to see that they hadn’t disconnected the call.

“We’re talking …”

“About dirty stuff?”

“Levi!”

“Give the guy a break Hans!”

“We’re working stuff out but it’s hard, since he’s he/him and I’m they/them.”

“‘And never the twain shall meet?’  That’s bullshit.”

“We’re working it out.  Just leave it at that.”

“Fair enough.  When and where are we gonna meet?”

“I’m in touch with everyone else but I think we need to lay low for a while.”

“Agreed.”

Hange’s voice turned sly. “And speaking of relationships … what are you and gorgeous boy up to?”

“None of your business, pervert, but we’re here at my house.  I tucked the Camaro away behind the house and I’ll be taking the Buick if I go out.

“You don’t have a couch do you?”

“Nah, we broke it years ago, just chairs.  What does that have to do with anything?”

“There are only two bedrooms … where’s Eren gonna sleep?”

“Damnit, Hans!”

They cackled wildly and hung up and Levi shoved his phone back into his pocket with a curse.  “Stupid Hans …”

The three men spent the day getting along peaceably.  Eren stuck by Levi including sitting comfortably in the kitchen while Levi cooked.  The only ingredients that had were for Kenny’s ‘spaghetti’ so Levi had to be creative.  He made Cacio e Pepe—a quick and dirty version—with the spaghetti noodles and the parmesan cheese.

“This is amazing!” Eren said.

Kenny poked suspiciously at his.  “Aint got sauce,” he complained.

“It’s not supposed to have sauce.  It's spaghetti noodles, olive oil, cheese, and pepper,” Levi said, exasperated. “It’s good, eat it.”
 
After they ate, Eren sat in the living room while Levi cleaned.  “I wish I could do something.”

“You can do something by staying out of my way.  No offense but I’m a bit particular.”  He was washing the windows with vinegar and newspaper when Kenny snorted.  “A ‘bit’ … you’re a clean freak!”

“I could vacuum or something,” Eren persisted. Levi stopped cleaning the windows with a sigh.

“I’ve been in your house, Kid.”

Eren chewed his lip and kept quiet.

Kenny angrily punched at the buttons of the remote.  “Stinks of vinegar in here.”

“Oh shut up, Kenny.  If I didn’t clean that stove it would be a pile of sticky filth with four burners on top!”

Kenny waved his beer dismissively.  “Yeah, yeah …”
 
That evening Levi, satisfied that the tiny house was spotless, settled down in a chair with Kenny and Eren to watch one of Kenny’s world war two documentaries.

It wasn’t long before Eren was yawning.

“So where is lover boy sleepin’ eh?” Kenny asked, grinning.

“I would say he gets my bed while I share with you, but I might die in the night from all the belching and farting.  Also, I do NOT wanna know what’s on your sheets!”

Levi shuddered dramatically.  “He’ll stay with me.”

“I figured,” Kenny grunted with a grin.
 
By ten o’clock Kenny had toddled off to bed and Eren was dozing in his chair.  Levi stood and patted his shoulder gently.  “Come on asshole before you slide onto the floor.”  Eren woke enough to follow Levi blearily into his bedroom.

Levi made a quick stop at the dryer to get a clean t-shirt of Kenny’s—none of his would fit Eren.

Levi returned to Eren stood in the middle of the floor swaying dangerously as he almost dozed off again standing up.

“Here’ sit on the edge of the bed.”

Eren obeyed meekly. “Hold your arms up and let me get the shirt off of you.” Levi peeled off the shirt and replaced it with Kenny’s t-shirt and tried not to look at Eren’s lean, tan torso.

Getting a grip on himself he then moved to Eren’s trousers.  Unbuckling and unbuttoning he tried to get Eren to lift his hips up so he could get them off but he collapsed backward onto the bed, asleep.

“Stupid brat.”

Levi managed to wriggle his trousers off and woke him enough to lie correctly on the bed.

Levi lay on bed and looked at Eren’s shape next to him.  Broad shoulders, sharp hip.  Even a gentle snore.

Levi could get used to this.

He shifted uncomfortably in the bed, his cock at half-mast.  He could wake the kid up right now and probably would be welcomed into his arms.  The thought of railing this gorgeous creature wasn’t helping his erection subside.

He sighed and rolled over, facing away from Eren.

Why the hell couldn’t he just drop his desire for Eren?  It was dangerous in their profession.  If Eren were to get killed Levi would … well he would … he put a hand to his chest.  He would be devastated.

He sighed and closed his eyes, at least reassured that Eren was safe for now.

Levi awoke with in the almost suffocating wrapping of Eren.  The younger man—who was like a furnace—had both arms wrapped around Levi and his legs tangled in Levi’s, spooning him fiercely.

“What the fuck?”  Levi squirmed to get out from under his human blanket. “How can he cuddle and it this hot?”

Right at that moment—of course—the door to the bedroom crashed open.  Levi almost came off the bed he was so startled and alarmed.  Even Eren woke up.

“Wakey wakey!” Kenny cried, leering at the bed.  “Come on young lovers!  No more hanky panky!  There’s leftover Chinese for breakfast!”  He left the doorway, presumably heading for the kitchen.

Eren groaned.  “What the fuck?”

“Kenny,” Levi ground out.  “Apparently he thought we did it last night and was trying to catch us in the act this morning.”

Eren reached out his long arms and pulled Levi closer. “We could manage a little bit of morning sex, you know.”  He grinned and Levi gently put a hand on his face and pushed him away.

“In your dreams you perverted horndog.”

Eren squirmed in the bed, making it very hard for Levi to not look. “I did have some dirty dreams about you …”

Levi’s cock perked right up.

“See?  Li’l Levi wants to come out and play!”

Levi cursed under his breath and slid out of the bed, hurrying to the bathroom.
 
He turned on the shower and waited for it to heat up.  Once in under the stinging spray he took himself in hand starting a quick stroke.  He wanted that release, that orgasm, no teasing or delaying this time.  He

needed

it.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Levi was determined to stake out Onyankopon himself and to that purpose, he walked painfully out toward Kenny’s Buick.  He hadn’t gotten shot in the leg, yet it still hurt to walk.,  Apparently, the muscles of the hip had a lot to do with walking.  He limped along till he finally reached the car and tried the door.  It opened with a creak.  Kenny never locked his doors.  He slung the long black bag containing the rifle haphazardly onto the seat and eased in.

“What are you doing?”

Levi looked up to see Eren leaning on the car’s hood, big hands on either side of the ridiculous rearing horse hood ornament that Kenny had installed.

“Fuck.”

Eren came around to the driver’s side and leaned on the window sill.

“You’re supposed to be asleep,” Levi said.

“I don’t think I can sleep anymore without you there.”

Levi’s face heated up at that and he studied his hands on the steering wheel.  Eren gestured at the rifle bag.

“Who’s better with a rifle?  You or me?”

Levi scowled.  “You.”

“Then let me come with.”

Eren wasn’t demanding he go or just getting the car without permission, he was giving Levi an out, letting him decide.  Levi appreciated this more than Eren knew.

“Get the fuck in the car, dickhead.”

Eren grinned and ran around to the passenger's side.

They scoured the city and saw nothing.  Not knowing what their rivals’ car looked like was a distinct disadvantage.  They cruised by the motel where their office had been (that was festooned with caution tape,) the Aldi where they normally shopped, all the motels in town including the one where Hange and Moblit were staying.  Nothing.  They turned back toward the house, disappointed.

“Well, can’t say we didn’t try,” Levi said

Krista and Ymir were sitting on the dunes looking out at the ocean.  The waves murmured against the sand as if whispering some secret.  They cuddled close despite the warm night.  The breeze from the ocean helped.

“I don’t remember my mom at all.  I was put into the system when I was small,” Ymir was saying as Krista stroked her back.

“You don’t talk about your mom at all,” Ymir said, gently tucking a strand of golden hair behind Krista’s ear.

“She died when I … when I was young, too.”

Ymir’s brows drew together. “I’m so sorry sweetheart.  An accident?”

“A home invasion.  But considering a branch of my family is a notorious gang I wondered if it was actually a hit.”  Krista gathered up folds of her blouse in her fists and clearly fought back tears. “They … they cut her throat.  Right in front of me.”

“Oh, sweetheart!”

Krista raised her chin and looked determinedly at Ymir.  “That’s why I do this job.  To help erase all the bad guys I can!”

“I’m booooored!”

“Too bad, dickhead.  Hange said we’re lying low.”

“You didn’t lay low.  You went out searching for Onyankopon!”

“And just because I didn’t see anything doesn’t mean we’re safe.”

“We could at least go out to eat again.  Like a date.  At a nice quiet restaurant.”

“Yeager …”

“We could take my Jag.  It’s parked on a side street down from the motel where the office was.  They’d be looking for the Camaro.”
 
Levi cleaned the already clean house and washed every bit of fabric in it; his clothes, Eren’s clothes, Kenny’s clothes, the linens, the towels, even the curtains.

He was folding sheets when he sighed.

Eren was playing on his phone, back against the headboard of Levi’s bed, toes twitching on his bare feet because Levi had purloined his socks to wash them.

Eren paused his game.  “What is it?”

“I’m bored too.  I have nothing else to clean.”

Eren sat up eagerly.  “Then let’s go out!  I know this quiet seafood place—do you like seafood?”

“Love it.”

“This place would be perfect!”

“No more surprise kissing!” Levi said wagging his finger at Eren.

“I can’t promise anything with how hot you are.”

“Fine, I’ll dress like a bum so you won’t get a stiffy.”

They took the Buick to Eren’s Jag and after he had moaned over the bullet holes in it drove to the restaurant.  A valet parked the car and Eren and Levi went in.  It was casual so Levi, despite his threat, wore his standard and Eren was back in his khakis with a pink polo shirt.

“You look like a golfer,” Levi grumbled.  “I feel like I’m going to eat with a country club boy.”

Eren grinned and linked his arm in Levi’s (who shrugged him off immediately).

“Aww, you’re no fun!”  He took Levi by both shoulders and gently shook him.  “Loosen up a bit, you hardass!”

“That’s ‘badass’ to you, Yeager.”
 
The restaurant was indeed quiet.  There were a good number of people there but they were subdued, enjoying their seafood.  A far cry from some of the raucous south Florida restaurants that catered to the vacationing crowd.

Levi ordered the broiled flounder and Eren ordered the fried platter.

“You’re gonna get fat,” Levi said waving his fork.

“Nah, not yet.  My metabolism is top notch.”

“Tch.”

Eren leaned forward, fork in hand and tucked his fists under his chin.  It was a coy look and Levi found himself being charmed.

“So how are we finding Onyankopon and the blonde?”

Levi stabbed at his broccoli.  “Well, they have the advantage.  They know at least some of us by sight, know our cars.”  He shrugged.  “I suppose, as horrible a thought as it is, that we’ll have to wait for their move.  Let’s just hope none of us gets killed.”
 
The food was excellent and they had mixed drinks tonight, or Levi did.  Eren preferred Beer.  Levi was subtly trying to flag down their waiter to order another Captain Morgan’s and Coke while Eren chattered happily about how cute Georgie was as a kitten.

They had finished their food and the plates had been taken away when Levi asked the waiter to get the valet to bring the car around.
 
Levi was downing the last of his drink and Eren was fishing in his pocket for cash for a tip when there was a muted BOOM, powerful enough to ring the glassware against each other and make the cutlery jump.  There were several shrieks and a swelling babble of voices as everyone tried to determine what had happened.

Eren and Levi ran to the exit only to find that the windows in the foyer had been blown inward and the floor was littered with glass.  Bright oranges and yellows played over the reflective shards.  They burst out the door.  There was a car on fire in front of the restaurant.

It was Eren’s Jaguar.

“Christ!” Eren said.

“Car bomb,” Levi said coming up beside him.  He laid a hand on his shoulder.  “That was supposed to be us—or at least you.”

“Poor guy,” Eren moaned, talking about the car valet.

“We’ll just have to avenge him.  It’s war now,” Levi said grimly. “Was there any info to link you to the Jag?”

Eren was affronted. “No!  Of course not.”

Levi tugged on his sleeve.  “Let’s get out of here.  We’ll walk a few blocks over and catch a cab to the Buick.”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Levi purposely had the cab let them out a few neighborhoods over from the Buick.  He and Eren walked through the darkness quietly.  There were no street lights in the rural neighborhood.  Levi lit up a cigarette and listened to the frogs trilling in the swampy ditches and Eren.  Eren bitching.

“Why do we have to walk so far?  It’s hot.”

“Oh my god, you know why.  Do you want them to find the car or the house?  They could get in and kill all three of us in our sleep.”

“We already walked three blocks over and one down from the restaurant,” Eren whined.

“Stow it or I’ll make you sleep on the floor.”

Remembering that Levi had reluctantly agreed to share his bed perked Eren up a bit.

“What’s up with you and the heat, anyway?  At least the mosquitoes don’t bite you.”

“I’m from Pennsylvania, dude.  I’m not used to this constant heat.”

“Huh!  I wondered where you got that Yankee sounding accent.  I thought it was an affectation to make you seem more gangster-like.”

Eren shook his head then looked anxiously around.  “How do you know we won’t get eaten by an alligator?”

“We’re a good half a mile from any water.  They don’t just walk down streets.  Well, unless it’s close to the water they live in.”

Eren kicked at the road they were on. “You call this a street?  And don’t say ‘Yankee’, it’s derogatory.”

“Sorry, you’re right.  Old habits, etcetera. See, here’s the car.”
 
Levi parked in the front yard but circled cautiously around the house. They both entered stealthily.  Kenny was asleep and snoring like a chainsaw in his room.  Levi peeked in just to be sure and the man was sprawled out on the sheets, a pizza box next to him, uneaten crusts dotting the sheet.  Levi shuddered as he closed the door.  “Eating in bed again, slob,” he muttered.

Levi crossed to his bedroom and Eren was already sitting against the headboard toying with his phone.  Trying to look busy but actually waiting anxiously.

“Goin’ to take a shower,” Levi grunted.  “I’ll get up under the Camaro tomorrow and look for explosives.”
 
While Levi was showering, Eren stood up and nervously stripped down to his undershirt and his boxers.  He didn’t know why he was so shy all of a sudden.  They had slept in the same bed last night.  Eren chewed his lip.  It was just that he really really liked Levi and was thinking he was warming up to him, too.
 
Levi emerged in a cloud of steam from the bathroom wearing only a towel around his narrow waist.  Eren almost had a heart attack.  He had only seen Levi in the morning in his undershirt and boxers and from a distance at the YMCA pool.

He was absolutely beautiful.  All hard planes and sharp angles he didn’t have any fat on him.  His porcelain skin glowed, still damp from his shower, and his coal black hair fluffed up wildly from having been toweled.

