Work Text:
Eren fidgeted uncomfortably under the scrutiny of the newest survey corps members. Tonight there was a party to celebrate the newest additions to the corps, but as usual, Eren was a walking specticle. The ‘monster’ titan shifter was always something for the new recruits to ogle at and no matter what he did, how friendly he was, they would keep a safe distance from him while staring for at least a few weeks. Eren sighed and let his head sink to the table he was sitting at with Mikasa and Armin. At least the dining hall was clean--and by proxy the table he was all but laying on at the moment. He and Levi had spent a good portion of the day making sure it was spotless together earlier.
“Hey, are you okay?” Armina asked softly.
Eren grunted. “Just tell me when they stop staring.”
“Who, the new recruits?” Mikasa asked, her eyes turning to the teens in question sharply.
Eren hummed in confirmation. “Yep. I’ll be here until they stop.”
“You know how it goes,” Armin gently shook Eren’s shoulder, trying to get him to sit up again. “They’re scared of you for a week or two, then they have the inevitable cleaning duty, Captain Levi chews them out for being terrible at it and you show them how to be better and suddenly you’re not scary, you’re a god.”
Mikasa snorted softly. “You remember Jean’s face when he realized that Captain Levi was just as much a stickler for cleaning as you are?”
Eren grinned, lifting his head. “Yeah. It was great. I thought he was going to cry. Finally someone could force him not to be nasty as hell all the time.”
“Helps that he’s not your bunkmate anymore, doesn’t it,” Armin teased. He knew how Eren had struggled with Jean’s habits when the other had bunked above him.
“He would wear his boots up to his bunk! And then throw them down ,” Eren shivered in horror. “Do you know how many times I had to clean his filth off the floor and my own bed?”
“Yes, yes I do,” Armin replied seriously. “We all slept in the same barracks. We all would hear you freaking out.”
Eren pursed his lips. “Sorry about that.”
“It’s fine,” Armin assured him. “But anyway, don’t worry about the new recruits. They’ll come around.”
“You never did tell us what Captain Levi thinks of your cleaning. You’d think, as the only person who is up to his standards, he would treat you a little better,” Mikasa chimed in after she had finished glaring down the new recruits.
“Ah…” Eren just managed to stifle down his blush. He and Levi had decided to keep their relationship a secret after the day the older man had fucked Eren into the table. While relationships between soldiers weren’t necessarily against the rules in the corps, it was frowned upon--and a relationship between an officer and their direct subordinate? Well there was definitely some rules about that . Mostly rules that would have Levi and Eren separated for the foreseeable future. Though, when Levi had mentioned that policy, Eren had pointed out that he had been allowed to go with the survey corps due to the fact that Levi had agreed to be the one who supervised and potentially killed Eren if it were necessary.
Levi’s mood had soured considerably at that point. He had gone so far as to storm off, which confused Eren, as they had just finished making love in Levi’s quarters and Eren suddenly found himself faced with either waiting for a possibly lethally angry Levi to return to his own room or sneaking out of the officer’s quarters without a scout to look ahead and make sure he wasn’t caught. In the end, Levi had come back while Eren was pulling on his clothes to try and sneak out on his own and apologized. Had explained that he didn’t want to think about the fact that he was tasked with killing Eren. Not anymore. Had also pointed out that his ability to do the task was already compromised and he didn’t want the government to have a reason to take Eren away.
So they kept it secret, even from Eren’s closest friends. It had been years at this point. Levi would treat Eren like shit on the field while training and then apologize for it in private with soft kisses. Eren suspected that Levi went out of his way to call Eren out for things he ordinarily would ignore--has ignored with other members of the corps--just so no one would notice the way they sometimes caught themselves gazing at each other.
“He, uh…” Eren bit his bottom lip. “Well… he never makes me clean anything again, so I guess he likes it?”
Mikasa narrowed her eyes and glared over at the officer’s table. “He’s so rude. Especially to you. I don’t know why you put up with it.”
Well, it may have something to do with the way he fucks me , Eren thought cheekily and realized he was gazing at Levi when the older returned the look with the same impassive mask of apathy he usually wore before raising one thin, perfect eyebrow, like he could read Eren’s mind. Eren hastily looked away. “He’s not that bad…”
“That’s a lie and you know it,” Mikasa crossed her arms.
Armin studied Eren’s face in a way that made him feel a bit transparent and very much uncomfortable so, Eren stood abruptly. “Well, I’ve had enough of being a public spectacle. I’m going to go back to my dungeon.”
Eren walked out of the dining hall and actually made it a few hallways before he slumped against the wall. He was tired. Tired of hiding, tired of being the monster, just tired. When footsteps approached from behind him, Eren straightened up and glanced over to see a few new recruits coming up to him. Unlike most, the seemed to be more determined than scared.
“You’re Eren Jaeger, right?” One of them asked.
“Yes,” Eren shrugged.
“The monster titan shifter,” another one clarified.
Eren sighed. “Yeah. That’s me. What do you want?”
In lue of replying, a fist connected with Eren’s jaw. Well , he thought, as the unexpected force threw him back hard enough that his head connected with the wall, at least they’re not scared of me . He went to lift his hands to defend himself, but in the end decided against it. For whatever reason, these kids were coming after him and pinning him as a monster. There was no point in proving them right by hitting back. It wasn’t like his titan healing abilities weren’t going to heal the wounds they left, anyway. So, instead, Eren allowed himself to sink to his knees and took the blows.
“Oi! What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” A familiar voice called out and suddenly the recruits were ripped away from him.
“Captain Levi!” The recruits seemed to be surprised.
“Don’t make me repeat myself,” Levi spat.
“The titan shifter destroyed our homes,” the leader bravely spoke up.
