Chapter Text
The morning after was decidedly not as awkward as it should’ve been. Eren was the first to wake up and found that he had somehow ended up on his back with a not-so-heavy Levi laying on his chest. He didn’t want to move so he wouldn’t wake the man, so instead he just looked at the outline of Levi face in the soft rays of sun that crept through the cracks in the window.
He was breathtakingly beautiful. Eren couldn’t see his whole face because of the angle, but he could see his nose and his mouth and his jawline, all colored a soft pale. He looked relaxed. It was the first time Eren had seen him without a scowl. A smile tugs at his lips, getting larger every time he thought about the situation he’s in.
He doesn’t know how long the time it took for Levi to wake up was, but he felt like it was pushing past half an hour when the small body began to shift in his arms. Soon there was a pair of smoky gray eyes looking up at him. He could tell Levi was trying to look grumpy, but ended up looking like a pouty puppy.
“Good morning, Captain,” Eren said softly and earned a heated glare in response that looked about as threatening as kitten.
“Shut up, Jaeger.”
Eren was already fully aware that Levi wasn’t a morning person so the grumpy words only made him giggle, which made the glare harden. “Do you wanna go get some coffee, sir?” Since Levi always seemed slightly easier to deal with after a steaming cup of black sludge in the morning.
“No,” the older man pouted at him before laying his head back on Eren’s chest.He wanted to stay right where he was obviously. He liked this cuddling. But, sadly, the sun was out now and if they were to stay in bed, someone would end up finding the two of them. That someone would probably be Hange and they were terrible with secrets. “But we should go anyway.”
The boy nodded and began to sit up, only to be pushed right back down by an unhappy Levi. “In a few minutes,” was what he added as he readjusted himself so he could lay on the boy comfortably.
Eren’s stomach turned to butterflies and a soft smile spread on his face. The room was quiet now, but not an awkward quiet. They both laid in each other’s presence and at some point they lost track of time. It wasn’t until almost a whole hour later that Levi reluctantly began to shift away. He only blinked at the childish disappointment on Eren’s face.
He then, as he sat back on the bed so he was sitting up and looking down upon the boy, felt a sudden want to thank Eren again for what he had done. He quickly erased this thought in disgust with himself. One thank you was sappy enough for him. But, as he looked down, he also felt himself admiring how great Eren looked first thing in the morning light. Ruffled hair, rumpled clothes, and a sleepy smile.
Eren, on the other hand, was staring up a Levi’s face with that soft smile. The man was apparently an adorable grumpy when he first woke up and that was honestly the best thing ever. He just wanted to kiss the pouty lips and- no, what was he thinking? Cuddling was way different than kissing. Levi probably wouldn’t want that.
“You’re an idiot.”
The words dragged Eren’s thoughts away and replaced them with confusion. “What? Why?”
Levi shrugged half heartedly. “You just are,” he said simply. Then he began to climb over Eren to get off the bed. His leg, which was tangled in the blanket still, made him almost, not-so-gracefully fall. What was with him today? He would have landed hard on the floor had Eren not quickly sat up to steady him. Goddammit, Levi was gonna owe him a lot of favors by the end of this.
“You okay?” Eren asked quickly, half worried, half amused. His hands were still on Levi, burning holes where they sat on his waist and his arm. Levi could feel his heart racing in his chest, but in a good way. Oh God, it was like he was a teenage girl with a crush.
Levi immediately pulled away from the touch. The warm sensation lessened, but still was lingering softly. Now standing, Levi began to fix his sleep stirred night clothes in the most OCD way possible. He then looked back at the boy, “I need to get dressed, brat.”
Eren’s big, golden eyes looked at him blankly for a mere second before they filled with realization. “Oh.” He quickly began to scramble out of the bed, almost taking the Levi route and tripping clumsily over himself. It took only seconds for him to hobble to the door. His hand reached out and touched the knob. but he stopped there.