Eren quickly got into bed and turned to face the wall while Levi was rummaging in his chest of drawers for clean clothes.  Eren bent his knees and clamped his legs together to hide his boner and pretended to be asleep.

The next morning Eren woke up alone.  He headed for the kitchen, scratching his head with one hand and his crotch with the other.  Kenny was in the kitchen looking as bleary as Eren felt.  Clearly, neither of them was a morning person.

“Coffee?” Kenny asked, waving a mug.

“Thank you!  Where’s Levi?”

“Out crawlin’ around under that car of his.  Maybe a speck of oil fell in the engine compartment.”  He cackled at his own wit.

Eren realized that Levi hadn’t told his uncle about them almost being killed by a car bomb.  He supposed Levi was protecting him in his own way.

Eren loaded sugar and milk into his coffee, noting that that was how Kenny apparently took his.

Levi came in the back door before Eren had taken a few gulps of coffee.  He raised his eyebrows and Levi shook his head.

After a tentative week of lying low Levi got so antsy, he called Hange.

“Hey, you, you holding up?” they asked.  “How’s gorgeous boy doing?  Have y’all done the horizontal mambo yet?”  Levi could hear the leer in their voice.

“Have you and Mobes?” Levi challenged.

“Maybe.  And who said it was horizontal?”

“Jezus Christ, you fiend.  So are we meeting soon?”

“Gotta find a secure place.  Our backlog of hits is getting ridiculous.”

“Good. I’m itching to work.  So when are we going to meet and where?”

“I say somewhere in public or deep deep privacy.  The only problem is that I can't figure out a place that would be super secret.”

“I vote super secret.” Levi told her about the car bomb.

“Fucking hell!  I’m glad you two are okay!  Poor Eren.  His jag got shot then blown up.  Make sure you check the Camaro.”

“Already done.” Levi lit a cigarette and squinted through the smoke. “Maybe one of those hole-in-the-wall seafood shacks out on the edge of the ‘glades?”

“Good idea.  I’ll start searching.”

The crew came back together in dribs and drabs on a Tuesday.  Annie opted out because Armin’s granddad was coming over but the rest showed up slowly.

The place was called Cole’s Crab Shack and served only local seafood.  If they hadn’t caught it, they didn’t have it.  A crooked hand-painted sign was the only way to identify the shack as a restaurant.

Eren stared in wonder at the run-down place.  It was almost literally a shack.  A one-story, one-room building with moss on the roof and built of cypress wood.  Due to the greying of the old wood the place blended in almost perfectly with its environment.  Like Hange’s house, half of the building stood on piers out over the swamp.  They had a small dock and several boats were tied up.  Hange told them that many of the customers arrived via boat which would explain the long dusty dirt road there looking unused.

Everybody hugged and back-slapped, glad to see all the others safe and sound.  There were only two other patrons there and both were at the bar so they commandeered two tables and ordered pitchers of beer.

There was no menu but the specials of the day were written on a chalkboard next to the tiny television over the bar.  Everybody ordered fish except for Moblit who didn’t care for it; he had the chicken.  They also ordered a huge platter of crab.
 
The crab came with two galvanized buckets for shells and such and newspaper to put down on the table.  Before they really got down to business they ate and drank and laughed and ate crab with their bare hands and generally enjoyed being back together.

Eren was sucking crab juice off of his fingers when Levi handed him a napkin.  The whole finger-sucking thing wasn’t doing Levi’s dick any good.  He was at once horrified (he had used his napkin throughout) and very aroused.

“Use your napkin, you slob.”

Eren responded by pulling his index finger slowly out of his mouth while looking at Levi from under his lashes.

Levi punched him in the arm and crossed his legs.  Eren laughed.

Everyone finally got full enough to talk and they crossed their arms on the table or leaned back to give their bellies some room.  Krista and Ymir continued to feed each other bites of fish but everyone ignored them.

“So I’ve got a huge list of hits that need doing.  Is everyone okay with coming back to work?”

“How will we meet up to get the assignments and get paid?” Levi asked.

“You could always meet here.” Moblit said. “One at a time should be safe.”

“Or I could get us a motel room at another motel from the one Mobes and I are staying in and leave it empty,” Hange said.  “Just use it for meet-ups”

“We could do both,” Eren said. “Alternate—but not evenly—to throw anyone off.”

“Good idea, Pretty Boy!” hange said.  Eren beamed and Levi rolled his eyes.

Hange handed out the assignments she had—approximately three each—and with the admonition to ‘be careful out there!’ agreed to meet again in a week at the crab shack to do payouts.

As the night wore on, everybody got pleasantly drunk and Hange, Levi, and Moblit retired to the bar.  Krista, Eren, and Ymir moved to a clean table
 
“I miss it. Surfing.  I’ve been doing it my whole life, ever since I was big enough to stand up on the board in front of my dad.”

Eren played with the long strands of his hair that had come down from his bun. “Do you regret getting caught up with … with this crowd?”

Krista pursed her lips, clearly thinking.

“No.  No, not at all.  They are my family.  And I never would have met Ymir if I hadn’t signed on.”

“You really love her, don’t you?”

Krista blushed and nodded.  “Do you love Levi?”

Eren glanced at the bar, pressed his lips into a thin line and tried to hold back tears. “More than anything.”
 
As they left, Hange paid the bill, Mr. Cole very happy to meet a big spender.  Hange waved two twenties at him. “You never saw us.”

As they walked out Levi muttered to his best friend, “What was that?  You sounded like a character in an old black and white gangster film!”

“I’d look good in the hat,” Hange said.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Levi wiped off his knife with a moue of disgust.  It had been a messy hit.  He had startled the man on the toilet and had fired two silenced shots into the bathroom intending to take him out quickly.  But the guy—a wiry, athletic sort—had hit the floor, bare ass and all, and Levi had only hit him in the shoulder.

Five seconds later the man was tackling Levi to the floor.  He did the only thing he could think of; he drew his knife.

Levi had two knives, a basic switchblad and a stilletto (that he’d used on the senator).  He only took the stilletto out if he was planning on using it.  He had the switchbalde with him at all times.  Kenny had taught him that much.

The mark was in excellent shape and that proved to be a problem.  He wasn’t as strong as Levi but it was almost impossible to get his knife into play with the guy all over him.  In the end he climbed on the fucker’s back and cut his throat.

Levi hated this sort of kill.  It was complicated and messy.  Levi hated messy.  As it was he had to spend precious minutes washing his hands and arms in the bathroom sink before he could slip out.
 
Levi met with Eren at the food trucks in front of a large federal building.

“How was your day?  Mine went well—easy peasy!”

Levi grumbled under his breath and didn’t reply.

“That bad?  I’m sorry.”

“Ahh, it’s not a big deal I just feel like I’m covered in blood.”  He related his last kill.

“Shit, I’m sorry!” Eren stroked his back.  “Let’s get food and get home so we can bathe.”

As they drove home in the Buick Levi picked at his sleeves.  “Got blood on them.  I’ll never get this out.”
 
When they arrived at home Kenny immediately came out bitching. “Did it occur to you two that I needed my car?”  He heaved himself in the driver’s seat after they got out still muttering to himself. “Better not have fucked on my upholstery.”

Levi put the shower on stingingly hot as he liked it.  He didn’t hear the door silently open or Eren’s cautious footsteps.
 
Eren, who was impervious to the sun and ran hot, didn’t mind the scalding water a bit.  Without a word he stepped, naked, into the shower with Levi.

“What the fuck, dickhead?!  I’m trying to bathe here!”

Eren snagged the pristine white washcloth.  “And I’m going to help you.”

Eren began running the washcloth slowly down Levi’s arms.  “Where did the blood get?” he murmured.

“Jesus, you fuck, you …”  But Eren’s gentle ministrations felt good.  “You need to get out this … second …” Levi’s tilted his head back as Eren washed his throat.

“I’m serious …” Levi said, faintly.

Eren ignored him and gently scrubbed his jaw where tiny flecks of blood had landed.  “There’s some behind your ear.”

Levi obediently tilted his head and Eren cleaned behind his ear then switched to the other one.

“Eren.”

Eren looked up at him, blinking in the spray from the shower.  Levi pointed downward.

Both of them had hard-ons.

Eren blushed. “You wanna do it?”

“Ya think?”

Eren grinned momentarily then got serious.  “Don’t do it if you don’t want to.  Only if you want to, okay?”

Levi threaded his fingers into Eren’s long, wet hair and drew him down for a kiss.  Eren moaned and caressed Levi’s cock, eliciting a hiss of pleasure.

“Fuck don’t do that.  I can only get so hard.”

“D’you have some lube?”

“Drawer next to the sink.  Silicone based.  Won’t wash away in the shower.”

“Somebody’s prepared,”  Eren snickered.

He rummaged in the drawer and came up with the lube.

Levi kissed and sucked along Eren’a throat, his collar bones, his torso.

Eren gasped.  “Oh, god!  That feels so good.”

“What about a condom?  I have some in my bedside table somewhere.”

“I’m clean,” Eren said  “Are you?”

“Yeah, but do you want to risk it?  I might be lying.”

Eren smiled sweetly “You’d never lie to me.  What would Georgie think?”

Levi curse under his breath and palmed his hard cock while Eren took his sweet time spreading the lube.

“C’mon, c’mon hurry up.  I wanna fuck that ass.”

“This ass?” Eren asked innocently, turning around, spreading his cheeks and stroking his lubed up hole.

“Jesus fucking Christ, Kid!  C’mere!”

Levi grabbed Eren’s hips and Eren gasped as he left fingermark bruises.

“Fucking, yeah.  You ready?”

Eren spread his long legs as much as the tub would allow but Levi still had to get up on his tip-toes.  He stroked the head of his cock up and down Eren’s crack, spreading lube.

“Oh, Levi please get on with it!  I’ve waited so long.”

“Patience, Yeager.”

Levi gently inserted two fingers deep into Eren’s ass and rotated his wrist, brushing his prostate.

“Yes, god yes! But I want your coooock,” Eren whined.

“Here you go, you gorgeous thing, have some of my fat cock.”  Levi pulled his fingers out and positioning his cockhead, pushed hard, breaching Eren’s ass and shoving a few inches in.

“Oh, god!  Oh, god!  That feels amazing!  Go slow!”

“But you said you wanted my cock,” Levi cooed, working another inch in.

Eren keened and lifted one foot onto the edge of the tub, opening himself up.  He dropped his head and panted.  “Please yes.  Please fuck me.”

Levi stroked Eren’s back and sides and then pushed, gently this time, until his whole cock was in and he was balls deep.

“You okay?  Does that hurt?”

“A little but it also feels incredible.  Please move.”

Levi very carefully started up a slow rhythm, just half of his cock in action until Eren whined for more then—finally—he could get to fucking like he wanted.

For several minutes the only sound in the room was the hiss of the shower and Levi's hips hitting Eren’s ass.  Both men were trying to stay quiet in case Kenny returned.

“Fuck, Kid I’m close!”

“Me too.  Come inside me Big Man!”

“Gonna come, gonna come …

uhhhn

!”

Levi took a moment to recover then reached around to Eren’s long cock, stroking tip to balls.

“L-Levi faster.”

Levi pressed his face into Eren’s back and kissed across his shoulder blades, slowly slowly increasing his speed.  Soon his hand was flying and the delicious ‘schlick’ of lubed skin was hypnotic.

“Levi!  Levi!  Like that!  Just like that!  Ahhhhh!

Aaah

!”
 
Spent and clean they both got in Levi’s bed and cuddled until they fell asleep.  Eren always threw the covers back and Levi used him as his personal heated blanket.

Around midnight Eren slipped under the covers and took Levi’s cock into his mouth and another bout of fucking happened.

Eren put his coffee cup on the bedside table after gingerly walking into the room.

“You okay?”

“I’m just sore.  I had no idea your cock was so thick!”

“Oh, so the little guy is supposed to have a tiny cock?”

Eren flopped onto the bed.  “You know I don’t mean it like that.”

Levi pushed a long strand of Eren’s hair out of his eyes. “We shouldn’t have done it twice.  I’ll bet your asshole hurts like hell.”

Eren rolled over like a cat onto his back and looked at Levi upside down.  “Maybe I’m a masochist.  Or maybe I’m already hooked on your gorgeous dick.”

“Weirdo either way.”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Levi and Eren jogged up to the second floor of the new hotel and walked down the walkway searching for the right room number.

“Here it is.”

Levi went in without knocking as was his normal routine and he and Eren found Hange and Moblit on the couch in a lip lock, tangled up together like two slugs.  Hange quickly took their hand off of Moblit’s crotch and cleared their throat, sitting up.

“So you found the place!”

Levi and Eren, who were politely looking any way but at Hange, both nodded.

Hange lept off the couch as if nothing had happened and walked to the dresser at the foot of the beds, pulled out a drawer and retrieved the battered cash box.  Krista’s laptop was installed on top of the dresser and a hard chair had been pulled up to it.

“Sucky conditions for Krista,” Levi said.

“True,” Hange acknowledged.  “We couldn’t get a suite so …small, small, small!  Krista’s a trooper, though.”  They began counting twenties into two stacks.
 
Eren elbowed Levi when Hange’s back was turned and tilted his head toward the beds.  Only one had been slept in.  Eren grinned and Levi rolled his eyes.

Hange was extracting stacks of cash and comparing them to her paperwork (some hits paid better than others), and chattering away.

Moblit, slightly pink-faced, noticed Eren’s interest in the beds and hurried to make the rumpled one.

“Here we go!” Hange sang, “A stack for you and a stack for you!”

“Hey!  Why’s his stack bigger than mine?” Eren said.

Hange placed one hand on his arm and said, with a completely straight face, “some guy’s stacks are bigger than others, Eren,” and cut her eyes toward Moblit.

Levi snorted out a laugh and Moblit went completely red.

“You know what I mean!”

“Seriously, I have to see how you handle yourself on kills before I give you any of the high-powered stuff.  For the record, you’re doing great!  As a matter of fact, here are some more ‘clients’ for the both of you.” She handed over several plain manilla folders.  “One of those is a double.  Kidnapper brothers; the Petroskis.  Have fun!”

Eren seemed thrilled to be working with Levi and Hange grinned.

“So what about you two?” Hange said.  “What’s it like living with Kenny?”

Eren chewed the inside of his cheek.  “Eye-opening.”

“I’ll bet.  So what’s it like sleeping with this crabby little man?”

“Hey!”

Hange kissed Levi’s cheek.  “You know I love you.”

But Eren had gone as pink as Moblit.  He scuffed at the cheap rug with the toe of his bespoke leather shoe.

“Oh, ho?!  Oh, ho, ho, ho! Somebody’s been doing the no-pants dance!  Knocking boots!  Making the beast with two backs!”

