Chapter Text
Levi fucking hates crows.
Hates them.
Animals in general? Yeah, he's pretty much universally fond of those. Animals aren't people. They don't talk, and they're never cruel for the hell of it, and - even if they're stupid - it's normally harmless stupid.
Crows, though. Crows are loud and obnoxious and far too cunning and they never shut up; and they swarm the fucking battlefield like they’re getting paid to be there. The loss of life is already horrid enough, without some winged hellspawn making things worse.
So yeah. Crows. He’s not a fan.
Eren, of course –
Eren’s sitting outside on the well, tossing little bits of his bread to the crow skittering around his feet. Fluttering in close, and then jumping back again. Snatching each piece of bread almost before it hits the ground – and Eren’s smiling, a bit. Levi hasn’t seen enough of that, lately, and –
And the fact that he gives a fuck about Eren’s smile is a sign that Levi need to back the hell off.
He just – he doesn’t know how to put space between them.
Not when Eren still looks at him like Levi hung the moon. Not when Eren knows him, now – knows that he’s a snarky old jackass with a cleaning issue and an oh-so-witty repertoire of shit jokes; knows him as more than a flawless captain, now, and still looks at him like Levi’s the best thing he’s ever seen – and Levi shouldn’t be encouraging that. Should be getting meaner, maybe.
He can’t, though. Not when Eren’s eyes light up whenever Levi invites him to dinner in his room. Not when Eren’s actually relaxed a bit around him, smiling at him, and responding to his poor jokes instead of looking like a startled deer the entire time. Not when just being around the kid – this bright-eyed, angry, desperate, brave-as-fuck kid who Levi cares way too much about – is enough to quiet his head. Enough to make him not notice the dirt clinging to the cottage walls, and –
It’s horrible. It’s dangerous. It’s an entire world of wrong.
Really, Levi should be quietly and calmly running in the other direction.
But – he’s not.
And he really doesn’t fucking want to.
Wants, instead, to go down into that courtyard and watch that horribly cute kid play with that shitty little horrid bird. Settles for resting his arms on the window ledge – just cleaned – and watching. Only realizes there’s really not all that much distance between them – realizes that he’s probably not being subtle at all – when Eren throws the rest of his bread to the crow and slides off the well, turning towards the cottage as he brushes some of the grunge off his pants and looks up –
Levi goes still. Eren’s looking right at him.
For a moment, all that happens is that Eren’s jaw drops.
Then, slowly, hesitantly, Eren raises a hand. Waves up at him, looking horribly awkward, and a bit like he kind of wants to sink into the ground, and – fuck. Levi’s got his hand in the air. When did he even – watches as Eren stares at him for a moment longer, before his face splits into a grin that just looks so genuinely absolutely happy; and it's so cute, so horribly cute, why is this even happening to him –
Levi ducks back inside, and puts a hand over his face.
Fuck.
Fuck.
He just hung out of the window and watched Eren play with a damn bird, and his heart's slamming hard enough to damn near crack through his ribs.
He’s in so much trouble.