Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“When I said I needed a break from the real world, working at your camp wasn’t really what I had in mind.” Levi said in an agitated voice as he filled out the new hire papers, which were why more extensive then he thought was really necessary.

“This is what happens when you make decisions drunk, Levi.” Erwin said in an exasperated voice, not bothering to look up from his computer.

“Maybe you shouldn’t be hiring people who are drunk off their asses to work with kids.” Levi countered. Erwin sighed, but did not respond, because he knew Levi did not mean it.

Levi grumbled, but continued to fill out the paperwork that would make him the new Head Ropes Course Instructor at Camp Titan. It is in the middle butt fuck nowhere, which is exactly what Levi needed right now. He just found out his fiancé had been cheating on him and in his distraught state he royally screwed up a major case at his law firm and got himself fired. His entire life had fallen apart in the span of a week.

            In a poor decision to go out to the bars and get wasted alone, Levi had called up Erwin who was the camp director of Camp Titan begging Erwin to let him work there. At the time it had seemed like a great decision. He would be out of the city; there was virtually no service so he wouldn’t be tempted to call his ex-fiancé. The only thing Levi had forgotten was that working at a camp meant working with kids.  But seeing as at the moment Levi literally had no better options, he found himself sitting in Erwin’s office scribbling in his social security number onto a bunch or paper work so he could spend his summer babysitting a bunch of dirty kids.

            Erwin, in his graciousness, had decided to make Levi the Head Ropes Course Instructor, which meant he would be primarily in charge of managing and leading kids on the challenge course, with a team of other instructors. This meant his interaction with children would be limited to meals, all camp events, and when they were actually on the course. He would even be living with the other administrative staff in a separate building from the kids. It was actually on the opposite side of camp from where the kids stayed.

            Levi was a late hire, but luckily he had his break down just in time to get ropes certified, as Erwin had joked. Erwin had been excited to add Levi to his team, saying he could never get a Head Ropes Course Instructor to stay the whole summer. They always tended to leave part way through, forcing Erwin to either take over the role himself or make one of the other instructors take it over. That had made Levi question if the job was really worth it, but it seemed like a better option than being a janitor. At least at the camp he would have free room and board.

So for the last two weeks Levi got certified to lead the challenge course with a team of four other counselors. It had been a grueling experience, but he assumed that was the point. He was glad he kept himself in shape or he would not have been able to keep up with his much younger team. Finally though ropes’ training was over and they had a day off. The next day the rest of the staff was supposed to arrive and in another two weeks the campers would start pouring in.

Erwin was starting to go into hyper mode with planning out the details for the rest of the summer. Levi hadn’t realized all the work that went into running a camp, he had always just assumed kids showed up and were entertained by the outdoors. He hadn’t realized every week had its own theme that had special programs planned around each one. It made sense though, if 120 kids were going to be there for the entire summer, they couldn’t really expect them to do the same thing week after week.

Once Levi had finished filling out his paperwork he threw it onto Erwin’s desk before heading down to the main Lodge. The Lodge was where all of the meals and indoor all-camp events were held. It was a large building with just one room and a back kitchen space. It was made of wood with a large brick fireplace on one end giving it a rustic feel. All of the staff that was currently on camp was currently there eating dinner.

The Lodge was down a steep hill from Erwin’s office, but Levi didn’t mind the walk, which took about five minutes. The camp was about 450 acres of sprawling woods. Trails went all through out the camp, each leading to a different feature of the camp. There was a small lake on the camp where the kids could learn how to canoe and swim. There were horses as well, but Levi hadn’t had the chance to meet them yet. He had met the horse wrangler, Dita though. He seemed all right, he kept mainly to the horses and Levi respected that.

Levi had always wondered what had made Erwin quit his corporate job to move out to the middle of nowhere to run a camp, but now that he was here he could kind of understand the appeal. As he walked down the hill he looked around at beautiful natural landscape that seemed so foreign to Levi who had spent his whole life in large cities.

As Levi entered the Lodge calls of his name rung out. Internally Levi groaned as he looked for a place to sit. His options were limited as there currently was only enough staff to barely fill two tables. He could either sit with the ad staff, or with his fellow ropes course instructors. He knew he was better off sitting with his team, after two weeks of intensive training they had become surprisingly close, which Levi had not expected.

“Hey Levi. Finally finish filling out your paper work?” Petra said as Levi sat down in a seat next to her. Levi made an affirmative noise as he started to help himself to the food.

That night they were having turkey and mash potatoes. He served himself a generous helping, as the food had been better than he was expecting. The cook, Mike who had an odd habit of sniffing things had turned out to actually be pretty decent. Although Erwin had warned that the quality of cook went down, as Mike had to cook for larger groups of people.  He also figured his choices in food would be limited to things that they could actually get kids to eat such as chicken nuggets and hamburgers. Mike had informed them there would always be a station out at every meal for kids that refused to eat the meal to get sunflower seed and jelly sandwich’s. Apparently due to allergies the Mike wasn’t allowed to give them peanut butter.

“Are you excited to meet the new staff tomorrow?” Petra continued trying to strike up a conversation. She was a nice enough person, but Levi really wasn’t in the mood for conversation tonight, not that he ever was.

“It doesn’t really matter to us, since we will primarily be working with each other.” Eld another member of the team pointed out.

“Expect we are all unit counselors as well so we will be living an working with the rest of the staff when we aren’t on the course.” Gunther pointed out.

“Expect Levi.” Petra said.

“Expect Levi.” They all agreed.

“Levi is basically ad staff, so he will be too busy to deal with the units.” Oluo said. Levi rolled his eyes at that. It was true, but it wasn’t really necessary to point out.

“What unit do you hope you are placed in?” Petra asked ignoring Oluo. “I think I want to be in Rose with the middle schoolers.” She said thoughtfully. Levi was a little surprised by that.

“I would have thought you would want to be in Sina with the elementary schoolers.” Levi said. The petite strawberry blonde had come off as a nurturing mother to Levi, so he would have placed her with the youngest age group. Petra scrunched up her nose in dislike.

“Everyone thinks I would be good with little kids, but they are a little too rowdy for me. It is hard to get them to do what you want them to.” She said taking a bit of her mash potatoes. “The middle schoolers are just older enough to be able to take care of themselves but are still young enough to worship their counselors, which makes it much easier to handle them.” She continued. Everyone nodded in agreement. The rest of the team expressed their hopes to be in Maria, which even though had the worst living conditions, had the oldest age group.

The camp was broken up into three units where the children and counselors lived. Each unit would do activities together and general be together. Each of the units corresponded to an age group and living conditions. Sina was the smallest unit, made up of dormitories and held the elementary schools. It was considered the ‘nicest’ of the three units. Rose was the next largest and held the middle schoolers and some mature fifth graders. It was made up of cabin units. The last and largest unit was Maria, which held the high schoolers in tent units. Levi was continually glad he would not be living any of the units.

After Levi finished his meal he took his plate back to the kitchen to be washed and discreetly exited the lodge. The rest of the staff was going to start playing games to ‘get to know each other better,’ but Levi knew he would get enough of that once the rest of the staff arrived. He trudged his way up the hill to Erwin’s office. It was dark out and Levi had yet to purchase a flashlight so he blindly tried to follow the path up the hill.

As he expected, Erwin was still in his office with a plate of turkey and mash potatoes, Mike always made sure to send a plate up to Erwin, knowing he was too busy to come down. The door banged shut loudly as Levi entered the office, plopping down into the extra chair Erwin kept by his desk. Erwin saved what he was doing and actually moved his chair so he could look directly at Levi. That was when Levi knew something was up. For the last two weeks he had been sneaking away after dinner to come up and sit in Erwin’s office and not once had Erwin stopped what he was doing.

“So I have good news and bad news.” Erwin started as Levi’s frown deepened. “The good news is that I have finally found someone to fill in as the Assistant Camp Director, the bad news is they will be living in the ad staff house, which means there is no longer room for you.” Erwin said studying Levi.

“And where will I be living?” Levi asked slowly, not liking where this was going.

“You will have to live in one of the units with the other unit counselors.” Erwin said quickly.

“Why can’t I live with you?” Levi asked desperately. He knew that Erwin had his own house on the campsite. He had been to it before; it was too large for just Erwin, so he knew that there wasn’t an issue of room.

“That wouldn’t work. It doesn’t let you be as accessible as I need you to be.” Erwin said rejecting Levi’s last hope.

Panic started to build up in Levi. He was going to have to live in one of the units, with actual kids. There was no way he could do this. Dealing with during the day was one thing, but having to put them to be and deal with their night problems was a whole other story. That was it; he would have to quite and move to another city. He had a pretty impressive resume; some law firm would surely take him. He should have enough money saved up to last him until he found a job. The panic must have been evident on his face because Erwin quickly jumped in to reassure him.

“You would still not be a unit counselors, you would just live with them.  Any problems the kids have at night will be handled by one of the other counselors.“ Erwin assured.

Levi started to calm down and think about it rationally. It really wouldn’t be that bad living in the units. The counselors all had separate sleeping areas from the kids, so he wouldn’t really be with them. If a kid came to the door at night he could just shove them off on one of the other counselors. He would definitely rather be here, than trying to find a job in the city.

Besides he would probably be placed with the older kids who would not be that bad. Everyone talked about how the older kids never really caused any trouble and were able to manage themselves. That was something Levi knew he could handle. If there was a problem he would just pawn it off to someone else. He would be spending his day on the ropes course everyday anyway so he wouldn’t spend that much time with the kids.

“Fine.” Levi said accepting his fate. Erwin had a surprised look on his face. He had not been expecting Levi to give in that easily. Levi was to tired and broken to fight it anymore. Clearly his life was not going to go the way he wanted, so it was better to not fight it anymore. If that meant living with a bunch of kids then so be it, he would live with a bunch of kids.

“I am glad you are taking this so well. When the rest of the staff arrive please play nice because I will be placing you in a until based on how well you work with the rest of the unit staff.”

“I’ll play nice if they do.” Levi said dryly before storming out of the office.

Chapter Text

Erwin had positioned Levi in health check for staff check in. He had said he wanted the staff to experience what the campers would experience when they arrived on check in day, which meant every staff member would need to be checked for lice and general health. He quickly gave Levi the run down of how to do a lice check before hurrying back to his office.

            Levi shuffled around the room they had made up for health checks. It was located in the same building as Erwin’s office, which was commonly referred to at the camp as the Big House. The room was medium sized and could probably fit about twenty kids comfortably. It had white walls and white marble flooring. There was also a fireplace that looked like it hadn’t been used in years to Levi.

            At least being on health check meant he would not have to be in what was referred to as the Blue room, which was where all of the new counselors where been herded into. Levi would have to meet each counselor one on one, but at least he had a script to follow, so he didn’t have to worry about trying to make small talk with a bunch of college students.

            The first staff to go through health checks was the other ropes course instructors. Each came in one at a time, as Levi read them a prepared statement asking if they had been feeling alright and to sit down and take their shoes and socks off. He grimaced, disgusted every time he had to bend over to inspect one of their feet. It was very clear to him that few knew how to properly wash their feet. They may be at camp, but that wasn’t an excuse for poor hygiene.

            The ropes course instructors in combination with ad staff would be acting as the ‘counselors’ for the new staff. Once all of his team had filed through, Levi was left in Limbo waiting for the new staff to arrive. He laid down on the couch, which was probably not a good idea to have a cloth couch in a room you were checking for lice in, while he waited. He was about to nod off when he heard Erwin loudly welcome someone. Quickly Levi rolled off the couch and stuck his head out of the room to see the new arrival. He felt his face pale as he saw a kid who would not have believed was 18 if did not know the age requirement to work there, was standing in front of Erwin turning in his paperwork looking like he was about to shit his pants. Levi felt very, very old suddenly.

            Realizing that the kid would be heading his way in a moment Levi turned back into his room. He grabbed a fresh pair of gloves and got his clipboard ready. The boy walked into the room and nervously looked over at Levi, who noticed that just barely taller than he was, which annoyed him. He remembered that Erwin had told him to be friendly, so Levi tried to smile at the boy, but it must not have come across very well because the boy visibly flinched.

            “Come in and take seat. Please take your shoes and socks off for me.” Levi said gesturing toward the chair in the middle of the room. The boy hurried to sit down, stumbling a little as he pulled off his shoes.

            “What is your name?” Levi asked looking down at the clipboard.

            “Armin Arlert.” The boy said in a quiet voice, that Levi almost didn’t hear. Dear god, this boy was going to be eaten alive, Levi thought as jotted the name down. He moved so he was standing behind the boy.

            “I’m just going to check to see if you have lice.” Levi said before starting to run his hands through the boys blond hair. It was silent for a moment before Levi remembered he was supposed to be asking more questions. “How have you been feeling lately?” Levi asked. He could tell by the way the boy stiffened that he didn’t understand the question. “Like, have you been sick lately? Had a cough? Had a sore throat?” Levi explained, turning the boy’s head so he could expect the side.

            “Nope. I’ve been fine.” Armin squeaked. Levi made a mental note to check him off on the clipboard. Once he had finished checking Armin’s hair he moved to check his feet.

            “Lift your feet.” Levi ordered. Armin looked at him a little confused. “I need to see if you have any fungus or anything weird on your feet.” Levi explained. “Now feet up.” He ordered gesturing up with his pen. He peered at Armin’s feet and deemed them good. They were also significantly cleaner than that of anyone’s before him.

            “You are good. You can go out that door and someone will take you to where you need to be.”  Levi said busy writing things down on the clipboard. He heard a weak thank you and the opening and closing of the door. As soon as the door was closed he heard a loud welcome from Oulo who was acting as a unit leader. Levi rolled his eyes and went to the other entrance to the room.

            “Next.” He called before retreating.

            The rest of the morning went about the same. Most of the people who came into health check were nervous and fidgety. Levi knew he wasn’t doing anything to put them at ease, and that Erwin would probably scold him about it later, but he didn’t really care. All of these people where adults they should be able a little cold-shoulder.

            As people passed through Levi tried to keep an eye out for people he thought he could handle living with. The pickings didn’t look good, but Levi guessed he shouldn’t really be judging people based off of the tops of their heads and feet. Although how one cares for their personal hygiene was a major factor in livability. The steady stream of counselors that had seemed to be poring in all morning final slowed down to a grinding halt.

            Levi decided to start packing up the room. He folded up the chair, dragging it to the other room where it normally resided. While trying to stack the chair neatly he heard a call from the other room.

            “Hello? I am here for my health check.” A slightly hesitant voice called. Levi sighed, grabbing to chair to drag back to the other room.

            “Ok, brat let’s get this over with.” Levi said in an annoyed voice slamming the chair down loudly. He heard an angry huff from the boy, which he proceeded to ignore.

            “Sit down, shoes and socks off.” Levi said grabbing a pair of gloves. “Name?” He asked.

            “Eren Yeager.” He said in what Levi could tell was an annoyed voice.

            “Well Eren, I am going to check your head for lice now, so lean forward.” Levi said. He started to knead his hand through the chocolate brown hair in front of him. It was looked like the boy had just gotten out of bed, how unruly the hair was. At least he didn’t have to worry about messing the guy’s hair up.

            “Um. I think you are doing it wrong.” Eren said, making Levi stop, hand still in Eren’s hair.

            “Excuse me. I have been giving lice checks all morning. I think I know how.” Levi said, yanking a little harder than he probably should have on Eren’s hair to turn it so he could inspect the side.

            “I mean the health check. You are doing it wrong. You need to be more friendly otherwise the kids will get scare and are more likely to get homesick.” Eren explained.

            Levi fumed as he finished checking Eren’s hair. Who was this kid who looked like he was probably just 18, to tell Levi he was doing his job wrong. Sure he wasn’t the friendliest of people, but give him some credit. He didn’t intentionally scare children, no they got scared on their own. His face just helped them out a little bit.

            “Like you could do better.” Levi huffed.

            “Yeah, I probably can. Let me do it.” Eren said suddenly getting up. Levi took a step back in surprise. “Go out there and be the camper.” Eren ordered gesturing toward the door.

            Due to extreme shock at the gull of this kid, Levi actually followed that order. He stomped out of the room, slamming the door behind him. Out in the hallway Erwin gave him a confused look, but Levi offered no explanation. There was no way he was admitting to Erwin that some kid had kicked him out of his own station. Suddenly the door opened up reliving a beaming Eren.

            “Hello! We are ready for you in here, come on in.” Eren greeted warmly ushering Levi inside.

            “If you could take a seat right there and take off your shoes and socks for me, that would be great.” Eren said leading Levi to the chair. He quickly turned away from Levi to grab gloves.

            “What is your name?” Eren asked.

            “Levi.” A grumbled reply came reluctantly.

            “Nice to meet you Levi, my name is Eren and I will be one of your counselors this summer. I am just going to need to check you hair to see if you have lice.” Eren said moving to check Levi’s hair. “So Levi, what are you most excited to do here at camp?” Eren asked conversationally.  Levi remained silent. Was this brat serious? Getting paid was pretty much all Levi was looking forward to.  Eren didn’t seem to miss a beat when Levi didn’t answer.

            “Well your head look good. Have you been feeling alright lately? Have you or anyone in your family been sick lately?” Eren asked still smiling. It was starting to annoy Levi.

            “No.”

            “That is very good. Now I am just going to check your feet….It looks good. You can go ahead and put your shoes and socks back on and we can get you out to the rest of your unit.” Eren said as he wrote some stuff down on the clipboard. Once Levi had his shoes one, Eren escorted him to the door.

            “This is Levi.” Eren said to Oluo, who looked utterly confused. Eren then turned to Levi. “I hope you enjoy your stay here at Camp Titan and look forward getting to know you.” Eren said with one last smile.

Levi stared back, unsure if he what he was supposed to think of that performance. On the one hand he was impressed with the balls that the kid had to take over someone’s role like that, but then again he was offended that the kid had one uped him at his one job. He could tell Oluo was confused by the fact that he was staring at them open mouthed. Not wanting to loss face in front of his own team member, Levi grabbed Eren by the shirt and dragged him back onto the health checkroom.