Levi seemed dumbstruck for a moment. “So… You just decided to go poke the beast with your self-righteous stick?”
“Uh…” the recruits seemed to not have an answer for that, which Eren thought was pretty funny, actually. What would these kids have done if Eren had decided to fight back? Or even to go titan on them?
“Don’t fucking move, you little shits, I’ll deal with you in a second,” Levi spat at the recruits before he crouched in front of Eren. “Jaeger, you okay?”
“Fine,” Eren muttered, wiping blood off his lip with his sleeve and then grimaced at it. “Laundry tonight,” he joked, weakly.
Levi didn’t smile. “Why’d you let them beat the shit out of you?”
“They think I’m a monster. Why prove them right? It’s not like you haven’t kicked my ass worse than anything they could do, Sir,” Eren straightened his back and studied a blank space on the wall behind the captain in order to keep himself from flinging himself at Levi so the older man could comfort him.
Levi’s jaw clenched. “Fuck it,” he muttered. “All of you are coming with me. You, too, Jaeger.”
“Captain…” Eren bit his lip, even as he obediently followed. “It’s fine, really.”
Levi marched all four of them back into the dining hall and all but dragged them before the officer’s table. “I just walked up on these three shits,” Levi pointed at the recruits. “Beating the fuck out of Jaeger and him just taking it. And then he had the balls to say that it didn’t fight back because he didn’t want to prove that he’s a monster. I expect there will be proper punishment.”
Erwin’s eyebrows shot up. “Absolutely there will be. We don’t tolerate violence in the ranks. Though it’s unlike you not to take it into your own hands, Levi.”
Levi crossed his arms over his chest. “I know, but I’m fucking sick and tired of this shit. Every new batch of recruits we get fucks with Jaeger until they realize he’s just a fucking puppy and I intend to put a stop to it right now.”
“Captain?” Eren shuffled forward. He could see the absolute rage radiating from Levi, but he was at a loss at how to calm him down in public like this.
Levi turned on him. “This brat,” he pointed at Eren. “Is my brat. You mess with him, I will fucking end you. That goes for any one of you.”
“Levi,” Eren hissed, and reached out to grab Levi’s arm before he could stop himself. “What are you doing?”
Levi looked at the hand on his arm for a moment before he looked up at Eren, reached up with his free hand to grab Eren by the back of his neck and pulled him down to kiss him fiercely. The entire dining hall was deathly silent as Levi kissed Eren until the brunette melted against him. “Mine,” Levi muttered as he pulled back, softly nipping at Eren’s lips like he knew the younger liked.
“Oh my god,” Eren groaned. “Years of sneaking around and now you’re doing this in front of the whole of the corps.”
“Yeah, as I said, fuck it,” Levi replied. Then he reached into his pocket and held out his closed fist. “Marry me. Marry me so everyone knows not to fuck with what’s mine.”
Eren blinked at the closed fist in front of him. “I already accepted, you know that.”
“And I told you that you didn’t accept shit,” Levi replied. “Are you gonna take it or not?”
“Um, Levi,” Eren said softly. “I think it’s worse for you to be asking out of frustration than it is for me to have accepted out of it.”
“So you’re not going to take it. Alright,” the tips of Levi’s ears were turning bright red, the only sign of embarrassment that he couldn’t suffocate down, as he stuffed his fist back into his pocket.
“I didn’t say that,” Eren said quickly and Levi paused. After a second Eren held out his hand, palm up. “Give it to me. I’ll take it.”
“Answer properly,” Levi said, not taking his hand out of his pocket. Eren could detect the undercurrent of nervousness in Levi’s voice that he was sure no one else could hear.
He smiled. “Yes, Captain Levi, I accept.”
Levi narrowed his eyes, knowing that Eren used his title as a sort of punishment for dragging this out. He pulled his hand out and motioned for Eren to turn his over. When Eren did, Levi slid a ring onto Eren’s finger. It was a plain silver band that glinted softly in the light. Eren smiled down at it, admiring it.
“Don’t lose it,” Levi muttered, very purposely studying Eren’s shoulder.
Erwin cleared his throat, breaking the moment. “Gentlemen, I think we should have a talk, yes?”
“Nope,” Levi replied, turning away from the officer’s table and striding towards the doors. Almost out of the room, he paused. “Coming, Jaeger?”
Eren sent a nearly terrified look at the commander before he scurried after Levi. Once they were several hallways away, Eren burst out laughing. “You just said no and walked out.”
“I’m not dealing with Erwin’s shit on the night I got engaged,” Levi shrugged.
“Arguably, that’s why he has shit to give,” Eren pointed out.
“Uh huh,” Levi shrugged noncommittally.
“You didn’t have to do that,” Eren said softly, gently tugging Levi’s arm so the older man stopped walking.
Levi sighed. “I know I didn’t. And I know I was the one who said we had to keep it a secret. And I know that you can take care of yourself. And I know that I’ve just set us up for all kinds of trouble. And yet, I have no regrets. Do you?”
Eren glanced down at his hand, now adorned with the silver band. “No.”
“Plus, there’s no one who can clean a bathroom like you can so I don’t think I’ve made a mistake,” Levi smirked.
“Levi,” Eren whined. “I knew it, you only love me for my cleaning skills!”
“Not true at all. Your ass is pretty nice, too,” Levi’s smirk widened and he turned away, striding down the hallway. “Come on, kid, you can stay in my room tonight. Also, you were right. Laundry tonight.”
Eren suffocated down his laughter and did his best to look offended by Levi’s teasing before he jogged down the hallway to keep up with the other man. There was no way he was going to turn down that invitation. Any hell they had to face for Levi’s public declarations could wait until tomorrow.