Levi snatched the manilla folders, did an about-turn, and walked calmly out the door.  Eren followed him after a confused second.

“Give my love to Kenny!  Don’t do anything I wouldn't do!” Hange yelled as the door closed.

“So, do

all

the things,” Levi muttered, jogging down the stairs into the sweltering day.

Levi and Eren got a rare assignment that required both of them.  Two brothers into kidnapping and forced prostitution.  Not only did they have to kill the brothers, they got a hefty bonus if they found the girls and got them out.

Eren had paused at the sheer number of kills that they did per day.  Working for a specific gang had had him assassinating fairly often but not one a day.  He asked Levi about it.

“Well, we draw jobs from the Reisses, the Stockmans. Gangs in the city like the Black Bandanas and the Loyal Oath Boys plus twenty or twentyfive small gangs.  We also get requests from desperate parents and wives to avenge a terrible death.  We even get anonymous tips from the police force.”

“That’s a lot.  The police contact you?”

“Anonymous detectives and officers.  They know we research our hits and only kill really bad guys.”  Levi shrugged and browsed through one of his manilla folders.  “A guilty man is a guilty man alive or dead.  We guarantee there's no extra paperwork, no trial, no delay, no prison.”

“That sounds so cold.”

“You sell drugs to school kids or kidnap little girls for prostitution you deserve to die.” Levi said darkly.  “We got one guy for dog fighting.  I shot that fucker in the head myself and let the animal control officers in.  You should have seen those dogs.  In a way they reminded me of the trafficked kids.  The look in their eyes said ‘why would you do this to me?’”

Levi shuddered then and Eren rubbed his arm soothingly.

“That just seems like a lot.”

Levi tucked his folders under his arm and unlocked the rental car.  “Miami-Dade has over 2.6 million people.  Surely some of them deserve to die.”

“That was a very assassin thing to say.”

Levi looked up at him, smirking.  “Thank you.”

Levi ducked into the Ford Fusion that they had rented and Eren folded himself into the passenger seat.

“Ugh!”

“That’s what you get for having those legs for days, giraffe boy.”

Eren leaned into Levi's space and stroked his cheek.  “You love my legs.”

“I love them wrapped around my hips as I pound you into the mattress,”  Levi growled.

“Oh my god, let’s go back to the house and do it before we do the jobs!”

Levi toyed with a strand of Eren’s chocolate-colored hair.  “Patience!  Good things come to those who wait.  Aren’t you still sore?”

Eren huffed in annoyance and sat back in the seat, arms crossed.

“Put on your seatbelt.”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Eren and Levi lay on a rooftop dressed all in black.  It was noon on a sunny day so that was an excruciating choice.  Levi plied the powerful binoculars he carried.

“Do we even know they’re in there?”

“Patience,” Eren said with a smirk.

“You know I will fuck your ass right over this wall and  you’ll have to try to keep quiet so the passers-by don’t see!”

“Hah!  I’ll be as loud as I want and scream your name so they know who’s doing the fucking!”

“Shitty kid.”

“Crabby old man.”

“I can’t help you’re so gorgeous.”

“I can’t help that your dick is so amazing.”

A tiny smile tugged at the corners of Levi’s mouth and he leaned in to kiss Eren who responded eagerly.  They broke apart gasping.

“This would make an amazing Netflix Original,” Eren said.

Levi huffed out a laugh and passed the binoculars to him.

“I got ‘em.  One of them anyway,” Eren said, binocs pressed to his eyes.

“Just one?  They always go eat lunch together.  That’s what the info sheet said.”

“Wait … wait … here’s the other guy.  Double-check that these are our dudes.” He handed the binoculars to Levi.

Levi had a look.  “Yep, those are our guys.  Tattoos match.  I’ll take the tall one.”

“Show off.”

Levi grabbed the back of his head and took him down into another sizzling kiss.

“Oh, I’ll show off.  I’ll show off with my mouth around your dick.”

Eren, pleased and flattered, smiled happily.
 
As soon as the two marks were gone Eren and Levi made their way across the street.  Eren wore his balaclava but Levi preferred to look innocent if seen.  The neighborhood was old and run down, full of crime, drugs, and poverty so the chances of anyone getting suspicious were slim.  They each went around one side of the house and met at the back door.  Eren hefted the big padlock that was on the door, raising his eyebrows at Levi.

“There’s one on the front door, too.”

“Window,” Levi grunted.

Apparently, the burglars in the neighborhood were particularly lazy because the windows were not secured by more than the locks they came with.

“Break one?” Eren asked.

“Wait … c’mere.”

Eren came.  At the side of the house sticking out of what would be the basement were brick-lined wells to allow air and sunlight into the basement windows that were basically underground.  One of those windows was open.  Levi dropped down into the shallow well and tried to raise the window some more—it was currently open about a foot—but someone had driven nails into the frame to keep the window from opening all the way.

“We could try shooting one of the locks,” Eren said.

“No.  I think I can fit in there.”

Levi wasn’t a big man but he was solid.  Eren doubted he could get his broad shoulders through the opening.  “Please don’t get stuck!”

Levi huffed at that and began to slither into the window, feet first.

About halfway in he heard a rustle from inside the room and he froze.  Since he was coming in backwards he couldn’t look.  It didn’t repeat itself.  Rats, maybe?  He kept wriggling through.
 
As Eren could have predicted, Levi’s narrow hips passed through the opening just fine but he had trouble with his broad chest and wide shoulders.  He squirmed for a bit while Eren anxiously kept watch, then finally popped through.

He fell about two feet onto a hard cement floor, jumping quickly up in case of rats.  He paused a minute heel of his hand pressed to the muscle in his hip where the bullet had gone.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m good.  Hip is hurting me.  I’ll go upstairs and open a window for you.  Jesus, so that’s what it was like being born.”

Levi assessed the room.  It was plain, square, with one door leading out and the rickety wooden staircase leading upstairs.  The walls were unfinished wallboard and the floor was slightly damp.  Mold grew up the corners of the room.  He heard a small noise and another rustle.  It came from the adjoining room, which was pitch black.  He drew his gun.

Splaying himself out flat against the wall he inched towards the opening, fumbling in his trousers for his cigarette lighter.  Clicking the flame on he held it as far from his body as possible to fool a potential shooter and stepped into the darkness.

There was a scream and Levi jumped and almost shot out of instinct.

People.  The tiny room was full of people.  Levi swept his lighter around counting roughly.  About eight souls all women and girls.  They all cowered on two of the bare mattresses around the walls, eyes round and blinking at the glare from the flame, staring fearfully at him.

“Fuck,” Levi whispered, slowly lowering his gun.

He hastened over to the window and told an increasingly nervous Eren what he had found.

“I’m going upstairs to open a window now.”

He hurried to the steps to the upstairs and paused on the first step.  “You ladies just sit tight.  You’ll be free soon.”  A low murmur ran through them.

He jogged up the splintery steps and tried the door.  It was locked of course, probably with a padlock on the outside.  Levi backed down two steps and fired his silenced gun at the door lock.  It disintegrated leaving the suspected padlock holding the door closed.  Levi took aim a bit higher and put a bullet in right where the hasp would be for the lock.  The door swung open.
 
Ignoring the wretched state of the house—pizza boxes, take-out containers, half-empty glasses, beer bottles—and tamping down the desire to tidy up, he hurried to the window where Eren was, flipped the lock, and drew it up.  Eren quickly heaved himself in.  “We’re running behind schedule.”

“I know, I know, we’re gonna have to position ourselves one at the front door and one at the back.  If they get into the kitchen and see where I shot the lock out of the basement door …”
 
“Which do you want?”

“I’ll take the kitchen,” Levi said.  Eren nodded, the perfect fall of his hair swayed back and forth, shiny and gorgeous.

“You’re too pretty to be an assassin,” Levi said.

“I could say the same about you.” He bent and kissed Levi warmly.
 
Turns out the Petroski brothers made the job that much easier.  They split up.  One coming in the back door and one in the front—presumably for security purposes.

Levi, hiding between the refrigerator and the wall simply stepped out and shot his mark point blank.  The other brother must have heard the sound of the gun even though it was silenced and tried to make it out the door when Eren stepped out of the living room closet and shot him in the back as he was halfway down the steps

Eren was hauling the body up the steps by its ankles when Levi appeared.

“God damnit, that blood streak could be seen from the road.”

“Sorry.  He was a fast bastard.  What do we do?”

“You go into the basement and get those girls and I’ll take care of it.”
 
Levi would have preferred to use the hose but him doing things in the yard might attract attention so he made do with filling a large stock pot up with water and sluicing over the steps.  He used a broom to push the bloody water off the steps.

The end result wasn’t pretty but It didn’t look like a huge bloodstain.

The women all stood together in the kitchen and trembled like frightened animals.  They were dirty and disheveled.  Each wore a cheap cotton dress or an oversized t-shirt and their skinny legs and feet were bare.  One girl, no more than thirteen or fourteen spotted the man that Levi had shot and screamed and Levi had to slap his hand over her mouth.

She surrendered limply and Levi gently let her go.

“Hush,  You’re not in danger anymore.  We’ll call the police.”

One woman, in a weak show of defiance, asked, “What do we have to do in return?”  Obviously, she had been a firecracker in her early life but she was almost broken now.  She reminded Eren of his own sister so much that he was filled with rage.  He wanted to revive the two men and kill them again.

“You don’t owe us anything,” he said fiercely.

Levi looked around the women, wanting to be sure they understood. “We’ll call in an anonymous tip—say we heard gunshots.  You ladies stay put just a bit longer.”

Eren got his phone out and dialed 911.

“Do you know what to say when they get here?”

They all shook their heads.

“Tell them everything and I mean everything.  They’ll take care of you.”

Eren pocketed his phone.  “Told them that I’d heard multiple gunshots and screams.  They’re on their way.”

“I’m sorry you have to sit in here with two dead bodies,” Eren said.

“What … what do we tell them about you?”  It was the boldest of the women, the black-haired one that reminded Eren of his sister.

“Tell them the truth except for what we look like.”

The thin faint wail of a siren could be heard and Eren patted Levi’s arm.  “They’re almost here”

“Let’s go.” He turned to the women. “Remember tell them everything; how you got here, how long you’ve been here, what was done to you.  Just don’t describe us.  Okay?”

They all nodded and Eren and Levi slipped out the window, pulling the sash down closed.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Eren and Levi got something to eat (Eren got the messiest stuffed burrito that Levi had ever witnessed and Levi got a turkey wrap) and were headed in the rental car back to Levi’s and Kenny’s place.  They’d do the other two hits tomorrow.

Eren had his phone in his face as usual and Levi was just basking in the knowledge that they’d helped all those women.  It was only four in the afternoon and the whole world seemed to be sweltering.  Heat radiated up off the blacktop making things look like a mirage.  Levi suddenly wished he was back at Hange’s family home with its canopy of live oaks and cypress trees draped in Spanish moss that kept the house fairly cool.

He wondered peevishly when they’d be able to get back to normal and have their get-togethers there again.  It would be nice for him to be there with Eren as his … as his what?  Lover?  Boyfriend?  He didn’t know.  He looked fondly over at Eren who smiled.

“Did you know that Guinea pigs aren't from Guinea and aren’t pigs?  Those lying little bastards.”

Levi coughed a laugh and shook his head.  Could he have this beautiful weirdo as his boyfriend?

Levi’s phone vibrated and he ignored it.  He never texted or talked while driving.  The vibrating stopped and they continued on in silence.

It buzzed again.

“Is that your phone?’ Eren asked.  “Someone really wants to talk to you.”

It happened again.  The call dropped and the phone buzzed a third time.  Cursing, Levi pulled off the road and fished his phone out of his pocket.

Hange

.

Hange never called them while they were on a hit.  Either the phones where silenced or the buzzing of the phone might alert a mark.  The phone vibrated a fourth time and Levi answered it.  “Hans?  Is everything oka—?”

“Armin’s grandfather has been killed.  It looks like a professional hit though it was made to look like an accident.”

“Shit!”

“What is it?” Eren asked anxiously.

Levi waved him off.  “Meet at the motel?”

“Yep.  See you there.”

Levi stamped on the gas of the rental car and careened back out into traffic, heading for the motel.  He glanced soberly at Eren.  “Armin’s Grandfather was hit.”

“The fuck?!  Is he dead?”

“Unfortunately yes.”

“Poor Armin!”

“We’re all going to meet at the motel and try to come up with a plan.  This is getting shittier and shittier.”

Levi stepped viciously on the accelerator putting the little Ford Fusion in the wind.
 
Eren and Levi pulled into the motel parking lot and warily scoped the place out for any danger.  Levi didn’t recognize any of the cars in the parking lot and so figured that everyone had gotten a rental. They both got out and took another look around, keeping their hands on the butts of their guns.  Eren even squinted up at the rooftops looking for snipers.  Everything looked clear.  They made their way up the steps and knocked on the door this time.  Levi never took his hand off of his gun.  You just never know.

Hange’s voice sounded on the other side of the door.

“Who is it?”

“Levi and Eren.”

The door cracked open and Hange stepped back.

Everybody was there looking drawn and pale.  Annie was noticeably missing.  Moblit was handing out coffee and the muffins from that morning.  Most refused the food with a quiet ‘thank you’ but took Mobe’s famously strong coffee.  Only he and Levi made it that way and it would ‘put hair on your chest’ as Hange said.
 
“We have to go on the offensive!” Ymir said pounding the coffee table with one fist.

“Except we know nothing about our targets; not even their full names.”

Levi pursed his lips, staring at the floor.

“Well we could—” Ymir began.

Levi held one hand up.  “What if we sit tight and let them come to us?”

“Dangerous as fuck,” Hange warned.

“That would work though,” Eren said eagerly. “That’s what I did with Levi.”
 
“So where do we hole up?  Here?” Hange asked.

“Well, they seem to have a bead on us,” Levi said.

“So where would we ‘hole up’ as you say?” Krista asked.

“I could get a suite in another motel,” Hange said  “Throw them for a loop for a bit until we get settled in.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Levi said.

“What about Annie?” Ymir asked.

“Annie and Armin have decided to stay together and they’ve gone into deep hiding.” Hange said.  “Even I don’t know where they are.  We’re only communicating by phone.”
 
Their setup at the new motel was a lot like camping.  The suite was plain, beige and white, kitchenette, two bedrooms, beige couch, white plastic chairs.  Each of the bedrooms had a double bed a dresser and a television.  They would have to share the single bathroom and shower amongst the six of them.

Ymir, who really did camp, brought a thick pad and a sleeping bag.