“Listen here, brat. I don’t like to be disrespected by anyone, especially not those who are probably just barely legal.” Levi growled pushing Eren up against the wall. Levi was oddly proud that he was able to get Eren to drop that stupid smile. Now the kid was just staring at him confused.

“I didn’t mean to disrespect you, I just wanted to help you do your job better, since you didn’t seem to know how very well.” Eren blurted.

Levi stared at the kid dumbfounded. At this point he wasn’t sure if the kid was just dumb or had a death wish. He let go of the kid and took a step back, finally really looking at him. Eren was of average height, which already made him taller than Levi. He was wearing a tank top with the Camp Titan logo, which showed off his toned arms. His skin was a nice tan color, and he had bright blue-green eyes. Over all Levi would say he was not, not good looking, but he was more average than anything else.

“What makes you think you know how to do my job so much better than me?” Levi countered. He wasn’t sure why he was getting so defensive over the health check position, but something about this kid hit a nerve with him.

“Well I have been coming to camp here since I was six, so I have had to go through health check many times, so I know how to do it. Last year when I was a Counselor in Training, health check was my job.” Eren explained.

It kind of made sense now, why the brat thought he was some hot shit. Out of all of the new counselors he was probably the most familiar with the camp and higher up staff. He had spent all of his summers here, god knows why, probably he was too high maintenance for his parents to handle so they pawned him off to camp to get a break for two months.

“Let me give you some advice kid, no one likes a know it all. So you can take your holier than thou attitude and shove it up your ass.” Levi said before proceeding to shove Eren out of the room.

Levi wait a few minutes for anymore stragglers, before proceeding to clean up the room. He threw the empty box of disposable gloves in the recycling and folded up the chair. He could hear the new counselors singing a song obnoxiously loudly in the Blue room, but could not bring himself to join them. They would have plenty of opportunities to meet each other over the next two weeks. He knew that Erwin wanted all of the counselors to try the ropes course, for ‘team bonding’ so he would meet them then.

Instead Levi went out to Erwin’s office to drop off the clipboard. Erwin and the other ad staff where busy filing the new staff’s paper work, but Erwin made to check off that all the health checks were there. As he flipped toward the end he stopped. Levi’s eyes narrowed. He knew he did it right, so why was Erwin questioning him.

“Levi, why is there one for you completely filled out with additional notes, but only a name on Eren’s” Erwin asked gesturing toward the clipboard. Levi froze. When Eren had taken over the health check, he had completely forgotten to finish Eren’s. He cursed the brat under his breath.

“Because and over-excited brat took my job from me, so I wasn’t able to finish.” Levi muttered. “He seemed fine.” He said grabbing the clipboard to finish filling out Eren’s form. Erwin gave him an amused look.

Chapter Text

Staff training was an absolute nightmare. With the arrival of the new Assistant Camp Director, Levi had to move out of the ad staff house and into Sina. The unit counselors and program staff lived in Sina, until Erwin placed them into their units for the summer. He had walked into the dormitory, carrying all of his stuff; to find out all of the bottom bunks were taking. There was no way in hell he would shimmy up a ladder to sleep on a top bunk. Luckily though the blond boy, he thought Armin was his name, seemed so terrified of Levi that he gave up his bottom bunk to be Eren’s top.

            They spent most of the mornings learning about the developmental stages of children and going through the staff manual. This was Erwin's territory. He would spend the mornings lecturing the staff, having them learn games and skills for each age group. No one knew for sure what age group they would have to work with so they needed to become familiar with skills for all age groups. Levi spent these mornings sitting in the back trying to pay as little attention as he could get away with. Unfortunately Erwin was not willing to let him get away with much; calling on him often enough to force him to pay attention. Levi was grateful enough that Erwin at least respected Levi enough to not force him into any of the role-playing games. 

            The afternoons were much more enjoyable for everyone. They were spent trying out the different camp activities. It gave the program leaders the chance to practice teaching their subject to actual people. One afternoon they had learned archery from the instructor named Sasha. Another afternoon was spent sewing quilt pillows, taught by a petite girl named Christa.  Levi hated to admit it, but these activities had been enjoyable.

            The afternoon he had enjoyed the most was the one spent on the ropes course. He was finally able to do the job Erwin had actually hired him to do. They spent a whole afternoon going through the course doing different team building exercises. Levi was grateful he just needed to explain the activities and watch the adults argue about how to best get the whole team over a 15 ft wall and such. It was kind of funny to watch them fight with each other over who had the best strategy. Levi had assumed the adults would be the fastest at clearing all of the obstacles but it had taken all afternoon.

            During training they had limited breaks, forcing the staff to spend more time than Levi would have liked together. It seemed that every session of training turned into some sort of heart to heart with some teenager pouring their heart out ending with someone crying. From there they would always 'hug it out,' something that Levi always abstained from. He had assumed that Erwin had been joking when he said camp had a way of making people open up faster than they normally would. So far though it didn't seem to have any affect on Levi himself. The idea of pouring his soul out to a bunch of teenagers made him want to gag.

            As with every job they were forced to sit through sexual harassment training. Though Erwin had brought an elderly couple to lecture them about the slippery slope that lead to sexual harassment. The training was to be held in the lodge, which was absolute torture because it was beautiful day, and the Lodge had large windows.

            Knowing he wasn't going to pay attention, Levi snagged a seat in the back. It seemed he wasn't the only one with that idea because Eren slide into the seat next to him. Levi turned to glare at the boy before turning his attention to the front of the Lodge where the elderly couple was about to begin their presentation. They were explaining the definition of harassment, like the room was not filled with adults. Levi rolled his eyes and tuned them out.

            “You should really be paying attention.” Eren whispered in an annoyingly superior tone, poking Levi in the side. Levi glared at him.

            “I think I know how to keep it in my pants, after all I’m not a pimple faced teenager.” Levi retorted shifting in his chair to himself angled away from Eren. The clear body language of 'don't talk to me' didn't seem to hinder Eren.

            “Just because you are older doesn’t mean you already know everything. People are always learning.” Eren jumped in, pushing himself into Levi’s personal space.

            “I am feeling a little harassed right now.” Levi said pushing Eren off of him. He turned his attention back to the good-natured couple.

            “Remember a child is always watching, a child is always listening.” The old man said with a bright smile, not realizing how creepy he sounded. Levi had a feeling Eren would turn into the old man when he finally grew up. Even in old age he would still be over-excited.

            “So you need to keep you bad attitude to yourself.” Eren hissed at Levi glaring in a weak sort of way that was almost cute.

            “What are you talking about?” Levi hissed trying to not draw the attention of the people around them.

            “You have a bad attitude about camp, you need to keep it to yourself or it will rub off on the kids and we don’t need more than one of you.” Eren said smugly like he had put Levi in his place.

            “Listen here you little brat, you have no idea why I am here so you will kindly shut the fuck up about my attitude and leave me alone.” Levi scowled debating if he could move seats without causing a scene.

            That shut Eren up for a moment. Out of the corner of his eye, Levi could see the boy stewing in his chair. Over the last couple days Levi had learned that Eren was easily angered. Red would crept up his neck, over coming his face. Levi wouldn't be surprised if steam would come out of Eren’s ears. He wondered how someone who could get angry so easily could work with kids.

            He zoned back into the lecture just in time to catch “No is a complete sentence,” before just zoning back out. He looked over at Eren who had turned his whole body in his seat to face away from Levi. It was kind of funny how much of a kid Eren could be sometimes. The other day they had learned how to play a game called Partner Tag. During the game Eren had shoved another counselor to the ground, just so he could win a stupid game. His over eagerness to do everything and win everything reminded Levi of a puppy that hadn't been properly trained yet.

            “Now go ahead and partner up with the person sitting next to you and we will come around and give you a scenario for the two of you to role play.” The women called in a cheery voice.

            Levi looked around hoping there was someone other than Eren sitting closes enough to be his partner, but no such luck. He looked over to see Eren glaring at him. With a sigh Levi scooted over so he was sitting right next to Eren. One of them needed to be the bigger person and seeing as Levi was the elder it might as well be him.

            The old man came by and gave Levi a slip of paper and read, “ Two co-workers begin to start to feel romantically toward each other. What is the appropriate course of action?” He handed the paper over to Eren who read it and groaned, but turned his chair so he was facing Levi anyway.

            “I’m not into that role play stuff so we are just going to talk about this.” Levi said. Eren rolled his eyes, which made Levi’s annoyance grow. “What was that for?”

            “Of course you wouldn’t want to role paly this. You haven’t full integrated yourself into any of the activities so far, so why would this be any different.” Eren said.

            “Am I supposed to apologize, because you aren’t my boss and Erwin who actually is my boss knows that this is how I am and guess what he is still fine with me working here so that should be good enough for you.”             Levi said quickly, but quietly as the older woman moved closer to them checking on people’s progress.

            Eren narrowed his eyes but didn’t say anything. Apparently the need to comply with the assignment outweighed his need to scold Levi. He stared down at the paper, looking like he was trying to bore holes into it.

            “Well obviously they couldn’t act on it.” Eren said looking up at Levi. “In the staff manual it explicitly says no sex on camp property.”

            “That is true, but romantic feels does not always mean sex and there is nothing in the manual saying two employees can’t be in a relationship.” Levi said thoughtfully.

            “No, it is just common sense.” Eren countered. “It is always a bad idea for co-workers to start relationships.” Eren said rolling his eyes.

            Levi tended to agree with him, seeing as his ex-finance had been his co-worker and that had sure worked out well, but he didn’t want to admit that Eren was right about anything, especially to his face. Instead, maturely Levi huffed loudly and turned away from Eren to watch another pair acting out their scene. They weren’t much of actors, but from what Levi could tell one didn’t know what personal space was and the other was very uncomfortable with it, although they stopped to giggle so often that Levi wasn’t too sure.

            The couple called for everyone’s attention to the front. They asked for groups to volunteer to act their scenes up in front of everyone. Levi rolled his eyes and settled into seat, ready to watch people make fools of themselves. It seemed everyone had that idea because no one volunteered, no matter how many times the couple asked in their gentle voices.

            “If no one volunteers, then we will just pick a group.” The man said.

            “You two in the back, you come one up.” The woman said pointing directly at Levi, who felt his heart drop.

            This was not about to happen, he would have remained in his seat if Eren weren’t already dragging him up. Levi tried to telepathically maim Eren, but the boy seemed to be immune. Now up at the front, Levi turned to face Eren awkwardly. There was a moment of silence where Levi could feel all eyes on him. This was his first time being in front of all the staff, other than ropes course. He knew people had been whispering about him and now was their chance to get some material to talk about.

            “Levi,” Eren said suddenly attaching himself to Levi’s chest, which was a little awkward since he was a good 10 cm taller than Levi. “We can’t deny these feelings any longer.” Eren said in a loud wishful voice, earning a few chuckles from the crowd. He waited a moment giving Levi a chance to say something, when Levi didn’t he continued not missing a beat.

            “But we can’t.” Eren said, dramatically pushing Levi away from him. “We are co-workers and it isn’t appropriate.” Another pause to give Levi a chance to participate, met with silence. “No, don’t say anything.” Eren said moving to press a finger to Levi’s lips.

            “We will just have to continue being co-workers and keep our relationship professional.” Eren ended. The elderly couple started clapping enthusiastically, the rest of the staff joining in.

Pushing Eren away from him, Levi immediately retreated from the front of the Lodge back to his seat where no one could see him. Eren followed him sitting in the seat next to him. Levi turned to glare at him.

“Don’t ever do that to me again.” Levi hissed in a low tone, grabbing the front of Eren’s shirt pulling forward so Eren could hear. Eren’s eyes widen in fear for a moment, but then narrowed in anger, pushing Levi’s hand off of him.

“Don’t it won’t because I will never help your sorry ass ever again.” Eren said the only glare Levi had ever seen that could rival his.

Chapter Text

Levi was going to kill Eren.

            He didn’t know why, but the little brat seemed to be following him. To be fair the staff was spending everyday all day together, so it wasn’t like it was that hard to follow him. But still, Eren seemed to manage to get places into the same small group as Levi any time they broke out into small groups. At meals Eren always seemed to be at the same table as Levi. At first Levi thought it was a coincident, but then Eren started butting into his conversation and Levi knew it was all-intentional.

            During breakfast he was having a nice conversation with Oluo about ropes course but of course Eren inserted himself.

            “I just think if a group doesn’t understand how to solve a problem then you should just tell them. It will be quicker for everyone” Oluo said. Levi shook his head.

            “Yeah, but..” Levi had started, but Eren had literally paused midsentence to his friend Armin to interrupt him.

            “Yes and.” He had said loudly and forcefully before returning to his conversation. Levi rolled his eyes at the kids strangeness.

            “Yeah and, that isn’t the point. The point is for them to figure it out themselves.” Levi said.

            Later they had been grouped up to discuss the best ways to deal with a child that was misbehaving. Surprise, surprise Eren had managed to get into his group. Luckily Petra was also in the group so he had at least one person he could stand. Which was good because he seemed to be the only who didn’t understand the correct way to discipline a child.

            “If a child is bad, you punish them. Simple as that.” Levi said frustrated. He could literally feel Eren judging him right now.

            “Well, there are a lot of reasons why a child might act out. That is why it is important to no skip to punishment before looking for the cause and trying positive discipline.” Armin said nervously. The kid still hadn’t gotten over his fear of Levi. That might have been because Levi had done nothing to alleviate it, but it wasn’t like he had actually done anything to make the kid be afraid of him in the first place.

            “Yes, but” Levi started, feeling Eren puff up beside him.

            “Yes, and” He said firmly. Levi turned in his seat to glare at the boy who glared back but didn’t say anything.

            “Yes, and giving a bad child a leadership position seems like a bad idea.” Levi said. This time it was Eren who answered.

            “Frist of all there aren’t bad children, there are children who have acted badly.” Eren said in a voice that told Levi that he thought the older man was an idiot. “If you give a child a leadership role it gives them more of a reason to care about the outcome. It forces them to be responsible. It doesn’t need to be something big. It can be as simple as giving the child your watch so they can be a the time keeper.” Ere finished.

            He was not going to admit it, but what Eren said did make a little bit of sense. The sense of importance did have a way of driving people. Making a kid feel valued probably would help get them to calm down. He could see how that would be helpful on the Ropes course. If a child was being problematic on one element, than he could make them team leader on the next.

            Over dinner Levi waited until Eren was sitting, serving himself the food, before finding himself a seat as far away as he could. He ended up sitting with Krista and Sasha. He almost wished he hadn’t after seeing the way Sasha practically inhaled her food. He scooted as far away as he could from her on the bench seat.

            “Are you going to eat that?” She asked eyeing the uneaten burger on Levi’s plate.

            “Not anymore.” Levi said in a disgusted voice. “But you…” Levi started

            “Yes and!” An annoying familiar voice chimed from behind Levi. He swiveled in his seat to see Eren standing in line at the salad bar.

            “You know what Eren? You can take your ‘yes and’ and shove it up your ass.” Levi snarled at the boy who glared back. A quite chime of ‘language’ came from Krista, but both of them ignored it. “What is your problem anyway?” Levi asked. There was a look of confusion and then compression on Eren’s face.

            “You don’t know.” Eren said with a laugh. Levi had never thought a laugh could be so annoying. He watched in horror as Eren moved away from the salad bar to cram himself onto the bench seat with Levi. They were sitting sides pressed up against each other due to the little amount of space provided by the bench.

            “Saying yes but, or just but in general negates what the person has just said to you. It invalidates them and thus puts them on the defensive. That is why you are supposed to say yes and.” Eren explained munching on a carrot stick.

            “That is so stupid.” Levi said blankly. He was beyond caring right now. This whole place was so dumb. “Why do you need to follow me around yelling it though?” Levi asked curious. He knew the boy hated him so why would be put himself through Levi’s company just to correct his speech pattern. He felt Eren fidget in his seat and looked annoyed.

            “I thought you were following me around.” Eren admitted. There was a loud bark of laughter and they both turned to glare at Sasha.

            “Sorry it is just so funny. You both hate each other, but can’t seem to keep away from each other. I feel sorry if a unit gets stuck with the both of you.” She said before continuing to eat.

            They turned to look at each other, Levi could see a look of horror on Eren’s face that would have been funny if he wasn’t positive that his face looked similar. “No fucking way in hell.” Levi said before getting up stomping out of the lodge in the direction of Erwin’s office.

Chapter Text

Levi stomped his way up the hill toward Erwin’s office. The light was on and he could voices, well one very loud voice that he didn’t recognize. All of the staff apart from Erwin were in the lodge so Levi assumed that the Assistant Camp Director that had stolen his bed, had finally decided to show up. That just fueled his rage even more. He would stomp into that office and give both of them a piece of his mind.

Yanking the door open, Levi opened his mouth to begin his tirade, only to have a body collide with his knocking him back into the down that had swung closed. He pushed the person off of him. They had long brown hair pulled messily into a ponytail. They were of an average height, which still to Levi’s annoyance made them taller than him.

“You must be Levi.” That said grabbing Levi’s hand to shake it violently. “Erwin had told me about you, he told me about all of the staff, but he specially mentioned to watch out for you.” They said quickly.

“Oh he did, did he?” Levi said head snapping toward Erwin’s desk to glare at him. Erwin just shrugged an amused look on his face.

“Oh he did. He told me that you were kicked out of the staff house because of me. Sorry about that.” The person said apologetically. “I’m Hanji by the way. I will be the new Assistant Camp Director. They/them pronouns please.” Hanji said finally taking a moment to breathe. Levi stared at them.

“Isn’t that going to be confusing for the kids?” He asked bluntly. Hanji didn’t seem to mind because they gave him a manic grin.

“Oh not at all. Kids are very adaptive. Once you tell them, they don’t seem to have any problem picking it up.” They said.