He turned back towards his superior once more and looked him over. It wasn’t a “I’m checking him out,” look, it was one of last glance worry. He was very surprised to see his Captain so terrified the night before and now he was concerned for the guy’s well being. He didn’t seem to realize that Levi had done this before.
“What’re you looking at?” Levi asked with an itch of annoyance in his voice.
Eren realized he had been staring and immediately glanced away. “Sorry..." He then gave Levi another up and down look. "...but are you sure you’re okay?” Memories of Levi shaking in fear flashed through his mind. He had never seen his Captain lose his cool and to see that... well it was a tad scary.
“I’m fine.” His voice said that he was serious. He didn’t want some brat worrying over him as if he were some wimpy kid who got a little scared. That’s what he had been trying to avoid since he first realized that his fear of storms was not one that adults dealt with. His gray eyes formed a glare. “Leave.”
The boy bit his lip and looked like he wanted to say something, but he followed his orders and left the room, slowly closing the door behind him. Out of his lips came a sigh of disappointment. He probably made Levi mad at him for not leaving sooner. Why the hell did he ask that?
He left the door and headed to his own room near the downstairs dungeon. It was his own personal room he had gotten for being good. It was then he realized that he was in the same clothes that he was wearing the day before. They were crinkled and now looked slept in(they were). He changed into a new outfit that looked exactly the same as the last, just cleaner and more suitable for the outside world.
He had just pulled on his military issued jacket when he finally realized what had really happened before. He had seen Levi at his worse. Levi never let anyone see him like that. Would that change how Levi treated him? Would his attitude become better or worse? Eren shuddered at the idea of his captain’s wrath getting worse.
In a better thought, he realized how nicely it could end if Levi decided to go the opposite direction and treat him better. He didn’t seem to dislike what happened but he also wasn’t so particularly fond of it either near the end there. Eren was confused on what to think. Was Levi mad? Was he just frustrated?
Eren sighs.
There’s a knock at his door... Levi, perhaps? Maybe he stopped by to kick his ass? Or maybe he wanted to talk or something. The former seemed more likely to the teen’s panic stricken brain. With this thought, Eren was immediately hesitant to answer it. He stood there a moment, holding his breath and trying to decide whether dying now or later would be a better option.
He would have chose later, but curiosity easily bested his child-like, and very action controlled, mind and he opened the door. A blonde haired boy with big blue eyes stood behind it. A sigh of relief fell from his lips. It was only Armin.
Armin explained he had been looking for Eren the night before and was concerned that he was nowhere to be found when he was needed. This was shrugged off by the brunette and he only said, “I got sidetracked and ended up sleeping somewhere else.” It wasn’t too vague, but if one were suspicious, they’d think he slept in a bed with another person after he stayed in their room. That’s what happened, of course, but no one needed to know that.
They both continued to talk as Armin told him of what happened while he was missing the night before. He was told a fabulous story about how Armin found out there was baby birds in some nest near his dorm and how he had saved them from the storm. It was a very “Armin” deed and was very nice. Also, the story distracted Eren from the fact he was supposed to be going to breakfast, but his stomach decided to remind him with a loud growl.
The two went to breakfast. Breakfast was the same as always...
Levi was the same as always, as if nothing happened the night before. He was sitting at the breakfast table, drinking coffee, and obviously tolerating Hange’s rambling about something to do with titans. Eren didn’t know he was staring until gray eyes met his golden ones. He half expected some sort of response. Maybe eyes lighting up, or a glare? But no. Levi’s eyes met his for a moment then immediately turned away, as if they hadn’t.
There was a hurt pang in his chest and he tried not to show it by turning towards Armin and actually paying attention to what he was saying. After Mikasa showed up, the breakfast became so normal that the night before felt unreal. Maybe he’d only been dreaming?
No, it was certainly reality, but the way Levi ignored him made him feel unimportant. As if Levi didn’t like what had happened and regretted it. Maybe the Captain didn’t like him at all and what happened was him just tolerating Eren because he needed someone to cling to. The thought made Eren feel nauseous and used.