There was an immediate argument over who would sleep where.  Krista suggested Hange and Moblit take one bedroom and that Levi and Eren take the other and leave the couch and the sleeping bag for her and Ymir.  Both Levi and Eren refused to do this, insisting that they take the couch and the sleeping bag.

“Besides, I’m young,” Eren said.  “You old fogeys would get all stiff and sore and crotchety if you tried to sleep out here.”

“Hey!” Krista cried.  “I’m your age!”

“And in better shape,” Ymir said, smirking.

Eren threw a muffin at her head and she ducked. “And you call yourself an assassin!”

“Christ, Yeager!” Levi said and lept up hurrying to pick up the muffin and dust the crumbs up into his hand.  “Stop making a mess, you slob!”

There were openings on the ground floor of the motel that allowed people to take a shortcut through from the front to the back and vice versa of the hotel.  They resembled square shaped tunnels under the second floor and were short but echoey concrete things.  The drink machines had been put in them on one side and they were well lit.  Levi and Hange went there to smoke as standing on the balcony in plain sight would be too risky.
 
There was a weak tropical storm passing through and the clouds had lowered the temperature slightly and cast the area into shades of grey.  Rain pattered occasionally down tapping on the tin overhang over the upper walkway.  Levi, Eren, and Hange walked separately toward the vending machines.  Eren and Levi had the hoods of their hoodies up and walked together.  Hange followed a few minutes after.

In the tunnel Levi dropped his hood and relaxed against the wall, one foot up on it behind him, knee cocked.  He lit a cigarette as Eren got a Pepsi out of the machine.

“You’d think it would be cooler with the storms and the cloud cover,” Eren said petulantly, picking at the sleeves of his hoodie.  If they didn’t need the stealth factor he’d have been out of the thing long ago.

Levi glanced right as a car came by in the back parking lot but it never slowed and was leaving anyway.

“You’d think,” he said. “Now it’s just humid and hot.”

“I feel like I’m in a swamp.”

“Yeager you

are

in a swamp.  This is south Florida.  We’re right on the edge of the ‘glades”

“Well it’s swampy!” Eren said and leaned one shoulder on the wall and sipped his drink.

“What’s swampy?”

Both men jumped. Hange had, in their own inimitable way, snuck right up on them.  She was the best assassin in the business for a reason.  She lit a cigarette and inhaled deeply, exhaling with a sigh. “Ahhh, I needed that.  D’you like this cool weather, pretty boy?”

“Cool?!  I’m dying!”

“He says it’s swampy,” Levi said from around his cigarette.

“Definitely not a southern boy.  Where are you from anyway?”

“A little town in Pennsylvania.”

“Amish?”

“Presbyterian.”

Hange took another drag on their cig, squinting in the smoke. “I pictured horses and buggies.”

“Oh, there was an Amish neighborhood.  It wasn’t unusual to see a horse and buggy pulled up in front of the hardware store.”

“Huh.”

“Maybe we should drive up there to hide like in that movie with Harrison Ford,” Levi said dryly.

“

Witness.

” Eren said.

“You just want to fuck Kelly McGillis,” Hange said.  Eren frowned thunderously.

“She looked good in that movie,” Levi said, shrugging.

“Are we gonna talk about a plan, or what?” Eren snapped.

“Keep your hair on, Yeager.”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

“First off, how are they finding us?”

“I’m convinced that they’re following one or more of us.”

“I disagree,” Eren said. “The Stockmans have minions and goons everywhere.  Just regular street people or people who are addicted to their drugs that they pay to watch places.  There are too many of us in this small town.  If they’ve found out what we look like—Onyankopon saw most of you at the Aldi—they can take us out.  Or in the case of Armin; his loved one.  Maybe we need to move into Miami.”

Hange mulled this over while Levi lit another cigarette.  He had carefully put out the other butt and wrapped it in a tissue and put it in his hoodie pocket to dispose of later.

“Too awkward.  All of us live here.  Sawee is almost literally a suburb of Miami.  If we have to start driving forty five minutes to get to each other, not counting what we drive to get our marks it just wouldn’t be worth it.”

“That or rent an apartment or a house in the city,” Levi said.

“Expensive.” Hangie chewed on a fingernail.

“Do you think …” Eren smoothed his long hair back nervously. “Do you think we’ve got a mole?”

“If we did, it would most likely be you or Armin and if I’m not mistaken you and Armin have a trusted member of the business on top of you all the time,” Hange said. “Pun intended.”

Levi ignored them but Eren threw them a look and they giggled.

“So stay put and just assume we’re being watched?” Levi asked.

“Like sitting ducks,” Eren said grimly.

“No,” Hange said.  “Like a fortress we’re protecting.  We can even set up watches to keep an eye out for prowlers in the night.”

Krista, Moblit, and Ymir all went out separately and at different times to three different stores for supplies.  They were back quickly and Moblit set to making dinner.

Levi peered around his arm. “Where did you get the pots and pans?”

“They’re mine.  I carry them with me.  I’ve got a stock pot, a good skillet, a baking sheet, and a pyrex casserole dish.”

“Mobile chef.”

“Hardly a chef,” Moblit said but Levi could tell he was pleased.

“So what’s for dinner?  Can I help do anything?” Eren asked.

“Nothing much to do.  I’m making Gullah red rice.”

“Another delicacy from Levi’s neck of the woods,” Hange interjected.

Levi rubbed his palms together.

“It’s a take on Jollof rice from Nigeria.  The recipe was brought over by slaves and slowly evolved.  For example, Jollof rice often uses goat but I use smoked sausage.”

“Thank goodness,” Levi said, “I can’t imagine trying to clean up goat blood.”

“I dunno, maybe a bloody goat head would deter our assassin friends,” Hange said with a grin.

“You are a sick puppy, four-eyes.”

Levi waved his fork. “So are we still doing jobs or are we sitting tight, tight?

“I think we should do jobs,” Eren said.  “Levi’s so antsy it’s making me nervous.”

“I disagree,” Ymir said, “We should stay here and protect one another.” She pulled Krista in for a side hug.

Hange was thinking, her finger steepled together. “I wonder if we could get help from the Reisses?”

Eren scowled and Levi shook his head.

“I don’t trust Bodt or Hoover enough to let them help.  What if the Reisses have some other beef with us?  Or they just fuck up and expose us?”

Hange nodded slowly.

“I personally wouldn’t work with them at all,” Eren said.
 
They tabled the issue and lounged about while dinner cooked.  Soon the whole suite smelled deliciously of tomatoes and spices.

“Why aren’t you cooking?” Eren asked Krista.

“I don't know how to cook this dish.  I need to get Moblit to show me.”  She smiled then, her dimples showing, and Eren could kind of see how Levi might be attracted to her.  When she turned away he frowned jealously.
 
Moblit poured the rice into the thick tomatoey sauce and soon dinner was ready.
 
Eren was picking at his rice and hadn’t eaten any.

“What’s the matter with your rice?” Levi said, low.

“I’m not a big fan of rice.”

“Ahh, I’m sorry.  Won’t you even try it?”

“I dunno.”

“Do you like spaghetti bolognese?”

“Is that like … spaghetti?”

Levi popped the back of his head. “Yes, moron!”

“Oww! Yeah, sure, I love spaghetti!”

“Well, this is kinda like spaghetti with rice instead of noodles.  Just try it.”

“It does smell good …”

“That’s all the spices.  Tryyyyyy it!  If you don’t eat it Hange will probably kick your ass since Moblit worked so hard on it.”

Eren looked at Moblit and found the man looking at him.  He guiltily scooped up a tiny bite on his fork.  He tasted it.  By that time the whole table was looking at him.

“Oh my god, this is good!”

Moblit grinned and Levi slapped Eren on the shoulder.  “Didn’t your momma tell you to try everything first before you said you didn’t like it?”

Everyone ate so much they were bloated and they retired to the bedrooms to watch television.  Krista and Ymir had Eren in their room, sitting at the foot of the bed on the floor, leaning back against the mattress.  They watched a Disney film.  Hange had the same deal with Levi and they watched a gory slasher fic while Moblit washed all the dishes and pans and put up the leftovers.
 
“Let me help you.  I insist,” Eren had said.

“No thank you I’m fine,” Moblit had said.

“You shouldn’t do the dishes at all since you cooked,” Ymir said tugging at a soapy dish in Moblit’s hands.

He gently took it back. “I’m fine I swear.  Washing dishes is how I decompress.  It won’t take me long anyway.
 
So they left him be and talked and bullshitted until Moblit was done.  Once Moblit was shyly installed in the bed next to Hange the horror film began.  They had a good evening just hanging out together, eating leftovers, drinking beer, and avoiding each other’s movie preferences.  Ymir scowled at the Disney film and Moblit covered his eyes during most of the horror film.

The tropical storm brought heavy rain and a little wind with it and they stayed holed up for three days without incident, sleeping with the bedroom doors open and keeping watch.

Levi and Hange were taking a smoke break while Levi anxiously awaited Eren’s return.  He had slipped out early to make a run to the dry cleaners and get his clothes.  Levi had shaken his head at how different they were.  Levi had a duffle with two pairs of trousers and five shirts and he was good—Eren needed his suits.
 
“If they don’t find us I’m gonna go looking for them myself,” Levi groused.

Hange took a drag on their cig.  “We tried that already, remember?”

Levi threw his cigarette butt on the ground and mashed it with the toe of his shoe, bending to carefully wrap it up in a tissue.  “I’m getting antsy.  I love you guys but I’m about to go crazy.”
 
Levi got his wish in the worst way.  He and Eren were cruising down a street after a hit and a car sideswiped them.  It was Onyankopon.

“Fuck!  This is a rental.  How did he find us?”

The car that Moblit described as ‘low like Levi’s but black’ turned out to be a BMW M5.

“What the fuck?  That’s an M5 Beemer.”

“So?”

“So it can run circles around this car and it costs over a hundred grand!  It’s a shame.”

Eren gripped the car seat “It’s a shame that we’re gonna get killed?!”

“A shame to wreck or fill with bullet holes such a nice ride!”

“You’re worried about the car?!  Our lives are in danger!”

“Ahh. don’t worry about it.  I know these streets.”

The little Ford wasn’t fast but it was

quick

, darting into and out of alleyways and even fitting up on the sidewalk (much to Eren’s alarm).  It turned on a dime as well, Levi spinning the steering wheel like he was playing roulette.  It was about the same size as the M5 but over 500 pounds lighter and that stood them in good stead.

They stayed off the straightaways where the Beemer could just motor up next to them and Onyankopon could simply shoot them.  They kept instead to the tiny narrow streets of Miami ducking and turning while the ponderous black car struggled to keep up.

After a good half hour of the chase, Onyankopon simply gave up, saving it for another day.

Eren noticed the lack of the black car following them and told Levi.

“So did he just cut and go?”

“Lucky for us,” Levi said grimly.  “Let me make a half a dozen more turns to make sure he’s not following and we’ll head back to the motel.”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

The actual attack came two days later at a little past two in the morning.  Krista, on the couch, and Ymir, in the sleeping bag on the floor, didn't wake to see the shadow pass by the window, then pass by again.

Hange was on watch but they’d dozed off in one of the hard plastic chairs, gun still gripped in their hand, but at the end of their arm which trailed downward, muzzle of the gun touching the carpet.

The shadows flitted past the window again.  They’d chosen to keep the curtains drawn even though it would provide them a visual it would also allow people to look in at them.  A tiny scratching noise sounded at the doorknob, then it rattled faintly.

Levi, insomniac, and paranoid bastard, awoke at the noise, listening.  Eren, dead asleep, threw his arm over Levi’s ribs and settled back down.  Levi gently, gently slid out from under Eren’s long arm and the younger man frowned in his sleep.  Levi grabbed his gun from the dresser and crept out of the room.

A small scrape sounded and the doorknob rattled again.  Levi screwed his silencer onto the muzzle of his gun.  He was debating whether or not to nudge Hange awake but they typically woke with a shout and a flailing of arms so he decided against it.  He had to formulate a game plan before whoever it was managed to pick the lock.

Eren suddenly came silently up behind him, scaring the shit out of him. “Warn a guy, you asshole!” He whispered.  “What are you doing up?”

“I told you I can’t sleep without you there.”  Levi noted that he’d put a silencer on his gun as well.

There was a quiet click and the doorknob started to turn.

Whoever was out there pushed the door to swing all the way open.  Eren and Levi could see two tall figures silhouetted—one skinny, one thick—and then Levi and Eren both fired.

Both bullets struck the skinny figure in front, the one who’d presumably picked the lock.  The shadowy figure behind them fired a single shot into the room, high above their heads then fled.

Hange awoke with a snort and a cry but Levi was already at the body.  It was a very tall blonde woman.  Levi took her gun. “Bring me the shower curtain!”

“What?” Eren said.

“The shower curtain!  Waterproof!”

Everyone was up by then, Hange springing into action despite having just been asleep, grabbing towels to soak up blood before it got on the carpet.

“Fucking fuck!  Who invented these rings?” Eren said from the bathroom.

“Tear it down, dickhead!” Levi shouted.

There was the rattly sound of Eren stripping the shower curtain off of its rings and he bounded back into the room.

Ymir had pushed Krista into the bedroom with Moblit and closed the door.  She and Hange stealthily crept to the door to find the other person.  Whoever it was they had done the clever thing and—rather than jumping in their car and speeding away—they were hidden somewhere in the night.  Were they watching them right now?  Or had they parked their car somewhere else and were walking quickly to it?  Both Hange and Ymir ducked out the door and split up, looking for the second assailant.  They found nothing.

Back in the hotel room Levi and Eren had wrestled the corpse into the tub, wrapped in the shower curtain and Levi was minutely inspecting the walkway outside and the carpet inside for blood when Hange and Ymir returned.

“Find anything?”

“Not a damned thing,” Hange spat.

“Whoever it was is like a ghost.”

“So who do we have in here?” Hange asked peering into the bathroom.

The body in question was tall—taller than Eren—and a woman with pale blonde hair chopped off at chin length.

“The other assassin we saw with Onyankopon,” Eren said.

“So can we assume our ghost is Onyankopon?” Hange asked.

“Whoever it is they’re one cool customer.”

They bundled the corpse into a fifty-five-gallon trash bag that Hange had in their trunk.  No one asked

why

Hange had fifty-five gallon trashbags in her trunk, either.  They were too afraid of the answer.

By the time they got everything squared away and Levi had cleaned the shower meticulously, a huge black trash bag sat beside the door and everyone, figuring that Onyankopon wouldn’t try anything that night or alone, went back to bed.  They’d wrestle the bag out to one of the cars at a reasonable hour in the morning.  A group of people taking out a large black trashbag at three in the morning was pretty suspicious.

Ymir, too anxious to sleep, kept watch.
 