Levi nodded and accepted the explanation. Clearly he was the only one at the camp expecting the worse from these brats. The sudden enthusiasm from Hanji had thrown Levi off. He had not expected them to be so friendly. Most people faltered when they saw Levi’s permanent glare, but Hanji had actually thrown themselves at him. Now he was having a hard time maintain his pervious level of anger. Frustrated Levi pushed past Hanji to sit in the chair by Erwin’s desk. Said camp director turned away from his computer to stare at Levi.

“I know you didn’t come up here just to meet Hanji, so what did you come up here for?” Erwin asked calmly studying Levi. Hanji loudly plopped into the chair closes to Levi. He could hear and feel them breathing on his neck. Disgusted Levi shifted to sit a little further away from them.

“It is about unit assignments.” Levi started. Erwin’s eyes hardened.

“You came up here to find out if the unit I put you in is tolerable.” Erwin finished for Levi. He nodded, waiting for Erwin to continue. “I am sorry Levi but you are just going to have to wait to fin out with the rest of the staff.” Erwin said heavily. Levi felt the vein in his forehead twitch in annoyance.

“We are announcing the units tomorrow so there isn’t too much of a wait.” Hanji said quickly before Levi could tear Erwin a new one. He turned his glare on them. “It will be right after lunch. Erwin wanted me to observe the group to see if I had any last minute changes. I am an excellent judge of character.” They said proudly. Levi was questioning Erwin’s ability to judge someone’s character.

“Fine just don’t put me in the same unit as Eren.” Levi said in an exasperated voice. Erwin gave him a look that told him to shove off.

Levi gave a frustrated grunt. He knew that Erwin had set his mind on this and wasn’t going to budge. Levi used to make fun of him for being so rigid, but Erwin had just pointed out that it was the pot calling the kettle black, which had silenced Levi. He wanted to force it out of Erwin, but that would probably only get him in trouble seeing as Erwin was now his boss.

“Anyway,” Hanji said a bit of slyness to their voice. “So Erwin told me you came here because of some personal struggles but he wouldn’t tell me what they were.” They said staring at Levi expectantly

Levi stared back mouth parted in surprise at their boldness. Who did this person think they were? He turned to glare at Erwin for even telling them anything. Erwin just gave a shrug returning to his computer. Levi made a mental note to get revenge later.

“Oh you can trust me. I am a very good listener.” Hanji said excitedly leaning forward till they were invading his personal space.

“It is none of your business.” Levi said standing up jerkily. He stormed out of the office, slamming the door behind him.

The next morning Levi woke up to someone shaking him in his bed. He opened his eyes so see a pair of giant blue-green eyes staring at him. In absolute horror to having that be the first thing he woke up to, Levi violently pushed the boy away from him, propelling himself back making him fall off the other side of his bed. There was a loud snigger from Eren. He sat up on the floor to glare at the boy, who didn’t bother to hide his look of distaste.

“Get up. It is our turn to do flag.” Eren said before walking away to wake up the rest of the group.

Levi groaned inwardly. He hated flag. Every morning, before they had breakfast the whole staff had gathered in the field to put up the American flag in this weird ceremony that Levi had found creepily patriotic. It was finally his turn to be part of the group that put the flag up and took it down so he had to get up extra early to get ready. Joy.

Taking his time, Levi got dressed and brushed his teeth. Eren and Armin had left a long time ago, with the rest of the group trickling out. His plan was to be as late as possible so he would just be assigned to be part of the bridge, that the rest of the staff would walk under, that way all he had to do was stand there with his arms out. He thought it was a good plan until he had actually made it down to the field where an extremely angry Eren was waiting for him.

“Where were you? It is almost time to start and I need to teach you the calls.” He said angrily as Levi neared the group. His eyes went wide. If he had to learn the calls that meant he was the caller, making him they only person who had to talk during the ceremony.

“I’ll just be part of the bridge.” Levi said trying to sound nonchalant. Eren rolled his eyes.

“No, the bridge has enough people. We need a second caller.” Eren said in an annoyed voice. “People who are late don’t get to pick their role.” Eren added for good measure.

Other counselors were starting to arrive. They milled around the edge of the field putting down their stuff, chatting amongst themselves. Eren started to usher everyone into place before grabbing Levi’s hand and dragging him to stand by the flagpole. Levi was still in shock from the realization that his plan had backfired to pull his hand away from Eren’s grip. He took his spot next to Eren who was whispering something to him, but Levi was too distracted by Hanji how was hanging off of Petra who looked terrified.

Levi was brought back to attention when Eren jabbed him in the side with his elbow looking pointedly at the bridge of silence where the staff had started to walk through. Panic surged through Levi when he realized he had totally spaced out while Eren had told him what he was supposed to do. He watched as the counselors lined up in a horseshoe around the flagpole staring up expectantly at him and Eren.

“Colorguard attention.” Eren calls out loudly and firmly. The colorguard snap up to attention like they had practiced this a hundred times. There was a long pause before Eren hissed, “Colorguard advance,” at Levi.

“Colorguard advance.” Levi called quickly but firmly. The five people in the colorguard swiveled and approached the flagpole. Once they were at the base of the pole Eren gave the next command.

“Colorguard post your colors.” He called watching the colorguard move to post the flag. With his eyes still on the colorguard Eren hissed at Levi, “Once they are done you are going to say ‘colorguard honor your colors.’ Then it is my turn, after that you will say ‘colorguard dismissed.” You are done after than. Do you think you can remember that?” He asked.

Levi gave a micro-nod and felt Eren relax a little bit beside him. The colorguard seemed to be struggling to get the flag clipped onto the rope. For a moment Levi thought Sasha was going to drop the flag, but Armin swooped into save it. In that moment he had felt Eren tense up, ready to hurl himself to protect the flag. Levi couldn’t help but feel a little bit endured by Eren’s earnestness.

Other than that one snafu, the rest of the ceremony went by smoothly. Levi managed to remember his two lines and mumbled his way through the pledge of allegiance. He hadn’t realized that kids were still expected to recite that thing. Hearing it as an adult he realized how completely creepy it was for kids to have to recite it everyday of their childhood. Once it had ended Eren had moved to join his friends, but Levi grabbed his elbow to hold him back for a moment. The look of terror on Eren’s face almost made Levi laugh.

“I just wanted to let you know that I refuse to be caller when we take down the flag.” Levi said releasing Eren’s elbow. Absently Eren started to rub his elbow where Levi had grabbed him, the annoyed look was back on his face.

“We take turns so everyone gets the opportunity, so you can’t be caller next time.” Eren huffed before walking away leaving Levi alone under the flagpole. His moment of solitude was rudely interrupted by Hanji pouncing on him, arms wrapped around his neck. As he pushed them off of him, he noticed Erwin walking up to them.

“Good job Levi, I think that was the best flag has gone all week.” Erwin said clapping Levi on the back.

“It wasn’t me it was Eren.” Levi mumbled.

“Oh is Eren, the cutie with the gorgeous eyes?” Hanji asked looking between Erwin and Levi. Levi bristled at the description. Those were not the words he would have used, annoying and pain in the ass jumped to mind first. “You two seemed awful close.” Hanji said suspiciously. “Is he why you came to camp? He is quite a bit younger than you. Were you having an elicit affair and when he decided to work at the camp you followed?” Hanji practically squealed into Levi’s ear.

“Fuck no.” Levi said in a horrified voice. The idea made him want to gag.

“Oh well that is disappointing.” Hanji said before moving on so some other poor counselor to torment.

The morning passed dully. In order to get Hanji more acquainted with everyone they had spent the morning playing introduction and team building games. During lunch Erwin actually stayed in the lodge but was huddled in the corner with Hanji deciding the staff’s future living situation. Instead Levi found himself squashed in between Petra and Eren pretending to eat his sloppy Joe, a type of food Levi could have lived with out.

After the meal was over the staff made their way out to the song tree. The song tree was another thing Levi could live with out. After every meal, and sometimes before, all of the children were supposed to gather around a large juniper tree by the lodge and sing silly camp songs. The staff had been forced to practice song tree in order to get everyone familiar with the camp songs.

Right now Eren was standing on a rock platform under the tree singing loudly while doing a ridiculous dance. Levi stood off to the side of the crowd, bored. Eren was normally the one to get up there and make a fool of himself and at first had been funny to watch but then Levi realized Eren was actually enjoying making a fool of himself and making fun of him had lost his appeal. The song was cut short though because soon Hanji was clamoring up onto the platform, ushering Eren off.

“Alrighty Titans it is time to get unit assignments.” Hanji called loudly. Levi could swear he actually saw everyone’s ears perk up at that. Even Levi had to admit he was kind of anxious. He casually took a couple steps forward so he was standing with the rest of the staff. He saw Erwin walk up next to Hanji.

“When we announcing each unit we tell you were to meet up. We will also be announcing unit leaders.” Erwin said providing the collectedness to Hanji’s enthusiasm.

“We will start with the youngest first so Sina Unit. If you get called please meet by that picnic bench.” Hanji said gesturing toward the north end of the lodge. “Krista, Eren, Marco, Sasha will be the unit counselors.” Hanji said excitedly

The named people shuffled out of the group. Levi watched them all smile a each other excitedly. It was all a good fit. Krista was a warm and caring person, which would work well with the younger kids. Sasha could be kind of lazy at times, but she cared and Eren’s tendency to over work himself could cover any slack. Levi was only surprised that he had not been made unit leader.

“And the unit leader with be Levi.” Erwin said making Levi’s world stand still. He must have miss heard. There was no way he was going to be in a unit with the youngest, brattiest kids, but he was going to have to live with Eren for the whole summer. Without thinking Levi slowly walked over to where the rest of his unit was sitting, waiting for him. It did not escape Levi’s notice that Eren was glaring daggers at him.

He saw Krista nudge Sasha and whisper, “You jinxed it Sasha and now with have to deal with both of them.” Marco, a dark skinned boy with freckles shushed them as Levi approached the table.

“Well I guess we are stuck with each other for the summer.” Levi said lamely staring at each of his new subordinates. It kind of annoyed him that not only was he supposed to manage the ropes course, but now he had another group of young adults to look after.

Levi didn’t even pay attention to who was assigned to the other units, he was too busy playing how he was going to chew Erwin out later. This was unacceptable. He was specifically told Erwin not to put him in a unit with Eren. Once all of the units were announced they were dismissed, given the rest of the afternoon to move their stuff to their new living areas and to each to know their units more. Since the staff had previously been living in Sina, Levi’s unit did not have to move anywhere.

They watched from their bunks as the unit became emptier and emptier as people moved out. Levi watched as the other staff half-heartedly cleaned their area, barely disinfecting the mattresses. As soon as the last person had moved their stuff Levi called his unit into the art room. Being the dormitory unit, Sina also contained the art room. It did not have a ramada like the other units so any full unit meeting had to take place in the art room.

“First thing first we need to clean out the unit. You young people are all pigs.” Levi said with a glare, daring someone to contradict him. “Krista and Sasha you clean the girls’ dorm.” Levi said turning on the two ladies, who sat up a little straighter when they were addressed. He turned next to Eren and Marco. “You two get the boys’ dorm. I will clean out the counselor sides, if Krista and Sasha don’t mind me going into their room.” Levi said turning back to the girls who shook their head. “Good, once you think you are finished come get me so I can tell you how badly you are mistaken. When we are really done, we will have a our first unit meeting.” Levi said turning around, walking out of the room before anyone could argue.

The dorm had a speaker system throughout it and one of the other counselors must have hooked up their iPod because right as Levi started to scrub down a mattress a non-camp appropriate song camp on. Choosing to ignore it and lose himself in cleaning, Levi hadn’t realized how much time had passed before Krista was tapping on his shoulder nervously. Levi checked their cleaning and had them recleaning the bathroom, siting the fact that elementary schoolers wouldn’t have the sense to wear shoes in the bathroom at night so the floor needed to be clean enough that the kids wouldn’t get some foot fungus. The boys faired no better, needing to re-disinfect all of the mattresses. Eventually though they all finished and gathered in the art room, looking a little more tired than before.

“That was pretty decent, but we are going to have to get a lot better if we want to keep this place livable once the campers arrive.” Levi said taking a seat at one of the tables. It hurt his pride a little, that he fit the table perfectly while all but Krista looked cramp on the tiny benches and tables.

“Do you really expect a bunch of little kids to clean like that?” Sasha asked incredulously.

“I don’t see why they wouldn’t, unless you want them living in their own filth the entire summer.” Levi replied. It looked like Sasha was going to protest further, but Eren jumped in.

“One of the points of camp is to teach kids life skills, which does include clean. I wouldn’t know how to clean a toilet if it wasn’t for camp, so I don’t see a problem with making sure the kids clean regularly and well.” Eren said thoughtful with a pained expression. It was probably hard for the boy agree to anything Levi said, but sudden warmth rushed through Levi’s chest. Damn it had to be cleaning that got Eren on his side; it was one of his weaknesses.

“Anyway moving on.” Levi said rolling his eyes. Oh crap, Eren was already rubbing off on him. “I’m going to talk to Erwin later about switching out with another unit leader.” Levi said. There was a pause where all of the younger counselors gaped at him; he wondered if it was something he said.

“Why?” Krista finally asked, although her quick look from Levi to Eren told Levi she already knew the first reason. Levi sighed though and tried to think of the least offensive way he could handle this. He didn’t mind shit talking brats like Eren, but the others seemed decent enough.

“Well first of all we are about to have 40 elementary schoolers in this unit with only two unit counselors. The other three of us all have programs which means we can’t always be there as support.” Levi said slowly. He looked over their faces trying to gauge their response before continuing. “At least if you had a unit leader who wasn’t program staff then that is one more counselor.” Levi finished. “Hell Eren would be a better unit leader than me.”

“That is bullshit.” Eren said first. The others shuffled in their seats, but made no motion to contradict Eren. “First of all you have to be over 21 to be a unit leader, which means our only other options are Eld or Gunther who are also program staff.” Eren said right eye twitching in annoyance.

“Besides Erwin placed you hear for a reason, I doubt he is going to change it just because you ask him to.” Krista pointed out hesitantly.

“He will if he knows what’s good for him.” Levi said quietly, but apparently not quietly enough because Sasha burst out laughing.

“Are you going to try to intimidate Erwin into switching you? Aren’t you like half his size.” She said between laughs. Levi glared at her, but she was too far-gone to notice.

“You just don’t want to be in a unit with me.” Eren said bitterly. Levi sighed, he had wanted to avoid all of this but it seemed like these teens were even more blunt than him.

“Look, that isn’t it.” Eren glared at him. “Ok, maybe a little.” Glare intensified. “Maybe a lot, but there are other reasons; like the fact that I can’t deal with little kids. They are dirty and rude.” Levi said exasperatedly.

He had not been expecting them to fight him on this. Even Eren was fighting to keep him there. Erwin was probably going to talk to the unit about him leaving, and if they didn’t support him then there was no chance of him getting switched. He had been hoping to be in Maria Unit with the rest of the ropes course instructors. It made the most sense, seeing as most of the kids that did the ropes course were in Maria. If he was in that unit he would actually be able to spend time with the kids he was supposed to be living with.

“Do you really think Erwin would put in here if he thought you would fuck it up?” Eren asked. Even though the words were rude, there was no malice in his voice, just a little bit of concern. Levi rubbed his hand over his face, tired from arguing.

“Guys I think we need to just let things happen naturally and not fight with each other.” Marco said softly. Krista quickly jumped in.

“That’s right. If we fight amongst ourselves the kids will be able to tell.” She said seriously. Eren nodded new resolve in his face.

“Levi, I am willing to put aside my differences with you for the kids.” Eren said extending his hand toward Levi. “So I guess I am sorry for being an insufferable know it all teenager” He said with a smile.

Levi stared at his hand for a moment without taking it. There was pregnant pause where everyone watched Levi and Eren. Levi could see the look of determination on Eren’s face waver, disappearing as every second ticked by that Levi didn’t say anything. He weighed his options, was it worth to call a truce? He had not expected Eren to be the bigger person in all of this. He had taken the boy as a headstrong teenager who was unwilling to budge on his wrong opinions. Finally Levi gripped Eren hand tightly. The wave of relief on the boy’s face was instant.

“And I guess I am sorry for being a lazy, ignorant adult.” Levi said with a weak smile. The other counselors let out a breath, Levi didn’t realize they were holding. “I am still going to bitch Erwin and Hanji out.” Levi said resolutely. He saw Eren roll his eyes, but didn’t annoy him as much as it had before.

During dinner Erwin was absent per the usual, but that didn’t stop Levi from leaving his unit’s table to go to Erwin’s office. The desert was just coming out and Mike made sure to send Levi up with an extra brownie for him. He walked up the hill eating his own brownie glad for the quiet. After their unit meeting Eren had insisted in playing more camp games, which provided to be difficult considering there were only five of them.

Levi chuckled absently as he remembered how during one game called Sally Walker, where they had to stand in a circle and sing a song while the person on the middle danced, around, Eren had been the only person willing to go into the middle and had desperately danced at each of the other counselors in a sort of mating dance trying to get them to go into the middle. He entered Erwin’s office more calmly than he ever had before, actually opening the door like a normal person. Hanji was sitting his normal chair by Erwin’s desk.

“Are you here to chew us out?” Hanji said with a crackle, instantly killing Levi’s good mood.

“Fucking yes.” Levi said throwing the brownie down in front of Erwin. “I told you not to put me in a unit with Eren and it had to be with the youngest. Why the fuck did you do it?” Levi said glaring at Erwin. Erwin’s eyes studied Levi’s face before shifting to focus on Hanji.

“I told you he would be mad.” Erwin said in a tired voice. “I wasn’t originally going to put you there, but Hanji insisted.” Erwin continued, throwing them under the bus. Levi turned to glare at Hanji, who put their hands up in a meek defense.