These thoughts dragged on through breakfast and it made him unable to eat. About halfway through, he stood from the table and excused himself, leaving quickly so no one could question him. He spent the rest of the morning training until he couldn’t think straight. It was a bad idea since led to his muscles aching and today was his day for stable clean up.
He knew he couldn’t get out of it, so he went. It was nice to see his usual horse and such, but it was tiring just to clean out that single stall. There was only about twelve stalls in this barn(the other horses were in different barns and they’d be cleaned by other kids) so there wasn’t too much to do. Might as well get started.
When he was on the fourth stall, he heard someone come into the stables. He glanced out and was shocked to see Levi standing there. He wasn’t looking at Eren, he probably didn’t even know he was in there, he was looking into a stall that Eren hadn’t gotten to yet.
Eren ducked back into the tiny space, being sure to hide behind the wall. The white and black horse in the stall with him whinnied at his sudden anxiety, as though it could feel it. He put his finger to his lips and shushed it. He got a snort in return.
There was a few shuffling footsteps and the horse whinnied again, this time at something outside the stall. Eren sucked in a breath before looking towards the gate. Facing him was his captains cold stare. “What are you doing?”
Eren gulped and his grip on his broom tightened. “I-I’m cleaning, sir. I’m on stable duty.”
“It looks like you’re hiding.” Levi looked unimpressed and a maybe a little ticked off. His glare was a lot more intimidating when they both were fully awake, to be honest, and Eren was hoping his knees weren’t actually shaking. “Why?”
“I w-wasn’t,’ Eren lied. “I’m cleaning the inside of the stall because that’s how you clean stables.” He hadn’t had the time to figure out an excuse and he certainly wasn’t an expert at improvising.
For a split second, an unknown emotion flashed across Levi’s face. Was that maybe... hurt? No. Not possible. “Hm,” he didn’t seem to be too happy with the answer he was given. Bullshit wasn’t on his list of favorite things to deal with. “You’re terrible at cleaning. There are still dirty stalls in here.”
“I’m not finished yet,” Eren pointed out. Great, now he really sounded like he was sassing him. The captain was going to kill him.
“Then you’re slow,” was Levi’s response. Then his expression actually softened, but only by a bit. Quite a bit if you considered that it was Levi. “And you’re a little shit. Where have you been all day? I’ve been looking for you.”
This made the brunette confused and sincerely concerned. “I.. was training...?” He paused before asking, “Why were you looking for me?”
Maybe it was the bad lighting in the barn, or maybe it was just because he was crazy, but Eren could’ve sworn he saw some pink coloring those pales cheeks he wanted to kiss. “I’m not sure myself.” Levi attempted to avert his eyes, but failed. Their gazes stayed locked and both fell into a soft silence. Both were blushing like idiots and neither seemed to want to speak first.
The oreo speckled horse in the stall decided he’d take initiative in this situation. He whinnied loudly, the swung its head to shove Eren closer to the stall door, right where Levi stood. The broom fell from the boy’s grip and clunked against the wood. The two of them were practically face to face now with only a door separating them.
Eren would never be sure what caused him to lean in. Maybe it was Levi’s cute blush, or possibly it was the horse’s persistence that the two of them be together. Either way he found himself swooping down and placing a kiss right on his captains fairly soft, but also strong lips. Much to his surprise, Levi didn’t pull away or try to shove him away.
With the height of the stall being an obstacle, Levi had realized as the brat leaned down that he’d have to meet him halfway, which he gladly did. The kiss was timid, but nonetheless sweet. It was obvious this had been a first for the younger of the two. This made Levi’s heart swell in a way he’d never admit aloud.
It only lasted a second, but when they pulled away, they stared at one another for what felt like hours. Their interruption was the horse again. This time, whinnying in frustration that the two were still disturbing his stall. Eren laughed aloud whilst Levi let his lips form into a smile. Not because of the horse, no, but because the kid’s laugh was adorable.