At six am, Hange backed her car up to the dumpsters for the motel and Eren and Moblit tried to carry the heavy bag as if it didn’t have a dead body in it.  They didn’t throw it in the dumpster but into the trunk of Hange’s rental car.

“I hope it doesn’t leak.  I don’t know how I’d explain blood stains in the trunk.”

“We double-bagged it,” Levi said, “You should be fine.”

Moblit and Eren piled in and Hange screeched off.
 
Krista and Ymir took the excuse of going to buy beer as a means to get out of the motel room so Levi was kicking around by himself.  He missed Eren though he wouldn’t have admitted that to the brat.  He was also worried about him.  Hange and Moblit and Eren were searching the city for a good dumpster to drop the trash bag into and damnit, Levi wished he had gone too.  What if this Onyankopon dude snuck up on them?  What if he called the cops on them while they were hefting that heavy bag?

Levi, not much for television, was sat on the couch, Coke in hand, staring at the door.  He dared that Onyankpon guy to come back.  He’d shoot him between the eyes.

The only way to convince the Stockmans that they weren’t worth fucking with was to take out both of their crack assassins.

They had to find Onyankopon.
 
Krista and Ymir came back a bit disheveled and Levi wondered if they’d done it in their rental car.  They gathered up their stuff and headed back out.  Since the Stockmans knew they were there they had to change motels again.  Levi had wiled away the time packing his and Eren’s stuff, counting the heavy garment bag that held Eren’s favorite suits.  All of it had been packed so Levi was bored and on edge again.  Krista and Ymir had left a twelve-pack of beer on the coffee table and waved goodbye.  He looked for the thousandth time for Hange’s rental car and, cracking open a beer, resumed his vigil.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

By eight Hange and Eren and Moblit were back.

“Had to drive in circles to make sure we weren't being followed and then find a dumpster out of the way to toss the bag in!”

“Toss is a bad word to use,” Eren said massaging his lower back. “That woman was heavy!”

“Where’d you put her?”

“Dumpster behind a Family Dollar out on the outskirts.”

“I got everything packed.  Eren, are you ready to go?”

Eren went and gathered their bags (and his precious garment bag).  “Ready to go!”

Levi opened the door to the room and cautiously scoped the parking lot out.  “Bring the beer.”
 
Each pair of them checked into a separate motel in entirely different parts of town.  Eren and Levi found a run down motel next to the Everglades and got a room.  Levi called Kenny.

“You doing okay you old fart?”

“Ahh don’t worry about me.”

Levi apprised him of the basic situation and why he wouldn’t be able to be home anytime soon.  Levi could hear him drawing on his cigarette.

“I said don’t worry!  I can take care of myself.”

“This is a trained assassin.”

“Goddamn, Brat, I’ve seen stuff that would make you shit your drawers.  Don’t worry.”

“Okay well, stay safe, Kenny.”

“You too, Brat.”
 
It was raining rather dismally—the after-effects of the tropical storm— and Levi was outside under the tin overhang smoking and looking moodily out into the rain.  Eren joined him.

There was nowhere to lean (there was no railing as the motel was only one story) and nowhere to sit so Eren climbed up onto the wheezing ice machine and perched.

“Don’t get up there! It’s probably never been dusted since it was installed!”

“Too late!” Eren grinned.  “You okay out here?”

Levi sighed and resumed staring at the rain.  “It just sucks.  I hate having to scuttle around like cockroaches to stay one step ahead of Onyankopon.  I hate not being able to sleep in my own bed.  I hate your being in danger.”

“I’ll be okay, Levi.  I swear.”  He gently thumped his dangling feet against the ice machine, his heels making hollow sounds.

“Don’t make promises you can’t keep.” Levi said, viciously grinding out his cigarette with his toe. “You’re young.  You think you’re invincible.”

While Levi bent to retrieve his butt Eren hopped down, brushing the dust off of the backside of his sweats.  He bent and kissed Levi on the corner of his mouth. “No, I think

you’re

invincible and I have you to protect me.”
 
They went back into their room where Eren frowned at the two full sized beds.  In the deep south, it wasn’t possible for two men to ask for a room with only one bed unless you were into pitchforks and torches so Eren had belligerently used the bed nearest the door as a catchall for their bags and things.

Levi brushed his teeth thoroughly (as he always did, without fail, after smoking) and sat at the end of the bed flipping through the channels on the tiny television.

“Why are there so many fucking skin channels?”

“Why aren't there any gay skin channels?” Eren snapped, disgruntled that Levi kept stopping to stare at the women and men on the straight channels.  He was sitting against the headboard playing on his phone.

“Florida, remember?”

“Hmmph”

Eren put his phone down and crawled slowly to the end of the bed.  He kissed Levi on the neck.  “Y’know we could reenact our own skin channel …”

Levi tilted his head to give Eren better access. “Stop that, you pervert.  You’ll make me horny.”

“And would that be bad?” Eren was sucking on Levi’s neck now bringing up dark lovers marks on his pale skin.

“Damnit!  You know I can’t resist you, Brat!  What if we’re right in the middle of it and we get shot while I’m naked and balls deep in your ass?”

“Then I’ll die happy.”

Levi twisted around. “Cmere you …”
 
Eren shed his clothes almost desperately.  He loved Levi so much.  He wished that they could just retire to a sweet little cottage somewhere and have sex every day and take long walks and cook together. Levi took off his shirt and Eren almost drooled.  Right now he just wanted this man so badly.
 
Levi got undressed more slowly, taking time to fold his clothes and throw his boxers into the ‘to wash’ pile.  He had no idea how that affected Eren.  The young man lay flat out on the bed slowly jerking his cock and staring at Levi.
 
Levi turned to the bed and paused just taking in the gorgeousness of Eren.  Long limbs, unruly brown hair, and acres and acres of tan flesh for the sucking and biting.  And those eyes.  Levi wanted Eren to blow him one day so he would get to see his cock disappearing into Eren’s beautiful mouth and those teal-colored eyes on him.
 
Levi crept up the bed, slowly, slowly and Eren’s breath quickened the closer Levi got.  Levi began at Eren's knees and slowly ran his hands up his body, carefully avoiding his rigid cock.

“Levi please …”

“Patience, brat.  Let Levi take care of you.”

At those words Eren’s back arched and he closed his eyes, breathed shallowly out of his mouth and tried not to touch his cock.

Levi ran his nails up Eren’s long thighs and then up his sides, pausing at nipple height to fondle and pinch the brown nubs.

“Levi, please!”

“Please what, pretty boy?”

“Please fuck me!  Please, Levi!”

Levi licked and sucked at his nipples and worked his way up to Eren’s throat.  “You want my hot cock?”

Eren writhed on the bed, head thrown back. “I do!  I do!  Fuck me please!  I want to feel you come inside me.”
 
Levi gathered Eren’s long legs up and put them over his arms.  “You want to feel me inside of you?  Stretching you out?”
 
Eren gasped. “Levi!  I’m gonna come just from you talking to me!  Please.”
 
Eren had a tight hold on his dick and was clearly trying not to pump his hand up and down.

Levi laid on him, warm and heavy, and Eren sighed.  He wound his free arm around Levi’s broad shoulders and they kissed deeply, sensuously while Levi ground his erection against Eren’s ass.

Since Levi was shorter than Eren having Eren’s legs draped over the other’s arms caused Eren to be folded up so that Levi could reach his face to kiss him.  It also opened his ass up to Levi’s probing cock.

Eren whined and Levi nibbled along his jaw.

“What is it gorgeous?”

“I need to lube up so you can pound my ass into the bed.  God, I want you, Levi!”

“I’m all yours sweetheart.” Levi snagged the lube off of the nightstand and passed it to Eren.
 
Eren quickly squirted lube onto his fingers and probed deeply into his ass.  He also slicked up Levi’s dick, making him growl with want.

“I’m good.” Eren breathed into Levi’s ear.  “Go for it, Big Man.

Levi ran the head of his cock up and down Eren’s crack then slowly breached his hole.  He breathed through gritted teeth to try to hold back, to not go too fast.
 
Eren threw his head back and moaned in pleasure as Levi’s thick cock slowly pushed in.  Finally, he was fully seated, balls deep, and Eren felt so good, so stretched, so full.

“Please move.  Oh god, move.”

Levi ignored him, taking a moment to just worship Eren’s lean, tan body with his hands.  Finally, he kissed him lingeringly and, taking a leg in each hand, began fucking him in earnest.

For several minutes there was only the slap of flesh against flesh, Levi's ragged breathing, and Erens moans.  Eren, who was stroking his own dick, murmured “I’m close, oh fuck, I’m close”

Levi, legs trembling, sweat dripping off of his sharp chin, groaned and sped his stroke angling his thrusts to hit Eren's prostate.

“Yes!  Oh, Levi, just like that!”

“Want me to come, Brat?”

“Yes, please!  Come inside me!  I want to feel you!”

“Come with me, sweetheart, let’s come together.”

Eren nodded eagerly, eyes squeezed shut, hand flying on his cock.

Levi’s hips stuttered out of rhythm and he moaned.  “Eren, Eren oh fuck Eren!”

Levi!” Eren’s free hand gripped Levi’s arm digging his fingernails in. “Yes, baby, yes, oh

God!” and he spurted cum all over his chest.

They each rode out their orgasms, clenched together, gasping until finally Levi let Eren’s legs down and rolled off of him.

“God that was good.”

Eren, on his back, panted beside him.  “I know, I needed that.  It was amazing!”  Eren leaned his head over to face Levi, admiring his profile.  “We need to do that every time we feel stressed.”

Levi looked at him. “So every day?”

Eren laughed and slapped Levi’s arm.

“Oww!”

“Oh, sorry!  I think I did that.” He inspected Levi’s pale shoulder and saw the crescent shaped marks of his own nails there. “Yep,  I dug my fingernails in.”

Levi yawned. “You beast.”

“Well, you shouldn’t fuck so good.”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Hange and Moblit and Eren and Levi were at a waffle house on the other side of town from their motel rooms.  Hange was noisily and messily eating their waffle from her All Star Special while Moblit ate his hashbrowns.  Eren ate his eggs with gusto and Levi sipped his coffee and watched them all with disgust.  No one was talking but the place was filled with sounds; the murmur of the song on the jukebox, the clink of cutlery on plates, the hiss of the grill.  And, of course, Hange snarfing up the rest of their waffle.

“If you don’t like grits, Pennsylvania boy, why did you order them?” Levi asked, waving his coffee cup.

Hange, mouth full, gestured eagerly for Eren to hand her his grits.

“I don’t like hashbrowns.”

“Then don’t order anything with your eggs.”

Hange protested with muffled sounds around her mouthful of waffle.

“See?  Hange likes ‘em.”

Levi snorted.  “Has anyone seen or heard from the Stockmans or that Onyankopon guy?”

Hange shook her head.

“So far everyone has been fine,” Moblit said.  “No alerts.”

“I don’t like it.  Makes me think that they’re up to something.”

“They probably are.”  Moblit finished up his hashbrowns neatly (something that Levi appreciated) and patted his mouth with a napkin.  “Krista wants to start surfing again.”

“Nope,” Hange said licking the syrup off of their fingers (something that Levi did NOT appreciate.)

“I agree.  It’s just too easy to kill somebody on a wide-open beach especially if they’re distracted.”  Levi glanced out the window into the parking lot as a jacked white truck pulled in.  An immensely fat guy in a shirt with a former president’s name on it got out and hitched up his trousers.  Levi lost interest.

“It really pisses me off that this one guy is keeping all of us running scared!” Eren said.

“I agree,” said Moblit “but we’re in it now and we have to be careful.

“Have we heard from Annie?”

“She and Armin are in deep hiding,” Hange said.  “She won’t even tell me where they are—which is good!” They ran their finger around the plate that had held their grits and popped that finger into their mouth.  Levi recoiled in horror.

“Armin is still grieving.  That was his only relative,”

Levi frowned at that.  Levi was in a similar position.  His mom was dead, nobody knew who his dad was and his uncle Kenny was his only blood tie.

“Well, something needs to happen soon.  I can’t live like this,” growled Levi, gesturing for their waitress to fill up his mug. “I’m gonna go into town square buck ass naked and wave my dick around just to get this guy to come out!”

“Well, as entertaining as that would be, sweetcheeks,” Hange said, “I think he’ll show up eventually.  Every gang in Miami and the surrounding area is pissed as shit that we’ve stopped doing jobs.  Maybe someone from another gang has killed Onyankopon.”

Levi sniffed. He hadn’t thought of that.

“You should call old Stockman.  Ask him what the fuck.”

Hange shrugged.  “I guess I should.”

“I don’t think it’ll do any good,” Eren said.

“We’ll see.  I plan to lie my pretty ass off!”

Eren and Levi made their way back to the motel in Eren’s rental car.  They took the two rental cars alternately to help keep them unnoticed.  When they got to the motel they lounged outside their room, Levi smoking and drinking a coke, and Eren sitting on the ice machine drinking a Sprite.

“I swear I’m gonna go buy some cleaning supplies and scrub the top of that ice machine,” Levi groused.  “You’ll ruin your trousers.”

“Oh, it’s just a little dust.”

Levi frowned.

“Besides, you smoke.  That’s a nasty habit.”

Levi inhaled then let the smoke trickle out between his lips as he squinted through it.  It was sexy as hell and Eren surreptitiously adjusted his trousers.

“It’s a shitty habit but one I picked up from Kenny when I was young and I haven’t been able to break it.  You don’t have to tell me it’s nasty.  I spend all my time washing my clothes, myself, and brushing my teeth trying to get rid of the smell.  It’s its own kind of hell.”

They sat in silence for a moment while they finished their drinks and Levi finished his cigarette.  When they were done Levi pinched out his butt and wrapped it in a tissue he had in his pocket.

“You always do that,” Eren said.  “Why do you do that with the cigarette butt?”

Levi shrugged.  “Can’t throw it out or you’ll catch the trashcan on fire and leaving it on the ground is just nasty.”

They went into the motel room with Eren shaking his head.
 
They were in their accustomed places; Eren sitting with his back against the headboard, playing on his phone and Levi sitting on the end of the bed clicking through the channels on the television and getting more and more disgusted.  A phone buzzed just as Levi was lingering on a skin channel.  Levi dug his out of his pocket and answered it putting it on speaker.

“Hans.”

“I called him.”

“What’d you say?  What’d he say?”

“Well, he’s pissed as shit, of course.”

“Of course.”

“I went into this long explanation about how none of us shot his son—

” Levi shot a look over his shoulder at Eren who was listening intently.  “

—and how he needed to call his goons off and how I thought we had a good working relationship, etcetera.”

“He admitted that he was hurting not having us to do his dirty work but said that only we were good enough to have hit his son who was apparently some kind of super soldier ninja.”