“Yeah, but it is so worth it.” Hanji crackled at Erwin. “Look Levi, I’m sure you are pissed, but you work so well together with Eren. All morning I watched you and the only person you seemed to even be remotely close to was Eren despite how much insist you don’t like him.” Hanji explained in the calmest voice Levi had heard them use so far. Seeing as he had already decided to forgive Eren and actually work with the brat, Levi had to concede that point. He did find it weird that Hanji had misunderstood Eren’s taunting and his indifference as working well together.

“Still why Sina. Erwin knows I hate little kids.” Levi said grasping at straws at this point. Erwin answered that one.

“Well Eren requested to be put in Sina because he works the best with the little ones, so it was only natural that you followed him there.” Erwin explained. Ah, so it was Eren’s fault he ended up in Sina. He was not surprised, but could not bring himself to resent the kid for it. Levi grunted in response, picking at Erwin’s brownie eating a little bit.

“So basically I am stuck there.” Levi said flatly. Erwin nodded. Hanji on the other hand jumped on him, wrapping their arms around his neck, squeezing tightly.

“I knew you would come around. Now you just need to tell me why you came to camp.” Hanji yelled enthusiastically. Levi pushed them off. He grabbed the rest of Erwin’s brownie and stormed to the office door.

“Fat chance.” Levi said to Hanji before leaving the office.

Chapter Text

Levi wondered awkwardly into the lodge about five minutes after he should have. There was an unmarked block in the schedule that just told them to meet in the lodge. He was going to get there early so he could grab a seat against the wall, away from everyone else, but he had underestimated the time it would take to walk from Sina to the lodge. Now the lodge was already full, only a few stragglers like himself wondering in.

Trying to stay on the edge of the crowd, Levi surveyed the lodge trying to find a good place to sit. It wasn’t like he had made any friends to sit with. As he stalked around the edge of the crowd he spotted his unit. They were seated in a semi-circle off away from everyone else. Krista looked up from the group and made eye contact with him. She waved him over. Levi hesitated for a moment, but moved to join his unit. He approached the group dropping into the last open seat in the circle.

“Punctual as always,” Eren said in a slightly miffed voice, but not with any real malice. It was strange not having Eren jump down his throat every chance he got. Choosing to ignore the jab, Levi turned to address Marco.

“What are we doing?” He asked the freckled boy. 

“Erwin and Hanji are going to tell us what we are doing in a few minutes. We are supposed to sit together in units, until then.” Marco shrugged. Levi nodded and then zoned out while the other counselors went back to their conversation.

“Good morning lovelies!” Hanji’s high pitch voice called throughout the lodge. Levi looked to the front of the room to see Hanji standing in front of the fireplace, microphone in hand. That was the last thing they need; something to make their voice louder. “Since you all have your units and some time to get to know each other, we want to see who the best unit it!” Hanji said excitedly. There was a cheer from the counselors around him. Levi remained quite, he was too old for this sort of thing.

“We are going to have Camp Titan Unit Olympics so see which unit can apply what they have learned this week and has the best overall teamwork skills.” Erwin said taking the mic from Hanji, the room silently thanking him, or maybe just Levi. “The day will have a serious of events that each unit can win and the overall winner at the end of the day will be Camp Titan’s next top unit.” He said to a laugh from the crowd. Levi must have missed the joke.

“The ad staff are coming around with what you will need to get started. Once you have it, go ahead get going. May the odds be ever in your favor!” Hanji crackled to loud laughter from the counselors.

The loud irrupted into excited chatter from the counselors. The prospect of getting to spend the day playing a game rather than sitting through a lesson was a good one, although it didn’t really make a difference to Levi since he never participated either way. Levi looked around and saw the business manger, Rico walking up to them, a bored look on her face. Levi had come to respect her cool indifference. She would need it since it was her job to make sure that Erwin kept the camp within budget. She gave Levi a neon green fanny pack before walking away without a word.

Marco, Sasha, Krista, and Eren scooted closer to Levi so they were all looking over his shoulder. Sasha was so close that her check was pressed up against his neck, he could feel her heavy breathing on him making him cringe. He quickly pushed her away from him.

“But the fuck up. That is disgusting.” Levi said as Sasha rolled her eyes but did as he asked.

Levi returned his attention to the hideous fanny pack, unzipping it. He pulled out a very outdated GPS, and some folded up paper. Hands reached around him grabbing the items. Sasha had grabbed the GPS and was starting to fiddle with it. Eren had grabbed the paper, opening them up.

“These are our instructions.” He said, eyes scanning the pages. “We need to make sure we have our backpacks, staff manuals, and water bottles. It also has a set of coordinates.” Eren said folding the paper back up, flicking them back to Levi, who stuffed them back into the fanny pack.

“Does everyone have everything?” Krista asked looking around at each of them.  Eren, Sasha, and Marco nodded enthusiastically. Levi shook his head boredly.

“I don’t have my backpack, or manual, or water bottle.” Levi said in his monotone voice. There was a groan from the group, that was meant to guilt him, but luckily Levi had a stone heart that could not be broken by the whines of teenagers.

“Great, we are already going to start from last place.” Eren said bitterly. “Let’s go get them.” He said standing up, holding his hand out to help Krista up.

“Is that really necessary?” Levi said watching as the others gathered up their stuff. Eren turned to glare at him, which was his domain expression when they looked at each other.

“Of course. It said to have them in the instructions so you have to have them. Now put on the fanny pack and let’s go.” Eren said turning toward the door to leave, the others scrambling to follow.

The other groups were also leaving the lodge, but they were all huddled around the GPS, awkwardly trying to follow its directions. Sina Unit trudged up the hill back to their unit. They were going to lose this challenge, not that Levi cared. It was a stupid idea to create a little friendly competition, but with a group of teenager it was bound to get out of control. He could already tell that Eren and Sasha were hyping themselves up with over-competitiveness. Levi, himself was above all of that, but seeing as his life choices had brought him here, he didn’t really have a choice.

Once at the unit Levi excused himself rom the group in order to grab his stuff. Taking his time to pack his backpack, Levi returned to the group a few minutes later. They were waiting around the door huddled around the GPS. Voices started to raise in annoyance as Levi approached. He saw Sasha rip the GPS out of Marco’s hand, starting to fiddle with again.

“It isn’t working!” She huffed in an annoyed voice.

“What’s the matter with it?” Levi asked saddling up to the group, who jumped a little at his sudden appearance. Krista turned to address him.

“It will get to the start menu and then shut off again.” She said helpfully. Levi took the GPS and looked at the tiny screen, briefly flashing a lighting bolt before shutting off.

“It needs new batteries.” Levi said simply. He pulled the fanny pack out of his backpack and fished around in it until he found two batteries. Quickly he exchanged the old ones, chucking them in the trash, for the new ones. With the back securely snapped back into place, Levi gently tossed the GPS to Marco, who fumbled to catch it.

“Of course Levi would be able to figure that old thing it. He can relate to its age.” Eren whispered to Sasha, but not quietly enough for Levi not to over hear. The giggles did not stop when Levi turned to glare at them, but actually increased. Teenagers, they just didn’t know how to respect their elders.

It didn’t take long for Marco to plug in the coordinates and the group started moving. IT was clear none of these kids had ever used a GPS before, because they awkwardly followed the path it pointed out blindly even if it went off trail. Marco had needed to stop Eren from walking into a tree multiple times because he was too focused on looking at the GPS.

It seemed to be leading them away from the units, toward the archery range. They didn’t pass anyone else, seeing as they had started out so late. The other were probably well on there way to being done. They neared the archery range to see Hanji sitting at a table set up outside of the shed. Excitedly the group started to run toward the table, Levi maintained his steady pace arriving to the table a few moments behind the rest.

“Now that you are all here we are going to have a camp rules trivia session!” Hanji said excitedly, like this was just an amped up version of a test. “I’m going to ask each person a question and they have to answer correctly before I move on to the next person. Once everyone answers one correctly I will give you the next coordinates.” Hanji said. The group nodded in understanding.

“Ok, the first question is for Eren. If there is a situation that requires the emergency response team, what needs to be said over the radio?” Hanji asked. Eren didn’t hesitate before answering.

“Avengers Assemble.” He said confidently. Hanji beamed at him.

“Correct! Sasha’s turn. As you know we have a Trading Post here at camp where kids can buy sweets and souvenirs. What is the limit of candy that a child can buy at one time?” They asked. Levi thought it was an appropriate question for Sasha; consider she was probably the one that needed a limit the most. She thought for a moment, eyebrows knitted in confusion while she thought. Levi could see a knowing look on Eren’s face. Of course Eren already knew the answer.

“That is a trick question. There isn’t a limit on how much candy a child can buy at once.” Sasha said hesitantly.

“That’s right! The trading post is about teaching kids how to spend money wisely so if they want to spend what their parents give them on candy let them do it. Also if they have a sugar high before bed, they will crash really hard and sleep like logs.” Hanji said

Levi zoned out during Krista and Marco’s questions but the loud squeals and crackling from Hanji let Levi know that they had gotten their questions right. The fact that this meant it was now his turn, did not occur to him. It was not until that Eren elbowed him in the ribs that Levi realized that everyone was staring at him.

“What was the question again?” Levi grumbled. Hanji’s smiled didn’t falter as they repeated themself.

“How many counselors need to be with the children at all times?” Levi stared back blankly at their smiling face. He shifted his weight between his feet a couple times, avoiding looking at Eren who probably looking constipated, wanting to answer the question.

“I mean kids can handle themselves, so as long as there is a counselor in the area it should be fine.” Levi said lamely. The sharp inhale of breath from the teens around him let him know he was wrong before Hanji even opened their mouth.

“Wrong!” They said in an annoyingly cheerful voice. “You should always have at least two counselors with the children, but as the group of children grow in numbers, so should the counselors. Next question! When and where is appropriate to smoke on camp property?”

“I don’t know and don’t care, I don’t smoke.” Levi said. Eren let out a little whine next him in clear frustration.

“You still have to answer it, so we can move on.” Krista promoted in a gentle voice.

“I’m going to go with you can only smoke in the designated smoking areas and whenever you need a smoke.” Levi said boredly. There was aloud groan from Eren.

“Wrong again.” Hanji practically sang. “One more, if someone wants to have a guest come to camp, what do they need to do?” She asked.

At this point Levi could practically feel Eren vibrating next him. The kid clearly knew the answer and wanted to tell it. He casually leaned into Eren, feeling the younger man’s broad firm chest. He noted that Eren felt oddly warm.

“Tell me the answer.” He whispered so only Eren could hear him, which was kind of unnecessary seeing as everyone was staring at him.

“No. That is cheating.” Eren hissed back. Levi rolled his eyes at the goody two-shoes act and moved away from Eren. Well a random guess would have to do, if he was wrong Eren could suck it, Levi had asked him to help.

“They should probably let someone know that the guest is coming.” Levi said. Hanji’s smiled widen a little.

“Who should they let know?” She promoted.

“Probably Erwin or you.” Levi guessed. There was a pause.

“That is correct!” Hanji called loudly. “You need to let the camp director or assistant director know otherwise they will not be allowed on site. Here are you next coordinates.” Hanji said holding out a piece of paper. Sasha jumped up to snatch the paper. “You guys better hurry, Maria and Rose have already finished and we timed these so no groups would overlap.” They warned.

Sasha had the coordinates plugged in and the group practically ran off following the GPS blindly. As Levi followed behind, he felt like he was already babysitting a bunch of little kids. At least it would be great practice; to bad the work would be doubled once the actual kids arrived.

They trudged up the hill, back towards the Big House. It annoyed Levi seeing as they had just left the area. Although if they had started from the lodge like they were supposed to, it would have been a circle.

They walked unto the Big House, walking past Erwin’s office, which Levi noted was empty, and to the Trading Post. Rico had a white folding table set up, right outside of the Trading Post. She had a laptop out and was typing on it, looking between the screen and packet of paper. When they approached the table she looked up at them with an expressionless face.

“You are going to form a line and I am going to give each of you, your staff shirts. Remember these are your uniforms for the summer so take care of them.” She said turning her back to grab a box full of shirts.

They formed a line and as each came to the front she handed them a neat stack of shirts with the Camp Titan logo, a pair of white and blue wings over lapping. Levi didn’t really understand what that had to do with titans, but he wasn’t a graphic designer. Once everyone had their shirts Rico handed Levi a sheet of paper. He opened it up to find their next coordinates, he immediately handed the paper off to Eren.

“We don’t really need these.” Eren said, still taking the paper from Levi who stared back at Eren. He knew Eren wanted him to ask how he knew that, so he could show off, but Levi wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction. Eren decided to let him know anyway. “We could see Rose Unit at the Healthy Hut before we entered the Big House, so that is where we go next.” Eren said.

The Healthy Hut was where the nurse was stationed, along with Sina and the Big House the Healthy Hut made up upper camp. It seemed rather silly to Levi to have the third point be so close to the second, but he wasn’t going to complain about the short walk. It was almost time for lunch so it was better to get this over with.

They walked over to the Healthy Hut knocking on the door. The nurse called them in. The small room felt even smaller as they all piled in. There were three folding tables set up filled with first aid supplies.

“Every counselor needs to have a first aid kit on them at all times. So go head and grab a red fanny pack and fill them with the supplies.” The nurse said brightly before returning to the other room, setting it up for when the kids arrived.

They shuffled awkwardly around the room, trying to get in each other’s way, which was difficult in the small amount of space. Levi grabbed a hand full of everything, wondering why he would even need half of it. He stopped at the pile of tampons and pads.

“Why do I need these? The kids aren’t even old enough for that yet.” Levi said. It had been awhile since he had sex-ed, but he was pretty sure elementary schoolers weren’t quite there yet.

“Well, for a lot of the middle school girls and even some of the high school ones they may get their period for the first time.” Krista said helpfully, grabbing a couple of each placing them in the fanny pack.

“So we have to explain it to them?” Levi asked, slightly horrified. Sasha and Krista giggled. He noticed that Eren and Marco looked uncomfortable as well, which made him feel a little better.

“Not you specifically, but having tampons and pads is good just in case you are the first person they can get to.” Krista said giggling.

When they finished stuffing their first aid kits, the question of where to go next came up. The nurse hadn’t given them any more coordinates and it was time for lunch. Sasha insisted on just going down to lunch and with no resistance form the others they went down the hill to the lodge. The other units were all already there sitting at the tables. When Sina entered an annoying voice chimed over the speaker.

“Now that everyone is here, let’s get to the rankings!” Hanji called. “The winner of the first challenge is Maria,” a loud cheer from the table where Maria Unit sat, “second place is Rose,” a moderate cheer from Rose Unit, “and last place is Sina!” There was an audible silence, as Sina unit went to take their place at their table.

Levi could feel the tension at the table as they ate their lunch. He didn’t miss the pointed glares that Eren sent him. Of course Eren would take this silly game too seriously and blame Levi for losing.

“Don’t worry Eren, we can make it up in the second challenge.” Marco said reassuringly.

“Maybe if everyone pulled their weight.” Eren said glaring at Levi.

“I would like to point out that we did not actually need anything for that and you insisting on going back to the unit is what put us behind.” Levi said evenly.

“If you had actually read the manual, then we would have been in and out of Hanji’s challenge way faster.” Eren countered.

“Maybe you should be taking this so seriously. It is just camp.” Levi sneered returning to his food signally the end of the conversation.

The afternoon session ended up being more training, but Hanji had promised that after dinner they would have their second challenge. It would be in the form of an all-camp, whatever that meant. Eren had gotten even more excited at the mention of it though, Levi was pretty sure he could Eren’s tail wagging.

They were given twenty minutes after dinner to get ready for the all-camp. As they walked up the hill Eren was practically buzzing explaining to the others, who hadn’t spent their childhoods trapped at the camp, what All-camp would be like. Levi didn’t bother listening, Eren’s voice was starting to annoy him as much as Hanji’s did.

Back at their unit, the others started running around getting changed into costumes. Sasha and Krista had matching neon tutus, and tank tops. The worse mismatching knee high socks and had place a much of hair clips in their hair. Marco and Eren had found the face paint and were drawing the camp logo on each other’s cheeks. At seeing the girls’ tutus Eren had exclaimed loudly that he was jealous, prompting Sasha to pull out a third tutu for Eren. Levi had simply grabbed jacket and waited in the art room for the others to finish.

Once the teens looked properly silly, and had taken an obnoxious about of selfies they walked back down to the lodge, which had been decked out in glow sticks and streamers. Three tables had been pushed back by the fire place, leaving a large open space, Loud music was playing over the speakers, people were dancing.

Eren and Sasha squealed upon arrive and dragged Marco and Krista into the mob of dancing teenagers. This left Levi to himself, which he was grateful for. He spotted Erwin setting up a giant stack of toilet paper and wondered over to him.

“That is going to be a really big shit.” Levi commented as he watched Erwin stack the toilet paper. Erwin turned to grimace at him.

“This is for All-Camp.” Erwin said, not explain further. There wasn’t time for Levi to press for more information, because Hanji was on the mic telling everyone to sit at a table in their units.

“Welcome to All-Camp and the second part of the Unit Olympics.” Erwin called after taking the mic from Hanji. “There will be five challenges that each unit will have to compete in. Each unit will pick on representatives to compete in each challenge. Once the every unit has picked a competitor we will explain the challenge. “ Erwin continued. There was loud chattering between the counselors. Levi’s own unit had already put there head together to discuss a strategy. Levi’s strategy was to just sit there until he had to do something.

The first competitor was called up. Sasha had chosen to go up first. Three counselors stood in a line facing the rest of the staff. Sasha wore a look of confidence even though she had no idea what she was supposed to be doing.

“The first challenge will test your balance.” Hanji said over the speaker. Rico walk up to each of the counselors handing them a stack of Oreos.

“Don’t you dare eat them Sasha!” Eren yelled from their table making the other units laugh. It wasn’t unwarranted, Levi noticed as Sasha was definitely eyeing the Oreos.

“You have sixty second to stack as may Oreos as you can on your forehead. The team with the most at the end will win.” Hanji said. “Get ready, Go!” She called.

The teams started cheering on their representatives loudly, which seemed counter productive to Levi. Yelling out their names was more likely to distract them than anything else. He wasn’t really sure what this was supposed to teach them about being counselors, but whatever it was the three counselors up there seemed to be failing at it.

Each was squatting a little, back arched, neck straining to try to make their foreheads parallel to the ground. It didn’t seem to be working because Oreos kept dropping to the ground. It was kind of funny to watch Sasha’s look of horror as her pile of five Oreos fell to the ground crumbling. She quickly grabbed a fresh stack and carefully placed the Oreos on her forehead, a look of fierce determination on her face.

The sixty second were almost up, and the whole lodge started to count down. The crowd cheered as Erwin came around to check the results.

“Maria had a total of six cookies.” Cheering from Maria’s table. “Rose had a total of four.” Moderate cheering, Levi was starting to see a pattern. “And Sina has the most with 10 cookies!” He called loudly.

There was a moment of pause before the table around Levi erupted into loud cheering. He looked to see Eld and Oulo glaring over at his table. Sasha returned to the table, her Oreos in hand. She started shoving them in her mouth so fast Levi was surprised she didn’t choke.

Eren went up next looking confident with their first victory, they had asked for another person to come up to assist the main competitor though, so Marco trailed behind him. This time Erwin came around placing a small stack of toilet paper by each of the three counselors.

“The challenge this time is to wrap yourself up like a mummy only by spinning your body. The person that unrolls the most rolls of toilet paper wins.” Hanji explained in a singsong voice.

Marco held onto the roll of toilet paper, while Eren grabbed the end. As soon as Hanji said go, Eren started to spin rapidly. People laughed as they watched the three spin like tops, stumbling as they went on getting dizzy. Eren had finished his first roll and Marco was quickly grabbing the second. Eren’s face was bright red from dizziness but also from excitement. He seemed to be having a lot of fun. Levi noted that when he didn’t have a glare on his face, Eren was kind of cute. The thought made Levi gag.

When the minute was up it was reveled that Eren was the winner. Sasha and Krista were going in insane with cheering. The glares from the other units were also intensifying. Eren returned to the table cheeks still tinted red, Levi could imagine then red for a different reason. Horrified at where his thoughts were going, Levi excused himself to use the restroom.

Hiding in the bathroom, Levi tried to clear his head. He did not just think that about Eren. It was not only wildly inappropriate, but also incredibly gross. He was probably just over tired, ever since he had arrived at camp he hadn’t been able to get more than a few hours of sleep. That had to be it; lack of sleep combined with a mid-life crisis was driving him crazy.

He could hear the cheers of the staff alerting him that the next challenge had been completed. That meant there was only one more person before his turn. He took about another minute to compose himself before exiting the bathroom. He slowly walked back to table sitting down. Eren flashed him a weird look. Oh god he could read minds and was going to tell Levi how gross he was.

“Are you alright you look sick.” Eren asked. Levi grunted.

“I’m fine, just the noise is giving me a damn headache.” He said, Eren gave him a sympathetic look.

“Yeah All-Camps tend to be really loud and over stimulating. A lot of kids will end up crying.” He said with a shrug. “Drink more water.” He suggest before turning his attention to Krista who was trying to bounce Ping-Pong balls into a bucket by flinging them with a towel.

The minute ended with Krista announced as the winner. Sasha had told him that Marco had won his challenge as well, which meant if Levi won the next won they had a good chance of winning the over all competition; but you know no pressure or anything.

Levi walked up to the front of the lodge and watched a the ad staff spread peanut butter on to slices of bread. He grimaced imaging what disgusting thing he was supposed to do. He looked over to see that he was going against Petra and Eren’s friend Armin. So at least Petra would be some competition.

“For this task each competitor will need to bounce the ping pong balls off the ground to stick into the slice of bread. The one with the most balls wins.” Hanji said.
            Relief washed over Levi, at least it wasn’t something gross. It actually seemed kind of easy. He grabbed a Ping-Pong ball from the bucket and waited for Hanji to say go.

He lightly flicked the ball toward the bread, missing it completely. Ok, just a little bad aim no big deal. He tried again this time hitting the slice of bread, but the ball rolled off. Frustrated he grabbed another ball and hurled it at the bread surprisingly it stuck. Satisfied, Levi looked around at Armin’s and Petra bread to find that each already had two balls on their bread.

Panicked, Levi started hurling the Ping-Pong balls at the bread, trying not to get distracted by the loud cheers from Eren and Sasha. One thing he was looking forward to was the two of them losing their voices from screaming so loudly. He would be able to go at least a little while without having to hear them.

Suddenly Hanji was calling for them to stop. Actually focusing in on his bread Levi counted eight balls with a ninth hanging on precariously. Looking over at Petra he felt more confidence as she only had six, but looking at Armin’s nervousness washed over him. The blond had eight balls. Levi silently prayed that his ninth ball would hang in there until Erwin came to inspect his. He wasn’t really sure when he had bought into the whole unit Olympic things, but now he just wanted to win.

Erwin came by and smiled at Levi after looking at his bread. “The winner is Sina Unit again!” He called. If he had thought that Eren and Sasha were loud before their voices got even louder after that. As he walked back to his table the two over excited teens tackled him, knocking him backward.

“I think we are going to win!” Eren hissed excitedly at Levi.

“That brings the Camp Titan Unit Olympics to a close.” Hanji yelled over the mic, making everyone cover their ears. “The winner is Sina!” They said sending the unit into another fit of screams. Levi pushed the two teens away from him, not wanting to lose his hearing prematurely.

The staff was released to a dance party or to go back to their units after that. Most stayed in the lodge socializing. Levi was grabbing his stuff to Levi, when Eren slid up next to him.

“See if you full participate this stuff can be fun.” Eren smiled at Levi, who looked away.

“It wasn’t fun, it was ridiculous.” Levi mumbled hiking his backpack on his shoulder. Eren gave him a look that said he did not believe Levi.

“Even if you always look bored, I think you are starting to enjoy it here.” Eren said before walking off to join the party.

Levi quickly left the lodge heart pounding for a reason he did not want to admit.

Chapter Text

Reckoning day had finally arrived. Levi couldn’t help but feel like the apocalypse was coming as he sat in the Lodge eating lunch. The nervousness and excitement dominated the mood, but Levi could tell by looking at the other counselors’ faces that they were scared shitless. He had to admit that even he was slightly nervous. Today the kids would arrive and seal their fate for the summer.

The morning had been spent cleaning, which had done a lot to calm Levi’s nerves, but now only lunch stood between the camp and the children. As soon as lunch ended they would have to head to upper camp to welcome the parents and children. Levi figured he would be doing health check again. The thought of having to run his hadn’t through over a hundred greasy lice filled heads was nauseating.

Eating slowly to draw it out as long as possible, Levi studied the other counselors in his unit. Sasha was leaning more toward the hyper end of the scale. She was practically buzzing in her seat, but Levi wasn’t sure if that was because she was excited for the kids to arrive or because they had decided to serve steaks as the counselors last meal. Marco and Krista appeared much more nervous. They were both smiling tightly while they talked, so Levi could tell that were just barely keeping it together. Eren was the exception to it all. He just sat there easting and talking like it was any other day. Eren had been so eager for the kids to arrive that Levi was surprised that he wasn’t already at the top of the hill waiting. Instead the boy just laughed at the comical way Sasha inhaled her food, it was probably the only genuine laugh that whole day. Everyone was else looked like they needed to take a shit.

“It is game time!” A shrill voice called throughout the lodge making everyone jump. Hanji stood in front of the fireplace smiling manically at them. The lodge irrupted into rushed movement as the staff quickly cleaned up their lunch before walking up the hill.

They all met in the Blue room where Erwin was waiting for them. He stood at the front of the room as all the counselors filled in. The way everyone stood at attention, made Levi think Erwin was ordering them into battle, not giving them assignments for check in day.

“Today is the day you have been training for. Even though you may feel nervous, you are ready for this.” Erwin said in a commanding voice. Levi rolled his eyes. Of course Erwin would feel the need to give some grandiose speech.

“We have given you all the tools you need to give these kids the best summers of their lives. It is just up to you, to put yourself out there. Remember why you are here.” Erwin finished. Not too inspiring for Levi since he was only at this godforsaken camp because his life went to shit.

“I am going to hand each unit leader a clipboard that includes a sheet listing each counselors’ responsibilities today.” Erwin said, as the crowd shuffled to allow the unit leaders to move to the front. It wasn’t until Eren shoved Levi forward that he remembered that he was in fact a unit leader. He ripped the clipboard out of Erwin’s hand trying not to look his friend in the face, he didn’t need any sort of pep talk at the moment. Wondering back to his unit, Levi flipped through the papers on the clipboard seeing a unit roster and allergy list; kids these days sure did have a lot of allergies. One kids listed that they had a dust already, why the fuck were they coming to camp then.

“So who’s doing what?” Eren asked excitedly as soon as Levi was close to the group. Levi looked at Eren’s bright blue-green eyes and decided that excitement suited them, before flipping back to the list of responsibilities.

“It says that Marco, Sasha, and Krista will be in the Blue room entertaining the brats.” He said. When he read further his heart dropped. “I will be with the unit leaders checking kids in and Eren.” He said dryly.

He was supposed to do health check. That is what he ad been trained to do, and now Erwin made him go and do something else. His disease must have showed because a warm hand was placed on his upper arm, in what he assumed was a show of comfort. He looked up the well-tanned arm to see Eren giving him a sympathetic look. Before the weird tingling feel could spread completely throughout his body, Levi swatted the hand away. The sympathetic look on Eren’s face fell into a glare.

“Sorry you have to work with me.” Eren said overly sarcastically. Of course the brat would assume that was why Levi had brushed him off. Levi pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration.

“It isn’t that. I just have no idea what the unit leaders as supposed to do.” Levi said, even though it pained him to admit his ignorance in front of the teens.

“All you have to do is find their name on a list and answer any question the parents have. I thought you would be happy you didn’t have to immediately see the kids.” Eren said in an annoyingly superior voice, Levi resisted the urge to punch the boy.

Before anything could escalate to violence Hanji’s shrill voice called out that the bus was arriving. Everyone scrambled to take their places. Unsure of what his role was in all of this, Levi stood still in the middle of the cloud. It felt like he was standing in the eye of the storm. Then Eren had to ruin it by grabbing his hand and pulled him out of the Big House.

Across from the Big House there was a smaller, much newer building that everyone commonly referred to as the Garrison. Levi wasn’t really sure why anyone called it that, but he had come to appreciate the building as it was the only place the staff was allowed to use Wi-Fi.

In front of the Garrison a large coach bus sat idling. As Eren pulled his past it toward the building Levi looked up to see young faces smooched against the window. When a few of them noticed him looking at them they started to wave violently, and Levi could tell they were yelling something, but could not hear them. Weakly Levi lifted his hand. Even at that simple gesture it set the kids off. He could see them literally jumping around the bus.

Before the kids can have a full on riot, Eren pulls him into the Garrison. Eld, the unit leader for Maria and Oluo his help as well as Petra the unit leader for Rose and her helper Armin were already in there. All of them stared at Levi like he had two heads. He glared at them until he realized that Eren was still holding his hand. He ripped his hand out of Eren’s glaring at the boy, although Eren didn’t really look offended, it seemed he only had eyes for the bus where a line of children were pouring out. It was like they were being invaded by tiny monsters.

They were lead into the Garrison by Hanji, who told to sit down. Levi watched, trying to hide his disgust as many tiny people piled into the room. It was loud, and smelled weird. He saw a girl point at him and the turn to her friend to laugh. He felt oddly slited even though the girls couldn’t be more than 12. He glared at them until their laughter turned into a frightened whimper. A swift, subtle slap to the back made Levi turn to glare at Eren who had his eyes open wide in a pointed look. Oh right he wasn’t supposed to terrify the children.

“Welcome to Camp Titans!” Erwin called. His voice was commanding as It always was, but it had a softer edge that Levi had never heard before. All of the children cheered at his words. “All of you are Titans now, which means you need to be sorted into your units. Each unit leader will introduce themselves and read off their roster. If you hear your name please line up in front of them. Let’s start with Maria.” Erwin explained simply.

Levi wasn’t really paying attention while the other units called their kids. He studied the children that he knew would be in his unit. A little black haired girl sat apart form the group, face void of any emotion. The quiet type, Levi would probally like her.

In the middle of the group he could see three little figure, that had to young enough to be in Sina. There were two boys clinging to each other, one that seemed a little too tall for his age and the other was a beefy looking toddler. There was also a little blonde girl sitting close to them, her hand on the beefy boys back rubbing circles. He couldn’t tell which of the other kids would be his brats, but either way they were probably going to awful.

A sharp elbow to the ribs let Levi know it was his turn. Eren really needed to get a new method for getting his attention, because the brat was not gentle, he would definitely get a bruise.

“Um, yeah hello. My name is Levi and this is Eren.” Levi said pointing haphazardly at Eren who smiled brightly and waved. Seeing as they were the last unit he didn’t really see the point of calling roster but Erwin was there so he guessed he would have to follow the rules.

“Mikasa Ackerman.” He drawled. The little black haired girl stood up and walked over to stand directly in front of Eren.

“Reiner Braun.” Levi said called. The beefy blond boy jerked up, pulling the taller one with him. The little blond girl slowly stood up to follow them. “Which one of you is Reiner?” Levi asked frowning. The blond boy raised his hand. “Ok, get in line. You two sit down until your names are called.” Levi said pointing back to the crowd with his pen. Looking down at his clipboard for the next name, Levi heard a loud sniffle. He looked up to see tears welling up in Reiner’s and the other boy’s eyes.

“Why don’t you two tell us your names so you can line up?” Eren said quickly, stepping in front of Levi so the children’s attention was on him. The taller boy opened his mouth, but neither Eren nor Levi heard what he said.

“Annie Leonhart and Bertolt Hoover.” The girl said pointing at the taller boy. Levi checked them off and they got in line with Reiner. He made a mental note that these would probally be the problem children.

He called a few other children without any problem. “Jean Kirstein.” He said boredly, although the way Eren stiffened next to him piqued his interest. A boy who looked like he was the same age of Eren stepped forward.

“Wait a second, you are too old to be in elementary school.” Levi said, looking over to Erwin. There was a little ring of giggles from the children.

“Jean is our counselor in training, so he will be shadowing Sina. He will live in Maria though.” Erwin explained. Levi just nodded and let Jean move to stand next to Eren, who still hadn’t relaxed. Levi gave the younger man a look, and Eren smiled back, but it was clearly forced.

Finally he got to the last name on the list. “Ymir.” Levi said questioningly. There wasn’t a last name on the sheet of paper, but there was only one girl left so he guessed it didn’t really matter. The girl had the kind of face that had a permanent smirk. She had tan skin like Eren’s but she had a lot more freckles like Marco. Levi liked to think she was some sort of angry love child between the two.

Now that all the children were fidgeting in a somewhat line Eren took over. His loud enthusiasm was a stark contrast from Levi’s monotone voice. He could literally see the kids perk up as Eren talked to them, leading them to the Big House. Levi trailed behind the group making sure no kids wondered off, although that might be nice to get rid of a few. They already had 12 kids and the parent drop off hadn’t even started yet.

Eren took them into the Blue room where the other units were already sitting in circles playing get to know you games. As soon as they entered the room Krista, Sasha, and Marco jumped up rushing over to kids. A few of them coward away from the loud adults, but most smiled rushing toward their counselors.

Levi moved to join them, but Eren grabbed his elbow holding him back. He wasn’t sure why but it seemed like Eren was touching him more than usual or he had just become more aware of it. He wrenched his elbow away from Eren, but followed the boy into the hallway right outside of the Blue room. The other unit leaders and helpers where already there chatting.

“So what am I supposed to actually do?” Levi said moving to stand under that sign that said Sina. Eren followed him.

“When the kids come out of health checks they should know which unit they go to and basically you just check their name off of the list and ask their parents if they have ay questions. Everything else I will do.” Eren said boredly, leaning against the wall.

Levi nodded but didn’t say anything. He was starting to get a headache and it was only the early afternoon, there was still so much planned for the day. He had been informed that morning that they were expected to have an opening campfire where they need to perform skits and songs. Like hell he was going to any of that. The rest of the unit had already decided on what unit skit they would do, but Levi had zoned out during all the talks. He seemed to be doing that a lot lately, which probably didn’t say much for his mental state.

It seemed like the bus had gotten here a little early, because it felt like forever before the first parent arrived. Levi wouldn’t have even noticed if Hanji’s voice didn’t carry throughout the whole building. The unit leaders perked up, pushing off the wall trying to catch a look at the first kid. Levi remained in place leaning against the wall. They would find out who the kid belonged too if they passed the health check, so there was no point in rushing it.

After what felt like forever the door to the health checkroom opened reveling a pretty small bald boy. Levi would place him in Rose. It seemed Petra felt the same because she bounded forward to greet the boy and his family.

“Hello! Welcome to Camp Titan! My name is Petra and I will be your unit leader for Rose.” Petra smiled brightly, extending her hand for the boy’s parents to take. Levi watched the boy’s face puffed up in anger, turning red.

“I don’t belong in Rose! I am 14.” He said in an agitated voice.

“Oh, I am so sorry, I just figured…”Petra said, mortification clear on her face. Levi’s heart went out to the boy, being short sucked. People always thought you were younger than you really were. Eld quickly moved forward to save Petra from her embarrassment.

“I’m Eld and I will be your unit leader. What is your name?” Eld said.

“Connie!” The boy said excitedly.  The parents said their good byes and Oluo lead the Connie into the Blue room.