“Bullshit!” Eren exploded. “I got into the house with just a knife—I jimmied the lock on a sliding door after shooting his two bodyguards.  Shot him in the tub watching porn and having a wank.”

“Killed with his dick in his hand,” Levi said.  “What a shitty way to go.”

“Well anyway, I think I semi convinced him that we may not have done the hit.”

they could hear Hange taking a deep breath.

“But he refuses to call off Onyankopon.  He says he’s ‘enjoying the game’ now.”

“Jesus that’s some Squid Game shit there,” Levi said.

“I know right?!”

“Did he mention the other assassin?  The woman?”

“Either he doesn’t know she’s dead or he’s just chalking it up to part of the ‘game’”

“This is sick,” Eren said.  “So we have to keep on the lookout for this guy until we can kill him?”

“It seems so.  Stockman even said that If we can kill both of his assassins then he’ll call it even.”

Levi violently clicked the remote, scrolling thoughtlessly through all the channels for the third time.

Eren flipped over to lie on his belly, feet at the headboard and head beside Levi’s thigh.

“You okay?”

“I just hate that old Stockman is treating our lives like a game.”

“It sucks but I feel like we can get Onyankopon then that’ll be the end of it.”

“But how many of us are going to have to die doing it?”

Eren rubbed his face against Levi’s leg like a cat. “Don’t get ahead of yourself.  We’re the best assassins in town and there are four of us.”

“For now,” Levi said darkly.

“Forget about it for a while and come to bed.”

“I guess you’re right.”

Eren stripped to his boxers and got under the covers while Levi did his nightly tooth brushing and got undressed, folding his clothes carefully and putting them on the dresser.

He started to get under the covers.

“Wanna fuck?” Eren asked brightly.  “It’ll take your mind off of things.”

“Do you have to ask?”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

The days dragged by.  They finally met again at the crab shack and this time Annie came noticeably without Armin.

As Levi and Eren drove up the narrow dirt road, with the trees pressing in on both sides, to the restaurant they kept an eye out just in case.  The Everglades were not impressed with their drama.  Warm and green the ‘glades were never silent.  Crickets chirped, fish splashed, and frogs trilled, hidden amongst the cypress knees.  Every now and then you’d hear the rumbling grunt of a ‘gator.  It had rained and the lives oaks dipped under the weight of the long, wet, grey strands of the Spanish moss.

It was incredibly humid and the crab shack’s definition of cooling was one wheezing old air conditioner and fans.  Like two fans.  Eren and Levi stepped in, already sweating.  The warm, heavy smell of seafood permeated the place.  There were four people there, a crowd by Cole’s standards. Two at the bar watching the television, and two at a table nursing beers.

Eren and Levi were the last to arrive and after the prerequisite hugs they all sat down.

“Mr. Cole got a huge load of shrimp so we ordered it two ways: fried and boiled,” Hange said.  Levi rubbed his hands together.

“How’s Armin?” Eren asked.  Annie hesitated.

“He’s okay, considering,” she said quietly.  “He’s so understanding and considerate!” Her voice was rising.  “And I feel so guilty!”  She put her face in her hands and sobbed. Krista and Ymir and Hange rushed to console her.

“Nothing is your fault, Annie,” Moblit said.

“Yeah, it’s the shitty Stockmans,” Eren said

“Well the Stockmans won’t be a problem for long,“ Hange said, relating her phone conversation with Stanley Stockman. “All we have to do is get rid of Onyankopon and we’re golden.”

“How do we know we can trust those fucking people?” Annie asked.

“I spoke with Stockman himself and he’s hot to get us back to work.  Apparently, the people who need killing are piling up.”

“Yet he won’t just call Onyankopon off,” Krista said.

“He’s old.  And he’s grieving.  I’ll take what I can get to keep you all safe.” Hange shrugged and pushed her glasses up. Moblit rubbed their arm.

The boiled shrimp came out just then, pink and steaming, along with a bowl of Coles turned-out-to-be-amazing seafood sauce.  Levi tapped out of the conversation in favor of shrimp, his clever fingers stripping the shells in seconds.  The table again had been covered in several layers of newspaper and Levi simply scooped out a handful of shrimp and put it on the paper in front of him.  Cole had provided the same galvanized buckets for the shells and heads.  Eren was fascinated watching Levi eat the shrimp.  After pulling the heads off each shrimp he sucked out the contents.  If Eren hadn’t been so grossed out he would've been turned on.

“Eww!  Why do you do that?”

“To get the good stuff out.  I can tell you’ve never eaten crawdad.”

“What’s a crawdad?”

Levi rolled his eyes and sighed, snagging another shrimp.  “Eat your shrimp, youngster.”

“What if we kill Onyankopon and Stockman wants the game to continue?” Annie asked. “What if we’re never free from this guy?”

Moblit patted her soothingly on the back and Hange drew themself up straight.  “Then we go after the old man himself.  No more playing nice-nice.”

For several long moments everyone concentrated on their pile of shrimp and digested what Hange had said.  A mob boss had insane security.  Would they even be able to get close enough to hit him?

When the boiled shrimp got low the fried shrimp came out. Individual plates with a good sixteen or eighteen shrimp on each.  Eren seized on this iteration, scooping up ungodly amounts of seafood sauce with each.  He was licking his fingers when Levi told him to use his napkin.

“Don’t tell me what to do,” Eren said playfully

“Fine, you disgusting thing.  I’m not your dad.”

“I can call you ‘Daddy’ though, if you want …” Eren said and tilted his head to one side and stared suggestively at him from under his lashes.

A general moan of pretend disgust rose up from the table and everyone threw shrimp heads at Eren.

“Hey! Eww!  No fair!”

“Oh! Daddy!  Give it to me hard!” Ymir said in a deep voice and Eren picked shrimp heads off his shirt to throw at her, making Krista scream.

There were more shrimp heads thrown (and whole shrimp much to Levi’s distress). There was beer shaken up and sprayed and general foolishness but they all needed it.  It had been a stressful two weeks.

“So what are we going to do about finding this fucker so we can kill him?” Ymir asked helping Krista get the shrimp heads out of her hair.

“Levi got the idea of one or two of us—namely him and Eren—starting to go out and be seen.  Not enough for a hit but enough to lure Onyankopon out,” Hange said.

“That might work,” Moblit said.

“If we do go for the big boss,” Annie said, “I want to be the one who does the hit.”

Everyone else at the table raised their eyebrows and exchanged looks.  Hange patted her hand.

“Will do.  Just expect us all to be there for back up”
 
They spent the rest of the evening in a companionable group, the non-drivers drinking the last of the pitchers of beer and everyone eating the last of the shrimp.  They talked into the night, ate chess pie and banana pudding, Cole happy to stick around for the large amount of cash Hange dropped on him.

Finally, they all toddled off to their respective rental cars and then to their respective motels.

“Ooof,” Levi said as he got in the car. Eren was the designated driver.

“You okay?”

“If I had eaten any more shrimp I’d have turned into a shrimp.”  He patted his full belly.  “A short, sexy shrimp,” Eren said, grinning.

“Hey watch yourself youngster.” He belched quietly. “Scuse me—we should eat here every day.”

Eren chuckled.  “You do love your shrimp.”

“You should see me with lobster.”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Eren and Levi were discussing their plans in their normal positions; Levi standing smoking and Eren perched on the ice machine.  Levi in his disgust had actually used his cleaning supplies and cleaned the top of the ice machine.  The owner of the motel had caught him at it and after a glare from Levi had shook his head, shrugged and left.

Eren sat, legs dangling, swinging them gently.  It was incredibly hot, even though the sun had gone down and both men’s shirts were sticking to their backs but the fresh air was worth it.  Besides Levi couldn’t smoke inside the motel room.

Eren knew that Levi would shower as soon as he got back inside.  He hated being sweaty.  Eren was planning on pouncing on him the moment he was out of the shower for some sexy times.

“So what’s the plan?” Eren asked bumping his heels softly on the outside of the ice machine.  Levi took a deep drag off his cig and let the smoke out slowly.

“We just make ourselves noticeable.  This motel is the perfect place to avoid an ambush—there’s nowhere to hide to get a shot at one of us with a rifle unless you’re willing to stand in the swamp and I doubt that Mr. Nice Suits is willing.”

“So we do what?  Go out to eat, go to the movies?”

“We’ve got to be careful.  We don’t know if this joker cares about the lives of innocent people.  We can’t put the locals in any danger if we can help it.”

“Where can we go?”

“The grocery store, the laundromat, the gas station.  Anywhere Onyankopon’s goons might see us and follow us here.  Then we stick tight and wait for him to come to us.”

“Do you think the Stockmans have recruited another assassin to help?”

“I don’t think so for two reasons; Stockman only mentioned Onyankopon and this guy strikes me as a prideful individual who wants to get his hits by himself.”

“There’s been no comment on the blonde woman just missing?”

“Nope.  The Stockmans and Onyankopon are cold blooded fuckers.”

“I agree.  Now you know why I killed junior.  He was a waste of carbon and a mean and generally shitty person.”

“I believe it.  Alright.  I need a shower.  Let’s go in.”

The next day was day one of being blatantly noticeable.  They picked a grocery store, a gas station, a laundromat, and group of food trucks to frequent.  Since they had two rental cars they split up—Eren going for groceries and Levi taking the laundry.

Before they left Levi kissed Eren soundly.  “Be careful.”

Eren blushed, pleased. “You too.  Have fun washing my dirty drawers!”

“Probably full of jizz and crumbs,” Levi groused.
 
They’d picked a local Aldi as their grocery as it was the first place Onyankopon would look, seeing as how they’d met him at an Aldi before.  Eren parked his car, had a quick look around and was briefly baffled by the cart system.  To keep people from leaving their carts in the parking lot, Aldi had a design where you put in a quarter and got your cart and when you were done shopping you put your cart back and got your quarter back.

Once inside Eren relaxed into shopping, buying way too many snacks and sweets and almost forgetting the staples.  He kept an eye out for Onyankopon the whole time although he guessed he wouldn’t come into the store and kill him (too many witnesses) but stay in the parking lot and watch.
 
Levi had given him three reusable grocery bags. Which he found out were the only way to bag groceries at the Aldi—they didn’t even have bags—you had to bag your own stuff in your own bags.

He awkwardly bagged his groceries (he’d never bagged groceries in his life) and returned his cart, taking a good look around the parking lot before crossing to his rental car.

Levi meanwhile, sat in the local laundromat watching their clothes wash.  It was two loads and Levi, who had had to wash his clothes in a laundromat many times in his life had armed himself with a pocketful of quarters.  Levi was the only person there and the empty laundromat was almost soothing.  The slosh and hiss of the clothes washing, the smell of bleach and detergent, the hum of the air conditioning.  He almost dozed off.

The laundromat had banks of machines in the back with the dryers set into the far wall and the whole front of the place was huge plate glass windows.  Most of the chairs were built together in sets of four like chairs in a bus station but there were a couple of other ones.  Levi had taken one of the loose chairs and set it so that he could see out into the parking lot.

At one point a low black car had cruised by and Levi ducked behind a washer but the driver had been an old woman so Levi relaxed a bit.  Now he was seriously dozing off.  He jerked himself back from sleep and crossed to the drink machine and got a Coke.  Sitting back down on his hard, uncomfortable chair he drank his caffeine and continued to watch the clothes spin.
 
He had just loaded all the clothes into two dryers and started them when his phone buzzed.  It was Eren.

“How’s it going?”

“Just fine almost done here just need everything to dry.”

“Anything interesting?”

“No.  I had a scare a while ago but it wasn’t him.”  He told him about the black car.

“He could be in another car, a rental like us.”

“Judging from his suits he likes to show off.  I doubt he’d give up his car for us.”

“Hey, don’t judge people who wear expensive suits!”

“Bite me, brat.”

“If you insist …”

“Bye, pervert.”

Eren giggled. “Bye”
 
For safety reasons they traded in their rentals every week or so, always getting a different make, model, and color.
 
It didn’t take long for Onyankopon to make his move.  He truly did have a complex network of spies and informants.  He startled Eren as he was putting beer into the car and cruised by firing two shots.  Eren returned fire and then went immediately to the rental place and had to explain the bullet hole in the driver’s side door.

He caught them at the food trucks and managed to nick Eren with a bullet and shoot an innocent bystander in the leg.  As soon as Levi was reassured that the guy was okay and called 911 they made their exit.

“You okay?” Levi asked spinning the back tires of the car leaving the lot.

Eren showed him the shallow gash on his left arm. “I’m fine.  Let’s stop at a drug store and get some bandages and I’ll be right as rain.  He’s finding us more often now and we can't get a fucking shot in.”

“It sucks ass.  If we weren’t looking for him, we’d be dead right now.”

“He clearly doesn’t care about bystanders.  There was a kid there!”

“Cold bastard.  And now we have to find more food trucks.  Damnit and those were good burritos, too!”

They stopped at a Walgreens, bought tape and gauze (Well Levi did,  Eren stayed in the car keeping watch and trying not to look like he was bleeding all down his left arm.)  They then went to the car rental place and exchanged the little blue Prius for a silver Tesla.

“A bit showy, don’t you think?” Eren asked, laughing.

“Man deserves to drive something nice once in awhile!”
 
The sniping never stopped.  They had to keep such a close look out that their plans to lure Onyankopon to them blew up in their faces.  They couldn’t go out anywhere without going to a new store where Onyankopon’s informants had never seen them.  They became paranoid about low black cars and had put so many bullet holes in Onyankopon’s Beemer that it was ridiculous.

Finally he found their motel.

Luckily, Eren and Levi had decided that one of them would be awake at all times, just in case.  And Levi was lounging in the room while Eren snored in the bed when a shadow crossed by the window.  Levi checked his watch. 2:25 am.

The door rattled faintly and various scraping sounds could be heard.  Onyankopon must not be as good a lockpick as the blonde woman.  Levi levelled his silenced gun at the doorway.  He couldn’t just fire through the door willy nilly.  What if it was the motel manager or the cleaning lady?  What they would be doing at two in the morning was a question but he couldn’t risk ending an innocent life.

The doorknob turned.  Levi lined up his sights about where Onyankopon’s broad chest would be.

Whoever was outside shoved the door inward and ducked around the edge of the doorframe.  Apparently his partner being killed had taught him a lesson—if it was Onyankopon.  He then appeared again, quickly shooting into the closer bed, assuming that one of them was sleeping there.  Levi fired.  The bullet went into Onyankopon’s left arm and the next one grazed his face.  He fled.

Levi jumped up to give chase but when he got out into the parking lot everything was quiet.  Just cars.  Onyankopon was out there somewhere but Levi had no way of knowing where and had no intention of starting a gunfight in the dark with people in the surrounding rooms.