It seemed like Connie opened the floodgates, because after that the parking lot filled beyond capacity. It felt like as soon as Levi finished checking in one kids another one was there. He really didn’t have to do that much. Every time a parent asked a question Eren would jump before Levi even had a chance to open his mouth. Even when it came to the children, Levi just asked their name and told them who he was, before Eren started chatting the ears off of everyone.

Once the parents said their goodbyes to their child, Eren would walk them into the Blue room and introduce them to the rest of the group. It was the only time Levi was left to fend for himself. He didn’t do too well.

“This is Mina’s first time being away from home, she hasn’t even spent the night at a friend’s house.” Yeah, spending an entire ten weeks away from home was definitely the best way to make a child more independent. “So we were wondering if we would be able to call and talk to her every so often?” The mother said in a worried tone.

Levi eyed her and then Mina, who looked more embarrassed than nervous to be leaving home. To tell the truth Levi had no idea what the camp’s policy was on contacting the children but vaguely remembered Hanji talking about snail mail.

“You can send her a letter.” Levi said. The woman frowned at Levi.
            “But she needs to hear my voice.” She practically whined.

“Does she need to hear your voice or do you?” Levi said. There was a little giggle from Mina, her mother on the other hand huffed in annoyance.

“What are you implying?” She hissed.

“Oh was I not clear enough. Your daughter will be fine, you are the one that needs the crutch.” Levi said coldly.

“What Levi meant to say, was that sometimes letting go of your child for the first time can be hard, especially when it is for as long as camp. If your daughter is waiting for you to call, she won’t be able to fully enjoy the camp experience.” Eren said quickly jump9ng in. Levi hadn’t noticed the boy return. The mother seemed to think it over, but wasn’t satisfied.

“But I just want to make sure she is doing alright.” She said gripping her daughter’s shoulder so tightly that Levi was sure it would leave a bruise. He felt for the girl, his ribs still feeling the side effects of being around Eren too much.

“We understand that at Camp Titan, that is why we have ways for you to reach out to your child. You can either send letters in the mail, which the children love to get or your can send them Camp Notes, which are like emails. Either way Mina can reply and let you know about all the fin she is having at camp.” Eren said animatedly. His smile was infectious because the woman seemed to finally relax. Though she turned to sneer at Levi.

“And he will be in charge of looking after my daughter?” The woman asked testily eyeing Levi who smirked back.

“He is the unit leader, but e and the other unit counselors will be the ones directly looking after the kids.” Eren assured her. This seemed to appease her, since she crushed her daughter in a hug and tearfully said good-bye, letting Eren lead her into the Blue room.

When Eren returned he slapped Levi on the arm and angry look on his face.

“Don’t insult the parents.” He commanded which irked Levi.

“Only if they aren’t obnoxious. Like seriously the girl is like 9 she can handle herself.” Levi said folding his arms, pouting. The giggle from Petra made Levi turn to glare at the woman.

“I’m sorry. It’s just that you are acting like a child that got caught doing a bad thing.” She said through her giggles.

“I guess that makes me the parent.” Eren said with a shit-eating grin. It was finally Levi’s turn to elbow the brat in the ribs. It didn’t seem to have its desired effect though, as Eren just laughed harder.

The rest of the check in went smoothly, Levi letting Eren take the lead. They were the last unit to have all of their children arrive. Maria had been the first to finish. It seemed parents were much more quick to get rid of their teenagers than toddlers. Still the last kid arrived and Eren ran off to join the group telling Levi to turn in the paperwork.

Levi dawdled for as long as he could in Erwin’s off, which wasn’t as long as he wanted seeing as Erwin was too busy going over paperwork to pay him any attention. Even Hanji was too busy to pester him about his social life. Feeling like a scorned child, Levi left the office and slowly walked down the path to Sina.

The fact that he couldn’t hear loud screaming from outside, actually gave Levi a slimmer of hope he wasn’t about to enter a room full of demons. He stood in front of the glass door of the art room studying the room full of children. Mikasa was still sitting alone, and the two cry babies were still clinging to each other with the blonde girl glaring at anyone who giggled at them. Ymir was sitting oddly close to Krista, who looked a little uncomfortable. Eren was in front of the group talking excitedly hands waving everywhere.

He wished he could just stay where he was, just outside of the danger zone. It seems like whatever it was that Eren was saying wasn’t that interesting because after a couple moments there were children pointing at him whispering among themselves. With a sign of resignation Levi pushed open the door and stepped inside.

“Oh, and here is our unit leader Levi. Say hi Levi.” Eren said with a smile. Levi weakly waved at the currently calm children in greeting. He attempted to smile, but the children closest to him flinched away making his drop any attempt at looking pleasant. He heard Eren giggle next to him. He was too far away to elbow him, so he made a mental note to elbow him extra hard later.

“Levi is going to tell you guys when it is ok to wake us up in the night.” Eren said looking pointedly at Levi.

“Never. Don’t wake us up ever unless you want to clean this whole dorm with a toothbrush.” Levi said immediately.  A couple kids were brave enough o laugh but after a glare form Levi they turned into quiet whimpers.

“He’s totally kidding.” Eren said quickly, with a forced laugh like it was funny.

“No I’m not.” Levi deadpanned. Eren opened his big bug eyes so wide that Levi thought his eyelids disappeared completely. There was a tense moment before Levi let out a breathy fake laugh. “Yes, I was joking.” He said robotically. It seemed like the kids were too young to pick up on subtext since they started laughing with him.

After that Eren didn’t let Levi talk. He just pushed him down into a seat next to Jean, who smirked at him. Levi didn’t even bother acknowledge him. The rest of the unit went over the rules. Eren told the kids when they could actually wake them up, Sasha confiscated all of their food so it wouldn’t attract animals, Krista talked about respecting each other and Marco explained the importance of keeping the dorm clean. Levi felt like that was unfair, Eren should have let him talk about the importance of cleanliness.

When all of the rules had been explained Eren released them to claim their beds. Marco, Sasha and Krista followed the screaming children to make sure they didn’t kill themselves climbing onto the top bunks. That left Levi alone with Jean and Eren, even someone as socially impaired as him could feel the tension in the air. The two teens sat across from each other glaring at each other, but Levi could tell Eren was having an internal battle about it.

“So is there a reason you two are giving each other bedroom eyes.” Levi said casually liking the way Eren’s lips formed a scowl and face flushed red. The fact that he was even noticing these things scared him, but he couldn’t help but tease the boy.

“That is disgusting. I would never do something like that with a horse…”Eren said before swallowing the rest of the sentence. There was clearly some history going on and Levi definitely wanted to know what it was if it bugged Eren. It might make good material to torture the boy with. He looked in between the boys waiting for one of them to actually answer his question.

“Eren and I have gone to school and camp together since we were little. I would be a counselor with him, but my birthday isn’t until after the summer ends.” Jean explained.

“So wouldn’t that make you friends?” Levi asked starting to put the pieces together.

“Oh hell no.” Eren said immediately. Jean smirked at him. “We have been fighting that whole time. He almost got me kicked out of camp one year!” Eren almost yelled.

“That was totally your fault!” Jean yelled back. The two started bickering back and forth about things Levi didn’t understand.

Levi snorted. He could picture Eren as the fighter. The information that Jean had known him for so long and probally knew all of Eren’s embarrassing stories did not escape him.

“Since you are supposed to be training to be a counselor shouldn’t you actually be doing something?” Levi said when their fighting started to aggravate his headache. Jean scampered off to help Marco in the boy’s dorm. Eren stayed behind with Levi, which surprised him. He had expected Eren to be in there with the kids.

“Oh I am about to go help.” Eren said reading Levi’s mind. “I just wanted to make sure you know if you pull any shit with the kids here, I will not hesitate to through your ass under the bus. These kids have feelings and for most of them this is their first time at camp, so don’t go around terrifying them. Remember for the next ten weeks we are basically their parents.” Eren said in a serious tone that sent a shiver down Levi’s spine.

He just nodded, which seemed to satisfy Eren because the boy stood up and left Levi sitting alone in the art room. Oh god, this was the beginning of the end. He had just become the parent of 40 small children. The worst or maybe best part about it was that Eren was his co-parent.

Chapter Text

Just when all of the kids had gotten settled into their bunks, unpacked and talking to each other animatedly, Levi had to call them to line up to walk down to dinner. He popped his head into the girls’ room to tell them to get ready for dinner only to have the girls squeal loudly yelling about what if one of them was naked.

“Are any of you naked?” Levi asked calmly.

“No.” They said in unison.

“Then it is fine then. I will knock from now on.” He said before moving on to the boy’s room. The boys presented more of problem. They were hanging off of their beds like monkeys but Eren, Marco, and Jean seemed to be spotting them so he guessed it was all right. He told the counselors to get the boys ready.

Levi had assumed it was just a matter of the kids getting their shoes on, but it took another twenty minutes to get the kids into their jackets and long pants. It got cold at night and Levi was not in the mood to hear any complaining. One kid had come up to him without a jacket; Levi glared down at the boy, who he learned had the name Franz.

“Where is your jacket?” Levi asked.

“In my suitcase.” He said.

“Well go get it.” Levi ordered. The boy frowned.

“But I don’t want to carry it.” He said in a whiny voice.

“Then wear it.” Levi said simply. He noticed Eren watching him from where he was helping a girl tie her shoes.

“But it is too hot.” Franz complained, stomping his foot. Levi resisted the urge to yell at the boy. He was not about to give Eren another reason to hate him, though he wasn’t sure when he started caring if Eren liked him or not. The brat was an asshole most of the time, a surprisingly cute, overly caring asshole, but still an asshole.

“Then carry it.” Levi said again.

“But I don’t want to carry it. You carry it.” Franz whined again.

“Look you have two options, you can either carry your jacket or wear it. Which would you prefer?” Levi said in an even voice as too not scare the boy. Franz seemed to think it over. His face was scrunched up form thinking too hard, but after a moment he relaxed seeming to come up with a solution.

“I’ll wear it!” He said excitedly running off to grab his jacket. Levi sighed in relief that the boy had caved. He looked away to see that Eren was still watching him, an intense look on his face. Levi glared back, not intimidated by some over confidant brat.

When all of the kids were finally ready and in a somewhat linear blob, Levi signaled for them for him. He was alone at the front of the line with the other counselors mixed into the group making sure no one got lost. The children closest to him chattered loudly, trying to engage him, but he just grunted every so often to make it seem like he was listening. This seemed to satisfy them because none tried to pester him further. If this was how they were going to act maybe this summer wouldn’t be that bad. Eren so far was the biggest child he had had to deal with.

Dinner proved how wrong he was. The meal started out with Erwin and Hanji explaining to the kids the way meals were run. It was simple enough, but the Franz and Mina had decided to sit next to him and would not stop talking. He tried shushing them but they would not stop. Eren sat at the opposite end of the table and didn’t seem to have any problem keeping his half of the table quiet.

“You know if you don’t listen you won’t be able to eat.” Levi threatened. It seemed to work because Franz and Mina instantly went quiet fear in their eyes. Satisfied Levi leaned back in his chair in smirked at Eren who had been observing him.

“Thy have to let you eat. It is like the law.” Ymir said unhelpfully. He other two children looked between Ymir’s cool look of indifferent and Levi’s scowl at being caught. It was a back and forth until luckily the presentation ended. Levi made a mental note to keep the girl on his watch list.

They were having spaghetti for dinner that night. It was simple, something very kids could eat, at that was what Levi and assumed.

They ate family style so each dish was pasted around for every child to stick their dirty little fingers into. Levi held down the disgusted feeling, knowing that this was his life now. He wasn’t surprised that also most no one took the steamed vegetables, although he wasn’t sure they could be considered vegetables at this point. He did note that Eren, in his high and mightiness took a generous helping of the putrid smelling greens.

He had to stop an over zealous Ymir from taking all of  the meatballs, but noticed that Mina didn’t take any. He figured that she was just a vegetarian and thought nothing of it. Then the pasta came around and he noticed that Mina still didn’t taken anything. She had nothing on her plate at all, not even garlic bread, which smelled so good at the moment.

“Mina you need to eat something.” Levi said, feeling so responsible. It was totally something Eren would do. Mina just scrunched her face up in disgust.

“Spaghetti is gross.” The girl complained.
            “You need to eat something. Eat the vegetables then. Look Eren liked them.” Levi said in what he hoped was an encouraging voice. Mina looked over at Eren and then back with a look of distrust.

“Yeah but Eren is weird he likes vegetables.” Mina said as if Eren was breaking some sort of weird taboo.

“I can’t argue with you there.” Levi said solemnly. “But you still need to eat something. This is why your mother was worried about you.” Mina puffed up her cheeks like she was angry, to Levi though; it just made her look like a monkey.

“Fine, I guess I can try it” Mina said distastefully. Levi seized the opportunity to pile a moderate amount of pasta onto the girl’s plate. He watched carefully as Mina twirled son onto her fork and hesitatingly put it in her mouth. Her expression went from one of disgust to one of immense like, before moving to cover it up.

“Well, what do you think?” Levi asked.

“It’s alright.” Mina said as she went to take a much bigger bite. Levi almost laughed at the stupidity of it. This is what truly defined kids. They refused to try anything new, but once they did they loved it, and of course they never admitted to being wrong. That last part reminded Levi of a certain green-eyed brat.

Levi wished he could say that the rest of dinner was peaceful, but he would have to be crazy to say that, or Eren. Children were loud and demanded attention at all times. Every time he went to take a bite of food, a child would grab his arm shaking it to get his attention. They were also mess. To be fair, spaghetti can be messy, but these children had managed to cover almost the entire surface of the table with pasta sauce. The only really good thing to come from dinner was that a few of the kids didn’t seem to hate him, if that could be considered a good thing.

After dinner the camp filed out of the dining hall trudging toward the campfire ring. It was in a more secluded part of the camp about a ten minutes walk from the lodge. Eren headed the group this time, with a swarm of kids hanging so close to him, Levi was surprised that the kids could even walk. Both of Eren’s hand were taken by children. It kind of was like the pied piper leading the child out of the city.

Levi has stationed himself in the back were the stragglers were, or more precisely; Reiner, Bertolt, and Annie. The three had only separated briefly while Annie claimed her bed in the girls dorm and the two boy’s claimed theirs. After that they had regrouped in the lobby of Sina. Now they were dawdling behind the rest of the group. He could hear Bertolt sniffling.

He did realize that it was his job to ask the boy what was wrong, but decided against it. Even in the best case scenario where it was just allergies, there wasn’t much Levi could do but send him to someone else to get help. That was pretty much all he was good for, Levi realized. That was what Eren had been telling him since the day the brat had arrived. Sometime since then he had started to believe it, which made him angry. He could do this, he had made sure Mina ate enough at dinner, that was a start. Now he would help the sniveling boy.

“You.” Levi said more harshly than he had meant to, making the already terrified looking boy quiver. “What is wrong?” He asked, trying to make his voice sound more soothing. It didn’t work. Bertolt just tried to hide behind Reiner, which wasn’t very effective because of his height. Levi sighed in frustration. This was proving harder than he had expected.

“I was just wondering if you are feeling ok?” Levi asked in a gentle tone.

“Why wouldn’t he be?” Annie said in a tone that should not have been as threating as it was considering she was only 7.

“He is sniffling.” Levi pointed out.

“It’s cold.” Reiner chipped in. Levi gave up after that. Clearly they didn’t want to talk to him and he didn’t really want to talk to them so he guessed it was even. He simply told them to hurry up ad catch up to the rest of the group after that. They had fallen quite a ways behind, Levi could no longer see Eren all the way at the front, which could be a problem because Levi only vaguely knew how to get to the campfire.

Some how Levi managed to persuade the trio of brats to keep moving and they made it to the campfire circle. Everyone was already seated Sina at the front so the little ones could see. At least half of his kids looked terrified of the fire and the other half looked like they were about to jump in. Levi was questioning the safety of sitting the youngest in the front when a relived Eren pounced on him.

“You have Reiner, Bertolt, and Annie. Thank goodness. I thought we lost them.” Eren said ushering for the three kids to take their seats. Levi realized this was his chance to have a little fun with Eren.

“You really should keep a better eye on these kids. If it wasn’t for me they would be in the middle of the woods by now.” Levi said in an overly smug tone. Eren’s relief quickly morphed into annoyance, probally because he couldn’t deny the accusation.

“Thank you for doing your job. Is that what you want me to say?” Eren huffed, folding his arms across his chest like a scolded toddler, before stomping away. Levi had to hold in a laugh at how ridiculous Eren looked. It was much more suiting for him, than know it all.

“They probably would have been eaten by bears by now, you know!” Levi called as Eren walked away from him. The boy turned around to stick his tongue out at him, to which Levi returned the gesture.

The log that was reserved for his unit was already full so Levi went to sit next to Petra and Rose Unit. The petite woman smiled warmly at him as he adjusted himself on the log trying to get comfortable. Before she could say some pleasantry that Levi would be forced return, the campfire started.

It was horribly boring event, but he had to admit that if he had been twenty years young he might enjoy it, Eren sure seemed too. They had gotten started with Erwin telling a camp legend. Levi was only half paying attention but it seemed to be about how titans terrorized the humans until a group defeated them, which seemed counterproductive to Levi since the camp was named Camp Titan, so after the bad guys.

Once the kids were thoroughly traumatized by Erwin’s story a group of counselors got up to lead a song , which Levi refused to sing, but Petra seemed to be into it. He was enjoying the not so docile tones of Eld, Gunter, and Oluo when he felt a light tap of his shoulder, turning he saw Eren squatting behind him.

“It is almost out turn and I realized we forgot to tell you what to do.” Eren said sheepishly. Levi stared back at him confused. “Every unit has to do a skit or song, and it is almost our turn.” Eren said as if it should ring a bell.

“So what do I have to do?” Levi asked resigned to his fate.