Eren appeared in the doorway in just his boxers. “What the fuck?!  Was that him?”

He’d lept out of bed so fast he had reopened his wound and the gauze was staining red.

“He found us and I missed him.  Well I hit him but I didn’t kill him. We gotta move.”

They moved.  They moved from motel to motel and Onyankpopn’s goons and informants found them each time.  He had a bead on them.  Finally, exhausted and strung out, Levi called Hange.

“Hans we’re gonna have to go into deep hiding.  We cannot touch this guy.  He’s like a ghost.”

“Come out to the house.  I’ve gotten everybody here to regroup.”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

“Just keep your eyes open you old fuck”

“I told you I could take care of myself, brat,

” Kenny said and Levi could hear him sucking on his ubiquitous cigarette.

“Seriously, this guy is slippery.”

“Hah!  No challenge for me.  I even got my gun out and cleaned it.

”

Levi pressed his lips together.  Kenny’s gun was a Colt revolver easily a 150 years old.  It held six rounds.  Then you had to flip out the magazine and reload by hand.  If Onyankopon showed up there Kenny would be a dead man.  Levi sighed and hung up the phone.

Their latest rental car—they had long since trimmed down to one—was a black Tahoe and Eren was driving.  They crunched quietly down the winding sandy road that Hange’s house was on, stopping periodically to see if anyone was following them.
 
Everyone was there except Annie and Armin whom Hange said had not decided if they would come out of deep hiding just to hide somewhere else.
 
Eren hid the Tahoe behind an old building that was up the road a bit and they walked the rest of the way.  There was only one rental car in the yard.  If the worst happened and Onyankopon should find them he’d have no idea how many of them were there.

Hange was in the front porch swing smoking and swinging gently.  Eren went on in and Levi sat next to his best friend and tapped a cigarette out of a pack.

“Gotta light?”

“Yup.” Hange struck a match and lit his cig for him.  Hange always carried around matches.  They didn’t trust lighters (“Those things could blow up in your hand!”)  “Did you hide your car?”

“Up the road behind that old store.”

“Good.”

“Where’s yours?”

“Locked in the garage.”  They indicated the precipitously leaning building off to one side of the yard.

Levi took a drag off his cig. “Aren’t you afraid the whole thing will crash down on your car?”

“Nah.  It’s been like that for years and years.”

They sat companionably next to each other until they finished smoking and Hange watched indulgently as Levi picked up both butts.
 
Levi strolled into the kitchen while Hange veered off to the family room where they could hear the big TV murmuring.  Only Moblit was in the kitchen.  He was wearing a flowery retro apron that had probably belonged to Hange’s grandmother.

“May I use the sink for a second?” Levi held up the two cigarette butts.

“Sure”

Levi turned on the spigot over the ancient white enameled cast iron sink and wet the two butts thoroughly before wrapping them in a paper towel and throwing them away.  “Smells incredible as always.  What are we having?”

“Pork chops and biscuits and gravy.”

“White gravy or brown gravy?”

Moblit looked offended. “Brown for the chops and sausage gravy for the biscuits.”

Levi clapped him on the arm.  “Good man.  Can I help do anything?”

“You can wash the few dishes that are there if you don’t mind.”

Levi nodded and took his place back in front of the sink.  There was only a dish or two, a measuring cup, a mixing bowl and a colander.  Almost nothing.

“What was the colander for?”  Levi didn’t know much about cooking but he was sure that pork chops, biscuits and gravy didn't require a colander.

“Rinsed some beans and put them on to soak for tomorrow.”

Levi almost salivated. “Beans and rice?”

“Beans and rice.”

Levi had grown up very poor and beans and rice were a twice or three times weekly meal before his mom had died.  Even Levi could make beans and rice.

“How’re you and Hange getting on?”

Moblit tensed immediately and his face went pink.

“Good.”  He hesitated, then suddenly turned.  “I really like them, Levi.”

“I’m glad, man.  They’re good people.  Incredibly loyal.  Good in a pinch.”

They did their own thing in silence for a few minutes.

Fortunately, the sink was right close to the stove so Levi could leer at the food cooking.  All Hange had in terms of most cookware was her great grandmother’s cast iron.  So Moblit had two skillets on the stove, a smaller one for the one of the gravies and one big, deep one that held pork chops bubbling in grease.

The biscuits were in the oven and Moblit already had a huge pile of chops in the cast iron dutch oven on the back burner with the heat on low to keep them warm.  Moblit’s approach to everything was ‘more is better’.  He was such a good cook that everything of his would eventually get eaten.

“Would you like to mash the ‘taturs while I finish up the chops?”  He gestured towards a stock pot full of peeled boiled potatoes.

“Sure.”

Helping in the kitchen made him remember his mother and how he helped her, in his own way, hang up clothes or sweep the floor.  Armed with the old-fashioned potato masher he advanced on the pot of potatoes.

Krista and Ymir came in for beers just as moblit was adding the real butter to the potatoes.

“I didn’t know you could cook, Levi!” Ymir said.

“I’m not cooking, I’m just muscle.”

“Hold still while I add the milk,” Moblit said.

Milk in, Levi went back to mashing.  They were starting to look like mashed potatoes.

“Gravy is ready, are we ready to eat?”

“Hell, yeah!” Levi said, snagging his favorite chair around the table.

For a good 45 minutes, they all relaxed and noisily ate and talked.  Levi had to show Eren how to pour his gravy

over

his chops and his mashed potatoes and his biscuit.

“No dipping prissily.  Pour it and get in there!  Pretend it’s thanksgiving.”

“How do you know which gravy is for the mashed potatoes?”

“Entirely up to you,” Levi said, “I could eat biscuit gravy—the white gravy with the sausage in it—straight out of the skillet with a spoon I love it so much.  So I use the brown gravy for the chops and the white for everything else.”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

The front parlor was scary at night.  All the lamps had fringe that drooped down like deadman’s hair and every table (and there were a lot) was so crowded with knick-knacks that they made strange shapes in the darkness.  Add to that the dust and the dour pictures of Hange’s family (presumably) on the walls and the huge mirror over the fireplace mantle that kept catching his own movements and scaring him.

Not to mention the silence.  Like he could hear Hange snoring and the frogs trilling but other than that … quiet.  Creepily quiet.

There was also no light.  Hange’s house had no outside lights except the front porch light which was off.  Everything else was deep, dark swamp and forest.  There wasn’t even much of a moon to shed even a glimmer.  Eren was afraid that Onyanko[pon would roll up with his lights off and he wouldn’t see the black car till too late.

“Eren.”

“AHHH!”

“What the fuck?”

Eren clutched his chest “Don't scare me like that!”

“Be quiet or you’ll wake everyone.  Anything?”

“Nope just this creepy house and the darkness outside and the quiet and …”

Levi put his hand around the back of Eren’s neck and drew him down into a kiss.  “It’s alright.”

Eren kissed back eagerly.  “Do we have time to do it?  Right here in a chair.  That would make me feel better.”

“You really do want me to die with my dick in your ass, don’t you!  No.  Everyone would hear us.”

“Krista and Ymir did it right after dinner!”

“Well, I don’t want them hearing me railing you.”

“Aww, poor baby is shy.”

Levi punched him, hard, on the arm.

“Oww!”

“Aww, poor baby is hurt.”

“Oh shut up!”

“You ready to switch shifts?”

“Gladly!”

“Can I have another kiss?  Give Levi some sugar, handsome.”

He didn’t have to ask twice.  Eren kissed him slowly and sensuously only pulling back when Levi caught his lower lip gently in his teeth.

“Go to bed, scardy cat.”

“Rude!”

Levi chuckled. “You’ve been around Hange too long.”
 
Levi chose to do his watch out on the front porch where he could smoke.  The only light in the dark yard was the tip of his cigarette.  He kept his eyes on the sandy road that led to the place, gun in his lap.

About two in the morning something big crashed through the woods to the right of the house coming up from behind the garage.  Levi startled and aimed his gun but held off firing.  Whatever it was sounded bigger than a human and Levi didn’t want to wake everyone up just to find that he’s put a bullet in an innocent alligator or deer.

He sat tensley and waited.

His vision was acclimated to the dark by then and with the sliver of moon he could faintly see the yard.  Whatever it was slinked out of the foliage to his right and paused in the yard.  It was a big cat of some kind, probably a panther and it looked right at him.  Knowing that the panther’s sight was better than his he clutched at his gun but realized that it held something limp in its jaws.  It had already killed.

The panther trotted off into the woods on the left-hand side and Levi relaxed.
 
The watch was handed over to Hange, then Ymir, then it was past breakfast.
 
They stayed on high alert for a week.  No sign of Onyankopon.

“So we actually lost the bastard?” Ymir said.

“Kind of and kind of not.” Hange said.  “We’re safe so long as we sit tight here but if we go out I’ll bet his informants will tell on us.”

“In effect, we’re trapped here,” said Armin.

“Well, we’re out of food and beer so we have to go out today.  We’ll see what happens, Hange said darkly.
 
Krista, Ymir, and Annie volunteered to go out to the store with Hange.  They went in Annie’s rental car to keep a low profile.
 
Moblit was cooking the only thing he had left: eggs and making biscuits.  It was lunch but no one argued over the menu.  After lunch and after Eren almost physically kept Moblit from the sink, he and Levi washed the dishes.

After the dishes were done everyone was sitting around the table, most with beers already and just shooting the shit.

“Bit of a sausage fest in here now,” Levi observed, taking a swig of beer.  Eren laughed and both Moblit and Armin didn’t know what to say.
 
About two, Armin wandered out onto the back porch and found Moblit loading up the boat.

“What are you doing?”

“Going fishing.  A mess of fish would help with the whole grocery thing.”

“Aren't you afraid of the alligators?”

“Nah.  They generally ignore you unless you bother them.”

Levi and Eren wandered out he back door.

“Goin’ fishing, Mobe?” Levi asked.

“He says it will supplement our food,” Armin said.

“You aren't gonna feed us ‘gator are you?” Eren asked.

“‘Gator is really very good, but no.  Just fish.”

“Can I … can I come with?” Armin asked. “I’ve been fly fishing with my granddad but never fishing fishing.

“Of course!”

Armin gingerly got in the boat.

“Can you swim?” Moblit asked.

“Oh, yes.  I’m an excellent swimmer.  I’ve just never been in a boat before.”

“You two have fun,” Levi said. “Get me some bluegills!”

Moblit waved and smiled. “I’ll try!”

“Funny how Moblit doesn’t like eating fish but likes fishing,” Eren mused.

“That’s a puzzle we’ve tried to work out for years.”

“What’s a bluegill?”

“Small fish, about the size of your hand.  People in South Carolina call them bream*.  Extra tasty!”

The fishermen left, Moblit using a paddle to push them away from the dock, and motored quietly off.  Levi took a swig of his beer.

“So what should we do?”

“I dunnoooo,” Eren said, stroking his chin and rolling his eyes, “There’s this nature special I want to see …”

Levi grabbed him by the shirt. “Get in here and let me fuck you, brat!”

Eren’s laugh echoed from the surrounding trees.
 
(*Bream is pronounced ‘brim’ and is good eatin’)

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Levi and Eren were lying side by side on the bed on their backs, panting, when the grocery getters arrived back home.

“Yooohooo!  Levi?”

“Be out in a minute.”
 
“They totally fucked,” Ymir said.  Krista punched her in the arm and Annie giggled.
 
“I gotta take a shower,” Levi said, sitting up in bed.

“Are you gonna sprint, naked, to the bathroom?”

“And get the ladies’ hopes up?!” Levi said with mock outrage.  He began getting his clothes back on—or at least his boxers and trousers.  “I’ll bring you a wet rag.”

Levi stepped out the door of the bedroom quietly—you could see down the hall from the kitchen—but he wasn’t stealthy enough and hoots and whistles sounded from the kitchen.  He threw up the bird with both hands and ducked into the bathroom.
 
“I tell you what,” Krista said.  “For a guy, Levi is pretty hot.”

“If I had to bone a guy it would be him,” Ymir said.

“I’ve been wanting to bone him for years,” Hange said, taking eggs out of the bag.  “I don’t think he’s into toys, though.”

“Where’s Armin?” Annie asked nervously.

“It’s a big house.”

“I’ll ask,” Hange said and bounded down the hall to pound on the bedroom door.

“What?!  Jesus you about scared me to death!” came through the wood.

“Sorry!  Where’s Armin?”

“Fishing with Moblit.”
 
Hange sauntered back into the kitchen.  “Fishing with Mobes.”

“He’s out on the boat?”  Annie asked, wide eyed.

“He’ll be fine.  Mobes is an expert.  He won’t let anything happen to him.  Besides he’s got a gun.”

Levi came out of the hall right that second and stared.  “Mobes carries a gun?”

“Yep.  Always has, I think.”

Levi shook his head. “Learn something new every day.”

“What are we learning?” Eren asked coming up the hall.

“Mobes carries a gun.  So don’t cross him.”

Everyone laughed at that as Moblit was the most easy-going and understanding person on the planet.

Eren rubbed his hands together.  “So what’s for dinner?  And how can I help?”

Krista stood up.  “I was thinking a nice spaghetti bolognese.”

“So that’s like … spaghetti?”

Krista punched him in the arm.

“Ow!  Your little knuckles are pointy!”

She punched him again. “That’s for calling me little!”

Eren rubbed his arm.  “What are you?  Five feet and 95 pounds soaking wet?”

A laughing Ymir and Levi pulled the two combatants apart before they could get into a brawl.

“Should we do the spaghetti bolognese tonight when Moblit is fishing?” Asked Annie in her quiet way. “The fish will be much better fresh.”

Krista pursed her lips. “You are so right.  I had forgotten.”
 
Moblit and Armin returned after a while with the legal limit of bass and bluegills.  Armin was all smiles and started telling Annie of his fishing exploits before they were even tied up.  Levi helped Armin out of the boat while Moblit handed the fish over to Hange.

“Woohoo!” Hange crowed. “Fresh fish!”
 
They all settled in the kitchen, Annie on Armin’s lap telling him how proud she was of his fishing prowess and kissing him over and over.

“Can I sit in your lap?” Eren asked Levi.

“What and crush me with your long legged bulk?!”
 
Hange expertly filleted the fish and passed them to Krista to bread who passed them to Moblit to cook.  The kitchen smelled wonderful

“So it’s been, what, a month?  And we’ve seen no sign of Onyankopon,” Levi said.

“Could they be recruiting other assassins to help?” Eren asked.

“I doubt it,” Hange said, “Who else would they get?  They’d have to go with an operative from somewhere else. We’ve got the whole of Southern Florida tied up.”

“Could they have just given up?” Krista asked dusting breading off of her hands.