“Have you every heard of the ‘wee’ skit? Actually now that I think about it, it fits perfectly with your toilet humor.” Eren whispered, Levi stared blankly back at him utterly confused now. “I will take your silence for a no.” Eren said before moving to join Levi on the log. They wasn’t much room left, so Eren was pressed up closely to Levi, practically sitting in his lap. Levi felt suddenly warm and he knew it wasn’t from the fire. He tired not to look Eren in the eyes, but he thought that the boy’s cheeks were a little red, but the fire light may have just been playing tricks on him.

“Sorry, my legs were starting to cramp up, we can’t all have thunder thighs like you.” Eren said with a giggle. The fact that Eren had been checking out his legs did not escape Levi, nor did it help the warm feeling in his chest. “But anyway, all you really need to do is stand in the middle, where you don’t really have to act out or anything. When we pass down the line basically just repeat what the person behind you said to the person in front of you.” Eren explained in a hushed tone so not to distract the kids around them from the song.

“That literally makes no sense, brat.” Levi said looking at Eren like he was crazy. Eren shrugged it off.

“It will make sense when we get up there, which is now, so let’s go.” Eren said jumping up form the log, pulling Levi up to the front of the crowd.

Eren positioned Levi so he was standing in-between Krista and Marco, with Sasha at the front of the line, and Eren at the back. Sasha was making motions like she was driving a car, Krista pretending to listen to music. Looking behind him Marco was pretending to read a book, while Eren was dancing around looking like he had to take a shit. He was momentarily concerned for the boy, before Eren dramatically tapped Marco on the shoulder.

“I have to wee.” Eren said loudly. A bunch of kids giggled.

“Well we are still pretty far away can you hold it?” Marco asked. Eren shook his head. “Oh, well let me ask the bus driver.” Marco said before tapping Levi on the shoulder. “He has to go wee.” Marco said gesture with his eyes from Levi to Krista. Mouth forming an ‘o’ of understanding, Levi realized the point of the skit. He quickly tapped Krista on the shoulder, who pretended to take out her ear buds.

“The brat back there has to go wee.” A small laugh from the crowd, which may or may not have made Levi feel more confident.

“Oh, no. Let me tell the bus driver.” Krista said before turning away form Levi. “Hey bus driver, Eren has to go wee.”
            “He better not wee on my bus! How bad does he have to wee?” Sasha asked.

“I don’t know let me ask.” Krista said turning back to Levi.

“She want’s to know how made he has to wee.”

“Let me ask,” Levi said turning to Marco, repeating the statement.

“How bad do you have to wee?” Marco asked. By now Eren had his hands by his crotch, knees together and dancing around dramatically, oohing and ahhing.

“I really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really, have to wee.” Eren said quickly to loud laughter from the children. Levi could even see Bertolt taking a break from moping to giggle.

“Wow, that’s a lot of reallys.” Marco said before turning to Levi and repeating Eren’s obnoxious amounts or reallys counting them on his fingers, not to leave any out.

Levi did the same to Krista who repeated it back to Sasha.

“FINE!” Sasha said loudly before making a noise like she was stopping the bus. “Get off my bus!” She yelled back to Eren, who began skipping around the campfire yelling “wee!”

The crowd cheered as they took their seats. When Levi passed by his unit to go sit with Rose, Ymir had given him a high five. Never before had a high five meant so much to him. It was basically the Oscar of campfire.

After that he enjoyed the campfire much more, actually paying attention to the various skits. He wasn’t surprised that Eren had volunteered to be in most of them. He had vaguely remembered being asked to sign up to do some at dinner, but had refused. Seeing as in the current skit Eren had just been spit on, he was glad he had refused.

No matter how funny it was watching Eren make a fool of himself just to get a bunch of kids to laugh, Levi was grateful when Erwin stood up to dismiss the units. It was finally time to put the brats to bed. It had been a long day and Levi was looking forward to sleeping. Now the only thing that stood between Levi and his nice, uncomfortable bunch was about a ten-minute walk and forcing a bunch of elementary schoolers to brush their teeth, and maybe a bedtime story. It would be as easy as counting 1,2,3.

Well as easy as counting 1,2,3 for a baby. What should have been a ten minute walk had been stretched out into a thirty minute walk because half of the kids claimed to be too tired to walk and the other half were terrified of the dark, so were clinging to the counselors. Levi himself had two children weighing him down.

Once they got back to the dorm, the children who had been too tired to walk before seemed to get their second wind because it seemed like a tornado hit the unit. The kids had been instructed to get their pajamas on brush their teeth, which some how translated to run around the unit naked, rubbing toothpaste all over your friend.

It had taken Eren forcibly brushing the kids teeth while Marco herded the rest of the boys into their room. Krista and Sasha were chasing one girl down trying to get her to put on a pair of pants. Levi stayed in the boy’s dorm trapping the kids in once Marco got them there.

Eren read them a story before turning out the lights. Levi went to get up, but Eren tugged on his arm forcing him to sit back down. Eren scooted closer to Levi to whisper in his ear.

“We need to stay until most of them fall asleep so they don’t start a riot.” Eren said, hot breath on Levi’s ear.

While Levi could understand the importance of preventing a riot, he did nto appreciate being force to sit in a dark room with nothing to do but stare blankly at a wall. To Levi it felt like hours before Eren gave them the sign that it was ok to leave. Once out of the room Levi looked down at his watch and realized I had only been thirty minutes. Still he wasted no time, brushing his teeth and climbing into bed. He zipped his sleeping bag all the way as a sign to Eren and Marco not to disturb him.

It felt like Levi had just fallen asleep when there was a loud bang on the door. At first Levi thought the sharp knock on the door was part of his dream. He laid in his bunk for a couple of minutes hoping that it really was a dream. He started to drift back to sleep, when the knock came again. No one else seemed to be getting up, so Levi rolled out of bed and stumbled to the door, still in a sleep induced stupor.

He opened the door not seeing anyone at first, but then remembered that the people he was in charge of were even shorter than him. Looking down he saw Annie looking up at him, blue eyes red with what Levi assumed was either tiredness or tears.

“What’s wrong?” Annie just shook her head, grabbing onto Levi’s pant leg tugging on it meaning for Levi to follow her. Confused, Levi did just that. She lead him into the boy’s dorm, which made Levi question what was going on. Why had Annie been in the boy’s room at all? She lead Levi over to a bunk that had a suspiciously large and sniveling lump under a pile of blankets. After checking the top bunk and seeing it empty Levi knew what was going on.

“They have been like that all night.” Annie whispered so quietly that Levi almost missed it. With a sigh Levi realized he wasn’t about to be any sleep that night.

As gentle as he could, Levi nudged the lump in the bed making one of the boys squeak loudly. “It’s alright it is just me.” Levi said, although that did not seem to comfort the boys. Annie was the one that was finally able to get the two out of the bed and into the art room.

Levi chose to only turn on one of the lights as to not blind them all. Reiner and Bertolt sat on a bench cuddling each other, Annie sitting next to Bertolt rubbing small circles on the boy’s back. They were all silent apart from the odd sniffle from one of the boys.

“Why are you guys till up?” Levi asked quietly not wanting to wake up any of the other children. The way the two boys flinch let Levi know that his tone had been too harsh. “It has been a busy day, aren’t you guys tired?” Levi asked more gently this time.

Reiner sniffled loudly but answered him. “We can’t sleep.” He whined.

“Why not?”

“We want ~hiccup~ to go home” He hiccupped loudly. Levi tired shushing the boy, but he seemed to be too far-gone to be quieted. It wasn’t long before Bertolt joined in wailing loudly, tears streaming down his face. The only consolation was that Annie sat there silent throughout it all, although she was glaring at Levi ordering at him to do something.  

Levi sat on the uncomfortable wooden bench watching as the two boys cried, panicking. They had covered how to deal with homesickness in training but Levi hadn’t been listening that closely. He also was sure that he couldn’t put on the comforting aura that Reiner and Bertolt needed.

As Bertolt’s wails got louder, Reiner started to cry as well. There had to be an echo in the art room, because there was no way two seven year olds could cry that loudly. Levi turned his head to peer out the glass door to see if the crying had woken anyone else up, but he didn’t see anyone so plus one for him.

“Why do you want to go home?” Levi asked trying to sound tender.

“We hate it here.” Reiner choked out through his tears. Well this wasn’t going to go well.

“How do you know you hate it hear? It is only the first day.” Levi said. Reiner gave him an annoyed look, which was lost on Levi who was disgusted by all of the snot on the boy’s face.

“It isn’t home.” Reiner said firmly. “We want to go home.” He demanded.

“You had to have come here for a reason. Why did you come to camp if you didn’t want to?” Levi asked confused. What was the point of going to camp if you were just going to cry the whole time. This time Bertolt managed to answer, pausing his crying just long enough to squeak it out.

“Our parents hate us!” He said to a renewed round of tears. Levi resisted the urge to roll his eyes.

“Your parents don’t hate you, they love you.” Levi tried to assure the boys.

“If they loved us why did they send us away?” Berthold countered.

“Yeah, all of our parents don’t love us that is why they sent us here, to get rid of us. It is a conspiracy.” Reiner said stumbling on the last word, unable to properly pronounce the long word. It was actually kind of cute, but it was currently 2 in the morning and Levi wanted to get back to bed.

“You parents sent you here because they love you.” Levi tried. The three kids looked up at him confused. Levi wasn’t really sure how to continue, but he was saved by a annoyingly familiar voice chiming in.

“Levi is right, you parents sent you here because they love you and want you to have the best summer ever.” Eren said walking around the table to sit next to the kids. He smiled tiredly at Levi before turning attention back to the kids.

“But…but…but.” Reiner said, seemly running out of ideas to complain about, but clearly still upset.

“Think of all the fun things you will get to do at camp. Krista is going to teach you how to make a bunch of really cool things. Sasha will teach you how to shoot an arrow and Levi will teach you how to fly.” Eren said dramatically. As Eren talked Reiner and Bertolt stopped crying and gasped at the declaration that Levi could teach them how to fly. They turned their attention away from Eren and to Levi.

“That’s right. We can do the zip line and you will be able to fly.” Levi said quickly, before the kids could start crying again.

“Promise?” Reiner asked in a very serious voice, looking between Levi and Eren.

“Pinky promise.” Eren said with a smile, sticking his pinky out for the kids to hook their with. Levi followed suit. Now that the two boys were done crying they looked dead on their feet. Bertolt was rubbing his eyes, Reiner yawning loudly. Annie was the only one who looked unaffected; Levi had noticed that her eyes had lite up when he mentioned the zip line.

“Why don’t the three of you go to bed, so you can have fun tomorrow.” Eren suggested. The children nodded hoping off the bench hurrying back into their respective rooms, leaving Eren and Levi alone in the art room.

“I will go in and make sure they actually are asleep in a few minutes.” Eren said with a yawn to which Levi just nodded. They sat in silence for a few moments, giving the children time to get to bed. Levi had begun to doze off again,, head resting in his hand when Eren rudely interrupted him.

“Good job by the way.” Eren said quietly, like he didn’t want Lei to hear him.

“What was that?” Levi said even though he had heard him. He just wanted to make Eren repeat it. Eren gave him an annoyed look, but this time it just made him look cute.

“I said good job. You handled that very well.” Eren said, Levi shrugged the complaint off. “I really mean, I never would have thought you had it in you.” Eren said seriously. While Levi was happy to finally get a compliment the phrasing ticked him off.

“And why would you think that I couldn’t?” Levi practically growled. He was done putting up with this brat’s bullshit. “You pretend to be all open minded and accepting everyone and I am call bullshit. Since day one you have been out to get me, not even giving me a chance to get better. You just assumed you know it all, but guess what I am almost twice your age, which means I have a whole lot more life experience than you. So you can take your holier than thou attitude and shove it up you round little ass.” Levi said before standing up to leave, not giving a chance for Eren to respond.

Instead he just left the teen gapping like a fish out of water, while he stormed out of the art room. He wished he could have dramatically slammed the door for affect, but it wasn’t worth waking up forty little demons.

            Eren didn’t follow him, which he was grateful for, because his heart was race as he climbed back into bed. He was pissed off but he hadn’t meant to be so blunt, although it was not unlike him. That was one of the many things his ex-fiancé had criticized him for.  He was not looking forward to seeing Eren tomorrow when he was caffeinated enough to become self-aware.

He curled up into his sleeping bag when he heard the door of their room open. Pretending to be asleep, Levi heard Eren quietly tip toe back to his bunk and climb in as quietly as he could, which was kind of a lost cause because the ancient mattresses creaked like you were summoning the devil every time you moved on one. Eventually though Eren settled in and the room was silent, other then the odd loud sniffle coming from Eren’s bed that sent a pang of regret through Levi as he drifted off.

Chapter Text

            Levi didn’t even know why he got his hopes up that things would go the way he wanted them to. After finally going to bed close to three in the morning, he had been expecting to get maybe a good four more hours of sleep, but no apparently that was too much to ask for. The little terrors were up and making a mess in the art room by five in the fucking morning.

            The actual wake up time was 7am, with flag at 7:30am, which meant they now had an extra two hours of entertaining the kids. Levi was debating just staying in bed and letting the other counselors handle it, but it seemed like they were playing some game that involved screaming so no matter how hard Levi tried to ignore the kids he couldn’t.

            Getting out of bed Levi noted that both Eren and Marco had already gotten up. Marco was in the bathroom area, but Eren was nowhere to be seen, which he was grateful for. He never did well with dealing with conflict that early in the morning.

            He took his time brushing his teeth and changing into his camp uniform of tacky baseball sleeve shirt and khaki shorts, in order to maximize his time in the relative quietness of the counselor room. When he opened the door he was bombarded with children clinging to anything they could reach. Carefully detaching himself from the kids, he made his way into the art room where Krista and Eren sat with a group of kids coloring.

He could see Eren laughing at something Mikasa had just said to him. When he opened the door to the art room though the laugh died. Eren looked at Levi for a moment, before looking away shiftily.

“Why don’t we go get some other kids and go play a game outside?” Eren quickly suggested, which Mikasa nodded in agreement to. Him and a couple kids left the art room, Eren pushing past Levi without looking at the older man. Eren managed to get most of the screaming kids in the lobby to head outside with him; he also managed to rope Marco into going with him.

            Levi ignored it though, and sat across from Krista at a table. Mina had already been sitting there but scooted over so Levi could sit on the bench. Once his butt was on the bench, Mina was quickly handing him a piece of paper and a handful of crayon stubs. Accepting the gift he started to absentmindedly started to color.

            When he looked up from his scribbles, he saw Krista giving him an odd look. He chose to ignore it and pretend to be interested in Mina’s drawing. It looked like she had attempted to draw the dorm. It probably would have been better had she not been using crayons, but it could look like shit and he would still pretend to be interested if it meant he didn’t have to explain himself to Krista.

Eventually though, they had to start getting the kids ready for flag. Levi and Krista had ushered the kids out of the art room, promising to hang up their art work. Sasha, Marco, and Eren were in charge of getting the kids dressed and ready, which left Levi and Krista to clean up the mess they kids had made in the art room.

“So what happened?” Krista asked getting right to the point.

Levi threw a bunch of crayon stubs into a box, scatter more than actually making them in. He swore under his breath, quickly looking around to make sure there weren’t any kids around, that was the last thing he needed right now. He could just picture it, some kid would hear him say shit one time and run around for the rest of the summer yelling it. He could see Eren and Erwin’s disappointed looks, and Hanji’s crackling one.

“I know something is up. He was all tense and red eyed this morning.” Krista pressed. Levi’s grip tightened on a crayon, snapping it in half.

“It is nothing. We just had a disagreement.” Levi said evenly, trying not give anything away.

“A disagreement that ended with a forty year old making an eighteen year old cry.” Krista pointed out helpfully as she stacked up all of the loose paper.

“I’m thirty five thank you very much.” Levi growled ignoring the rest of the sentence.

He was not about to let Krista make him feel guilty, well guiltier than he already felt. She didn’t understand. Eren didn’t act the same way around everyone else as he did around Levi. Around everyone else, Eren had this act going on where he pretended that he was perfect, sweet, and out going. But Levi knew him for what he truly was, an evil little know it all, that enjoyed making people feel bad about themselves.

“That is just so much better.” Krista said rolling her eyes, probably filing the information away to gossip about later. “You need to fix it though, Eren looks like a kicked puppy.” Krista said.

“Well maybe if he wasn’t such a prick…” Levi said trailing off, looking out the glass door to see Eren lining up children, looking happy at the moment.

“You two need to get your shit together.” Krista said surprising Levi. He hadn’t expected Krista to cuss. “You are supposed to be the mature one, being thirty five and all. Eren is as emotionally constipated if not more than you. So use all that life experience of yours and fix it, or this unit is going to fall apart.” Krista said before leaving Levi alone in the art room. Why were people always walking out on him? It was getting fucking annoying.

They walked the blob of kids down the hill to flag. Even with the kids waking up so early it had taken them so long to ready to go, they were the last unit to show up. It wasn’t there turn to lead flag so it really wasn’t a problem.

The kids seemed amazed by the bridge of silence, though they seemed to fail to understand the silent part. The kids couldn’t stand still during the ceremony, which meant Levi spent the whole fifteen minutes shushing and trying to get the kids to stop playing in the dirt. He could see the other counselors glaring at his kids, like hell he was going to let anyone look down on his unit, glaring back at the other adults until they looked away.

During breakfast Levi noticed that Eren scuttled away from Levi, sitting at the opposite end of the lodge. A good number of kids followed him there like lost puppies. When they had ended up next to each other in the cereal line, Eren had scowled and exited the line, which Levi did not complain about because that made him just that much closer to the only decent thing to eat for breakfast.

Clean up after meals was always the worst. The kids were supposed to scrap their wasted food all onto one plate, but they always missed the plate, making a huge mess. They had to stack their cups to take back to the kitchen, but it seemed like every kids filled their cups to the brim with water right before clean up and refused to even take a sip. Even when told to pour it back into the pitcher so it could water a tree there was those couple kids who didn’t listen leaving the water in the cup making he mile high stack of cups a waiting land mine for some kids to knock over.