“I doubt it,” Hange said.  “Stockman is too focussed on his little ‘game’.  Besides, he has the number to one of my burner phones and he would have called.  The hits are racking up, remember.  He needs us.  He needs this to be over.”

“I need this to be fucking over,” Levi grumbled.
 
Krista and Ymir were making a beer run at the local discount warehouse when Krista spotted Onyankopon.  She grabbed Ymir and they hid behind a display.  She pointed.  “He’s there, see him?”

“Fuck it is him.  What do we do?”

“Do you have your gun?”

“In the car.”

“Damn!”

Both women were wearing light spaghetti strap tops and Krista had on gauzy harem-type pants while Ymir had on leggings.  Krista never carried a gun and Ymir had nowhere to hide one.

Onyankopon browsed the liquor and acted as if he had not seen them so they kept hidden.  After several minutes Onyankopon paid for his liquor, and left.  Ymir stationed herself at the front windows of the store to keep lookout and Krista quickly got the beer.  They met at the checkout.

“Where did he go?  He didn't get near our car did he?”

“Nope, he just got in his car and left.  He did scope out the parking lot though.”

“Well, now we know he’s not given up or been called off.”
 
Krista and Ymir related their sighting to everybody else.

“Did he get near your car?” Hange asked.

“No.”

“He seemed totally relaxed?”

“He did,” Krista said.  “You remember how he was at the grocery store.”

“He was cagey, though,” Ymir said.  “He kept a close eye on the patrons in the store and carefully scoped out the parking lot before going out to his car.”

“He’s definitely still on the job,” Levi mused. “Ymir you couldn’t get a shot in?”

“Gun was in the glove compartment in the car.”

“Well, shit.”

“Could he have been faking?” Moblit asked. “That he saw you but acted like he didn't?”

“I don’t know,” Krista mused. “I guess that’s possible.  If so he’s a good actor.  He would have had no idea that we weren’t armed.  If Ymir had had her gun she could have shot him at the cash register.”

“You said he fooled you all at the grocery store,” Moblit said.

Hange worried the nail on her pinky finger with her teeth. “You’re sure you weren’t followed?”

“Positive.  We drove north into a sub division and cruised around in circles before we headed here.  His car is pretty noticeable.”

“Cat and mouse,” Hange said thoughtfully.  “If he can’t find us, let’s see if we can find him.”
 
They spread out the next day, canvassing the neighborhood where the liquor store was, searching for his car.  Each team had a certain section of the town and the suburbs to search.

It took all day and by evening they were all exhausted.  Levi was on the phone with Hange.

“What about the cars?  Aren't we supposed to trade in the rentals today?`` Levi asked.

“I suppose we could wait until tomorrow morning.  I’m beat.”

“I can pick us all up pizza and wings.”

“Sounds like a plan.  I’ll see you at the house.  Take precautions!”

Levi hung up and Eren was almost bouncing in his seat.  “Yeah!  Pizza!”

“We’ve been feeding you well, Kid.”

“Yeah, and it’s been good but sometimes you just need some greasy take-out!”

Levi shook his head.
 
They cruised up to the Domino’s at dusk and ordered four pizzas with various toppings and three servings of wings so that everybody could find something they liked, then Levi had to guard the pizzas from Eren who wanted to start eating them on the ride home.

“Watch the road, you’re going to wreck the car!”

“I just want one piece!”

“Stop it you shitty brat!”

“Oh, you love me.”

“Yes I do but that doesn’t make you any less of a shi—what?  Why are you pulling over?”

“You said ‘yes I do’.”

“Did I?  So?  To what?”

“I said you loved me and you said ‘yes I do’.  Levi, do you love me?”

Levi rubbed at his undercut, brushing his fingers over the short hairs there.  “Well, I guess I do.”

“Oh, Levi!” Eren threw his arms around him and buried his face in Levi’s neck.  “I love you too!  I love you too!”

Levi, red-faced, gently disengaged Eren’s hands.  “Come on, silly boy.  Let’s get back before they start worrying.”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Onyankopon had driven the last couple of miles with his lights off.  A bit past dusk it was hard to see, but he just had to find the driveway.  He had been tailing the black Tahoe from the Domino’s when it had suddenly turned off the road.  He knew that each opening in the trees on the left-hand side was a long driveway to a house or a cabin on the swamp.  He just had to find out which one he was after.

Creeping along in the darkness, lights off on his black car, he was almost invisible.
 
Ymir was almost dozing off.  She sat with her rifle and a handgun (just in case!) on her lap.  She had eaten way too much pizza and would much rather be inside in bed snuggling with Krista than sitting on the porch slapping at mosquitos and almost falling asleep.

Hange opened the screen door and stepped out onto the porch.

“Anything?”

“Nothing.  No sound, no movement.”

“Good.  Moblit will relieve you at midnight.” They patted her on the arm and went back inside.

It was a cloudy night so what little light she could get from the moon shone in the yard dimly in moving patches.  Ymir shouldered her rifle and aimed toward the gap in the trees that marked the beginning of the driveway.  Unfortunately, the driveway came in at an angle so she couldn’t see but twenty or thirty feet down the road.

Onyankopon almost missed the driveway.  The live oaks with their drapings of Spanish moss hung over the drive and disguised the gap in the trees.  He crept down the driveway a few hundred feet and got out of the car.  Using a small flashlight he inspected the sandy drive.  There were the tire tracks of at least three cars.

Satisfied, he checked his ammo and began walking through the darkness.  He passed two dilapidated old buildings one on the left one on the right but they were clearly uninhabited.  He had no fear of being alone in the darkness.  The thought of ghosts or axe murderers or alligators didn’t faze him.

After a few minutes he could have sworn he heard voices.  He listened intently and eased sideways into the trees and off the driveway.  He moved through the brush and vines and around trees easily.

Abruptly the house loomed out of the blackness.  He drew his gun and watched.  The house faced the driveway and there was a small building—presumably a garage—off to the left that looked like it was about to fall down.

There were two rental cars parked in front of the house, neither one the black Tahoe.  He looked at the garage’s shut door.  It could be in there.

The only worrying part was that the yard was this largish expanse of sand and a few patches of grass  There was absolutely no cover.

Onyankopon stood still and silent, waiting for his eyes to adjust to the faint light.  Abruptly he heard a noise, like a slap.  There was someone on the front porch—obviously keeping watch.  The slapping noise came again and he realized that whoever it was was killing mosquitos.

He couldn’t see onto the porch. The roof cast the whole porch in darkness..  He could see that the front door was open with just a screen door to keep out the insects because of a light on deep inside the house.

He waited patiently.

Mosquitos whined past his ears.  The slapping noises were growing less and less frequent.

Something crashed through the underbrush and Onyankopon cursed to himself but the slaps never returned.  After many long minutes he heard what he was listening for; a gentle snore.

Waiting for the clouds to cover the sliver of moon Onyankopn slipped out of the woods and quickly walked toward the porch.  He paused at the bottom of the steps letting eyes acclimate.  He stood with his hand on his gun and looked at the woman sitting in the rocker.  She had a rifle and a handgun on her lap and was sound asleep.  He should just kill her where she sat but any good assassin—like the ones he was looking for; Hange Zoe and Levi Ackerman—would recognize the sound of a silenced shot.  He needed the element of surprise.

He gingerly stepped up on the lowest step, then the next, then the next, moving in slow motion.  The top step squeaked under his shiny black shoe and he froze, finger on the trigger of his gun.  The woman slept on.
 
The doors to the bedrooms were all open to allow for the circulation of air and everyone had a fan.  The noise cover helped Onyankopon sneak by undetected.  He peered in the first bedroom.  Some blond woman. Then the second; two blonds, man and woman, In each others arms.  The end bedroom held one of his intended targets; Hange Zoe, sprawled out on the bed, alone.  He frowned.  He had assumed that Ackerman and Zoe were lovers.  So where was Ackerman?  He backtracked and looked into the only room on the left.  His other target was in there lying on his back, the long limbs of a young man sleeping beside him thrown across his body and legs.

Onyankopon, who couldn’t care less, just regretted that there was this young man in the bed with Ackerman.  He had hoped both of his marks would be in the same bed, making for an easy, quick kill.  Then he’d just shoot his way out.  Easy as pie.

He carefully aimed at Ackerman’s tousled head.  He’d just do these two and hope that everyone else took a few precious moments to wake up.

“Who the hell are you?!”

Onyankopon spun around, marks momentarily forgotten he was so startled.
 
Moblit was in just his drooping sleep pants as he shuffled out of the bathroom.

There was a man outside Levi and Eren’s room.

For a second Moblit could only gape, wide eyed.

The man was tall and dark-skinned and handsome.  He was wearing a black silk suit like an undertaker and had a gun holster under each arm very much

not

like an undertaker.

“Who the hell are you?!”

There were a brief few seconds and Moblit stepped closer.  The man suddenly snapped out of his thrall and started to raise his gun.  Moblit leaped the couple of feet forward and threw his arm over the man’s arm, pinning it against his side and forcing the gun down.

Moblit pounded Onyankopon’s hand with the gun in it against the wall until he dropped it.  Moblit kicked it away.

“Levi!”

Levi was awake instantly.  He could see the silhouette of Moblit and Onyankopon struggling outside their room.  He snatched his gun off of the nightstand and elbowed Eren.

“Oww!  Wha—?”

Eren scrabbled for his gun.  Levi, unable to take the shot for fear of hitting Moblit, threw his gun on the bed, darted out the door and climbed Onyankopon’s back like a monkey.

By that time, Ymir, Hange, and Annie were all armed and trying to get a shot in.  It was impossible with the three men grappling.  Moblit reached into Onyankopon’s jacket and extracted his second gun, losing his hold on it immediately.  It hit the floor, discharged, and the bullet narrowly missed Annie, burying itself in the doorframe.

They struggled into the kitchen and Onyankopon rammed Moblit’s back into the kitchen table.  Moblit winced and loosened his grip but was made of sterner stuff and never let go.  Onyankopon took advantage of the slight freedom to reach over his shoulder and pull Levi bodily over his head like a sweatshirt, throwing him upside down against the china cabinet.  Levi slid down the front of the cupboard to lie on the floor groaning.

That was all Eren needed to fire his rage.  He charged the bigger man, hitting him in the back and hammering his kidneys with both fists.  Onyankopon grunted and, putting one big hand in Moblit’s face, pushed him away and reached for Eren grabbing him by his long hair and spinnig him around in front of himself.  Eren stumbled back against the back door screen and Hange and Annie took a shot, hitting Onyankopon in the shoulder and in the arm.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Annie’s shot, which had hit Onyankopon in the arm went straight through the meat and into Eren’s arm.  Eren groaned and bent over holding the wound.

Onyankopon didn’t seem to notice his own wounds.  He charged Eren like a linebacker, hitting him right in the gut and pushing him backwards.  Eren hit the back door and the screen door gave way with a crack and both were propelled outside.  Eren landed on his back on the worn boards of the back porch and Onyankopon, because of his tremendous momentum, stumbled right off the edge and fell into the black water of the swamp with a huge splash.

For a moment there wasn’t even a ripple, just the gentle lapping of the water against the pilings.

Levi appeared in the doorway, disheveled and pointing his gun.  “The fuck?  Where is he?”

Eren gestured towards the water just as Onyankopon reappeared.  He splashed and floundered.  The local ‘gators noticed him, drawn to the upset water, sliding sinuously towards him.

Hange bolted out the door, assessing the situation quickly. “Shoot him!”

Eren picked himself up off the floor holding his arm.  “Why?  He’s no threat.  He doesn’t even have his gun.  He might have informa—”

Levi shot Onyankopon neatly in the forehead as Eren spoke.

“Wha—?”

“Do you remember that scene in Aliens where Vasquez and Gorman are in the air duct and the aliens are about to catch them so Gorman arms an explosive and blows them both up?” Hange asked earnestly.

Eren shook his head as if to clear it. “Jesus, yeah but what …?”

“It was to keep the aliens from getting them.  It was preferable to blow up than get killed by the aliens.”

Levi gestured at the body of Onyankopon floating face down.  A massive ripple in the water arrowed in toward the body from under the house and The Captain’s broad snout appeared.  He latched onto the assassin's body and, despite its bulk, dragged it under easily.  The water smoothed out afterwards as if nothing had been there.

“Jesus Christ!” Eren said, his voice high and young sounding.

“Well, that’s that,” Hange said.  “The end of all this bullshit.”

Levi patted Eren on the arm and turned to go back inside.

Eren plucked at his shirt.  “B-but won't he

eat

him?”

Levi stopped.  “He will.  Waste of a gorgeous suit.  Think of it as recycling.”

Eren looked a bit green and Levi rubbed his back.

“Circle of life, Kid”
 
That evening they gathered around the table to eat fried chicken and decompress.  The house shook with Captain underneath rolling and hitting the pillars.  No one explained to Eren the fine details of it. (‘gators submerge their larger prey to drown it, then they roll over and over—the ‘death roll’—to dismember the body into bite-sized chunks.)

Annie was talking excitedly about something that Armin had done and Armin was beet red listening to her praise.  The rest of the crew was so shocked that Annie was talking that they listened with rapt attention.

“And so …” Annie looked down at her hands. “And so I’m gonna retire.”

“What?” Hange said around a chicken leg.

Annie put a slender hand on Armin’s thigh.  “We’re getting married.”

Krista gripped her hands together in front of her face and squealed.

“Oh my god, that’s wonderful!” Eren said.

Levi reached for another piece of chicken.  “Don’t get too excited.”

Eren frowned. “Well, it’s not like you would ask me to marry

you

.”

Levi froze and blinked.  “You would marry me?”

“In a heartbeat.”

Levi went red and scratched at his jaw. “Huh.”

They settled back into their old routine.  Hange had called both the Reisses and the Stockmans to make sure they were clear on the arrangement. Eren essentially took Annie's place and they came back together in some random motel room to get paid and get their next assignments.  Levi and Eren got a tiny house in a quiet neighborhood and installed Georgie in it.  They continued to frequent Hange’s house out in the Everglades and had added the Crab Shack as a destination.

They were at the Crab Shack a couple of weeks later eating shrimp and Eren and Ymir were trying to goodnaturedly outdo each other with tales of hits.

Levi dropped a shrimp shell on the floor and immediately got down on one knee to retrieve it.

“Eren Yeager?”

Eren, who had been talking to Krista. Startled and looked around.

“What in the world are you doing on the floor you’ll get your—”

Levi held up a small box.

“Will you marry me?”

Krista squealed so loud that the regulars at the bar jumped.  Eren, his knuckles

stuffed into his mouth, couldn’t make a sound.  He simply nodded and burst into tears, flinging himself into Levi’s arms.