Levi was barking orders at the children like some kid of military caption, trying to contain the situation. He could see children getting bored of cleaning up and starting to wonder away from the table.

“Sit your butt down, unless I tell you do something.” Levi snapped, a couple kids actually listening to him. He watched as one kid continued to winder away, toward her friend who had sat at Eren’s table. Not missing a beat, Eren put the kid to work cleaning his table.

It was always a race between the counselors to see who could get their table the clean the fastest, which Levi never really understood because once you were done cleaning your table you has to go out to song tree, making the counselor in charge of leading songs. So Levi wasn’t that concerned about getting his table cleaned in a timely fashion.

Once a couple other tables had been cleared and there was a healthy group of kid singing outside the lodge, Levi dismissed his kids. He was forced to endure ten minutes of inane songs that were most definitely getting stuck in his head. A small constellation was that Eren was still avoiding him, so he had no one breathing down his neck telling his to sing along.

The units were dismissed, the kids swarming around their counselors to find out what they were doing today. Most groups congregated around their unit leader, but it seemed his unit was swarming Eren, Levi noted slightly bitterly. He casually walked over to stand next to the other counselors.

“So what are we doing today?” Levi asked in a bored tone, whatever it was he probably would end out sitting out of. The look that Eren gave him at the question told him that if there were not children around he would hit the older man.

“As the unit leader, it is your job to write up the schedule, so we should be asking you that question.” Eren said through gritted teeth. Panic started to pool in the pit of Levi’s stomach. He had no known that and thus planned nothing. Now he had forty little kids and four counselors waiting for him to pulling something out of his ass for them to do.

“Um.” Levi said looking around trying to come up with something. The he realized he could do the job he was actually hired to do. “We are going to do low ropes.” He said confidently. The other counselors looked at him skeptically.

“Are you going to lead it on your own?” Krista whispered so the children wouldn’t hear them arguing. Sasha, Marco, and Jean had moved them to the side to play a game while the other three figured out what was going on.

“No, all the other units have enough staff that they can spare three ropes staff.” Levi said waving off that worry. There was no way in hell he was going lead all forty kids on a somewhat dangerous course alone. He pulled out the radio Erwin had given him to call the ropes course staff. “Levi to ropes staff. I need three people to come help lead Sina on low ropes. I can trade counselors if needed.” Levi said.

There was almost immediate response with a chorus of “yes’” and “be right there.” He gave Eren a smug look before telling Marco to wrap up the game. It felt good knowing he could fix his mistakes without any help, but knew he needed to actually create a schedule since kids couldn’t just do ropes course for the whole summer.

They made the short trek to the ropes shed where Petra, Eld, and Oluo were waiting for him. The kids seemed excited, babbling away, even though they had no idea what they were about to do.

“Ok, I need you guys to break up into four groups of ten.” Levi ordered. The kids started running around, latching onto each other none of them coming close to making groups of ten. Levi gave a frustrated sigh.

“Hey guys, can you line up for me?” Eren called in a pleasant voice, stopping the chaos. Levi watched him warily. Once the kids were in a somewhat straight line Eren went down the line giving each kid a number between one and four, telling them not to forget it. Levi watch as the kids tried to discreetly hide the number they had counted on their fingers, like they were embarrassed that they could not remember it any other way. Once he was done Eren continued his instructions.

“All of the ones go with Petra, two’s with Eld, three’s with Oluo, and four’s with Levi.” Eren said, the kids breaking up finding their respective leaders.

“Where do you want the rest of us?” Krista asked, directing her question at Eren but Levi answered.

“Just pick a group to go with, no more than one of you go with a group so every group has two counselors. Jean can come with me since he doesn’t count as a counselor.” Levi said to a weak protest from Jean at being treated like the child he was.

He watched as Krista, Sasha, and Marco practically ran to claim Petra, Eld and Oluo leaving Eren with no choice to partner with Levi, it was clearly a conspiracy. The younger man scowled but joined Levi’s group, standing so there was a blob of children between them.

Jean slid over to stand by Eren, whisperings something to him. Eren smiled and let out a little laugh that made Levi scowl and turn to focus on his actual job. Being the only one in the group who was certified to lead challenge course, Eren and Jean were just dead weight, watching to make sure no kid wondered off.

He unlocked the ropes shed, disappearing inside, remerging with a small wooden box. He moved out the way of the other groups the kids shuffling to follow him, eyes on the box. Levi put the box on the ground to the side and ordered the kids to circle up around him so they were shoulder to shoulder.

“Before we can get to anything fun, you need to learn how to spot.” Levi said. He showed them the proper stance, explain the importance of spotting each other so no one got hurt. “This is important because if someone falls then one of you needs to be there to catch them. This stance will help you support them. Eren and I will demonstrate it.” Levi said catching Eren by surprise.

He had been standing off to the side chatting with Jean. Levi ad found it oddly distracting. He chalked it up to Eren annoyingly cute, but loud laugh. The younger man slowly walked over to Levi, his face showing that he did not trust Levi to catch him.

“Eren is going to fall, and I am going to catch him.” Levi said standing behind Eren who had stiffen up like a board. At least Levi wouldn’t have to tell him to do that. There was a moment where nothing happened. “Fall, Eren I will catch you.” Levi said trying to sound comforting, knowing that it wasn’t really going to help. He saw Jean smirking off to the side, he glared back at the boy, but it seemed like the smirk had not been directed at him, but Eren. Levi not for the first time wondered what was going on between the two boys.

Finally though Eren fell back, into Levi’s waiting arms. He had one had between Eren’s shoulders and the other just below the small of Eren’s back. Levi was acutely aware that he was practically grabbing Eren’s butt. They didn’t stay like that for long, Eren quickly standing back up again. As the boy retreated back to Jean, Levi noted the blush on Eren’s face.

Levi snapped his attention away from the way the red flattered Eren’s tan skin, back to the kids who were watching him closely. He had them practice falling on each other so they could build some trust. Once he was satisfied that they wouldn’t drop each other he brought the wooden box over to the group.

“Before we can actually go on the course you have to beat this challenge.” Levi said gesturing to the box. “You are all shipwrecked and this box is the only thing you have left. All ten of you need to be able to stand on the box at the same time for thirty seconds.” Levi said. The kids stared blankly back at him in disbelief, thinking here was no way they could do it, the box was way too small. “It is up to you to come up with a plan and before you try it you have to explain it to me.” Levi said before letting the kids loose.

He went to go stand by Eren and Jean, keeping one eye on the kids to make sure they were following directions and not actually getting on the box yet. Jean stood between him and Eren but he could see the boy scowling, which made Jean snicker and elbow Eren in the ribs, only making Eren elbow Jean back.

“So how do you two know each other again?” Levi asked trying to make it sound casual.

“Like we said before. We went to school together and jean followed me to camp.” Eren said in an annoyed voice.

“So you guys are pretty good friends.” Levi said eyeing how close Jean stood to Eren.

“More like sworn enemies, but I guess you could say that.” Eren said with a shrug, catching Jean’s eye and giggling a little. That light sound made Levi want to punch something, but he resisted the urge as the children were calling him over.

He listened as Ymir explained their plan, knowing that it wouldn’t work, but no one would get hurt so he let them try it. They got about four kids on before they ran out of room. Levi told them to try again and went back to his spot by Eren and Jean.

“So I was wondering why Eren always gets a look like he is about to get a smack down whenever you look at him? He won’t tell me.” Jean asked loudly with a laugh. The kid was definitely starting to annoy Levi.

“Maybe he hasn’t told you because it is none of your goddamn business.” Levi said quietly but fiercely enough for Jena to take a step back at the aggression. Eren quickly jumped in though.

“Levi, don’t cuss.” Eren hissed, acting like his old self for the first time that day.

“They can’t hear us.” Levi countered gesturing to the arguing children.

“Yeah, but Jean is still a camper even if he did already graduate high school. You need to treat him like any other camper. ” Eren said rolling his eyes.

“Yeah, that’s why you cozy on up to him every chance you get.” Levi said under his breath.

“What did you say?” Eren asked in an annoyed tone.

“Just that someone should probably stop the kids from starting an actual fight.” Levi said. The arguing had escalated in voice drastically and he could see Ymir and Mikasa glaring at each other. He hadn’t picked Mikasa to be the one to be an instigator. Eren quickly swopped into intervene before any fists could be thrown, Levi following behind him.

“Ymir! Mikasa! Calm down.” Levi barked, the two children turning their glares on him.

“You guys are supposed to be working together to figure this out. That means listening to everyone’ ideas. You have time to try everything, even if you don’t think it will work.” Eren explained to the elementary schoolers.

“If you guys can’t work together to figure this out, we can’t get to the actually course.” Levi added. There was a chorus of no’s.

“I guess we can try her plan.” Ymir said begrudgingly.

Levi turned to Mikasa and listen to her plan, granting them permission to try it out. This time they managed to get everyone on the box. Eren helpfully counted down the seconds that needed to remain on the box, the kids’ squeals getting louder as they neared the end, so did the wobbling though. Finally Eren yelled zero and all of the kids fell off the box yelling excitedly.

“Ok, since you did so well on that, we can go out on the course.” Levi said. The kids scrambled to gather their stuff.

The course was spread out in the woods, so each element was a couple minutes walk from ach other. Levi knew that with this age group they wouldn’t be able to get through more then two or three elements if they were lucky so he kept them close to camp. The first one they came to was just three cables attached to trees to make a triangle parallel to the ground about a foot off the ground.

Levi had the kids drop their stuff at a near by tree and gather around a point of the triangle. He warned them not to touch anything until he gave them permission. It seemed he was scary enough for the kids to actually listen, because he didn’t see any wondering hands or feet near the cables.

“You all managed to survive the shipwreck, but now you are stranded in a country you have never been to before. A circus passes by and you ask for a lift. They tell you that they will give you a lift but you have to perform in one of their shows. You and a partner will show off your tightrope walking skills.” Levi explained the stupid story he had been told to explain the element. He gestured for Eren to come help him demonstrate the element.

“Before getting on the rope you need to make sure you have three spotters on each person.” Levi said, leaving it to Jena to make sure the spotters were in place. He didn’t bother coordinating anything with Eren, knowing the brat probably had already done this element a hundred times in his years at camp.

“Spotters are you ready?” Levi asked

“Ready” Came the disjointed reply.

“Climbing.” Levi said.

“Climb on.”

At that Levi grabbed Eren’s hands as they both stepped up onto the cable which wobbled violently under their weight. He could feel Eren shaking a little, and gripped his hands tighter. Once they were a little more stable they started scooting down the rope. The gather they got along the triangle, the more it wobbled, and the more they had to stretch to reach each other. They were doing better than Levi had expected them too. He felt very aware of the warmth of Eren’s hands, and hoped Eren didn’t feel the sweat in his hands.

Eventually though the triangle got widen enough that Levi could no longer reach Eren’s hands, just grasping the finger tips. He inwardly mourned the lose of contact. They ended up falling forward, Jean catching Eren, but letting Levi stumble a little. The kids clapped widely, saying how good they had done.

“they would have done even better if Levi wasn’t so short!” Jean said with a snort of a laugh which the kids joined in on. Levi decided he definitely didn’t like the boy. It make his feel a little better when he caught Eren elbowing Jean giving him a disapproving look.

The kids took toke to the tightrope excitedly each pushing to have the next turn. Most of the kids did horrible. Reiner and Bertolt had fallen after only a couple sooches down the rope. Neither looked upset about it though, in fact they looked excited and had almost ran to get in line to go again. Levi had been impressed that Mikasa and Annie had managed to get to the point where they could no longer hold hands, forcing them to step down.

The rest of the course went by smoothly, Levi forcing Eren to demonstrate all the elements with him. With each time he was forced to touch the older man, Levi could feel Eren relaxing. He was starting to get hopeful that he wouldn’t have to talk about their argument last night. If Eren was willing to move past it and act like nothing had happened then he was totally for it. One less awkward conversation for him.

When it was time for lunch, Levi had to stop the kids and have them walk back to the lodge. Jean lead the way, Levi and Eren trailing in the back, closer enough to watch the kids, but far enough away to talk without being heard, not that they were talking.

Eren just awkwardly walked beside Levi, head down, which was unlike him. The Eren that Levi had come to know always had his head up, and challenged everything. Today he had been so docile going with pretty much everything Levi had said. Eventually the silence grew so awkward Levi opened his mouth to say something but Eren beat him to it.

“I am sorry about looking down on you.” Eren said looking up at Levi, but not meeting his eye. That red tint of his cheeks that Levi liked so much was back. “Watching you today made me realize that I didn’t even give you a chance. I am sorry. Can we just start all over. I really don’t want to fight with you.” Eren said.

Levi decided to torture the boy for all the hell he had been put through, remaining slight just staring back at Eren. As a few moments past he could see Eren start to squirm, worried his apology wouldn’t be accepted. It was kind cute. Finally thought he decided to release Eren form his misery.

“I accept your apology on the condition that you stop being ass and start treating me like an adult.” Levi said. Eren nodded quickly making his shaggy chocolate air fly everywhere. “Also I do need your help. I have no idea what I am doing. I just don’t want you to be a little bitch about helping me.” Levi said further. This made Eren smile.

“So you admit that you need me?” Eren said cheekily. Levi glared and looked away but didn’t deny it.

Chapter Text

“So we need an event before the sleep out tomorrow night.” Eren said plopping down next to Levi on his bunk.

The kids had just been put to bed giving them a little bit of freedom as long as they weren’t loud enough to wake up the kids. Ever since Eren had apologized to Levi, the boy had become much more friendly with the older man. It wasn’t like Levi was against it; just the sudden wave openness from Eren had caught Levi by surprise.

He hadn’t noticed before, but Eren was very tactile. He seemed to always want to be touching someone or something. Levi guessed it was a comfort thing, but the first time Eren had casually just slid up to him and placed a hand on his upper arm out of nowhere, Levi thought he was going to have a heart attack. After a couple days of constant contact it became normal, although the heat that rushed through Levi every time had not lessened.

Now Eren had climbed into bed with him to plan out the next day. Marco was a little more tactful, sitting on the vacant bunk next to his. Eren was sitting so close that his leg fell on top of Levi’s. He scooted further up the bed away from the boy.

Having Eren willingly work with him had made his life so much easier. Eren seemed to have an endless knowledge of the camp and the kids adored him. He had walked Levi through the planning process making sure to get the kids input on what they wanted to do. The kids had instated on sleeping out under the stars so the next night they were going to sleep out in a meadow about a twenty-minute walk into the woods. They stilled needed something to do before that though.

“Can’t they just play games in the meadow?” Levi asked, getting a disgusted look from Marco and Eren.

“Do you have two hours worth of games?” Eren asked, to which Levi could only answer no. He was learning that the kids had a very short attention span, meaning any activity they had, they needed at least three back up plans.

“What about making a craft? Krista could teach them something?” Eren suggested.

“We don’t have time to request any supplies.” Levi said. Eren had walked him through the process of doing a supply request form, so Eren should know that they needed to give at least a two days notice if they needed something. The boy frowned at his critique, pulling his legs up to his chest, wrapping his arms around them.

“What about a dance party?” Marco suggested.

“Yeah! We can invite the other units and make a whole pig thing about it.” Eren exclaimed excitedly, letting go of his legs, spreading out so he was laying across he bed, on his stomach, legs up, head propped up on his hands.

“We can have it in the Garrison. There is a good speaker system in there.” Marco said excited that his idea was being backed up.

“I’ll radio and ask if any other unit want to come.” Levi said moving to grab his radio off the floor, trying to avoid lying on top of Eren in the process.

It took a little while for the other units to radio back. Maria was a solid no, the high schoolers not wanting to party with people half their age. Petra had chirped happily on the radio that Rose would be there though, so the party was on.

After the details were set, Levi pushed Eren off his bed so they could get at least a little bit of sleep. The boy gracefully rolled up of the floor where Levi had pushed him and climbed into his own sleeping bag.

The alarm that they set every morning always ended up being unnecessary as the children were up before the crack of dawn. Levi had been hoping that as the week went on the kids would get so tired out during the day that they would be dead to the world at night, but that was not the case. Now that the kids had gotten comfortable with them as counselors they were more comfortable pushing the boundaries. This meant staying up later talking and giggling, meaning they needed to stay up later trying to get them to sleep.

Every time Levi got close to yelling at the kids to be quiet Eren would stop him, with a hand on his arm or leg insisting that it was important for kids of that age to start learning to push the boundaries and learn their limits. The natural consequence of being tired the next day would teach them not to stay up late. The actual evidence seemed to go against Eren, because the kids seemed to have an endless amount of energy.

If they tired to pull that at the sleep out, Levi was going to shut it down no matter what Eren said. He really needed at least one night of good sleep, especially since they hadn’t decided who would work the weekend so he couldn’t even look forward to that.

The day was spent with half of his attention on the kids and the other half getting ready for that night. Krista and Marco were taking the lead on the party, but he still had to work out details with Erwin making sure they had all the supplies.

When he finally got his two-hour break right after lunch he spent part of it working. Erwin had him collecting and faxing Camp Notes to parents. It probably shouldn’t have taken as long as it did, but who the fuck still used a fax machine. The thing was so temperamental, he swore a single cloud went over the building so it rejected all of the notes.

He rejoined the group in the middle an archery lesson. A group of eight were at the shooting line, hesitatingly loading their bows, Sasha scurrying around to each child helping them. Krista was teaching and art lesson and he tagged Marco out, so it was just Eren, Jean and him to watch the kids who were not currently shooting.

It was greatly needed, because even though Eren had most of the kids attention Levi noticed two wondering off into the woods.

“You two, you had better be jungle peeing or coming back.” Levi called out to the kids. His yelled got the attention of the rest of the kids who all ‘ew’ed’ at the idea of peeing in the woods. Levi saw Eren mouth a thank you.

With the two kids Levi joined the rest of the kids were Eren was playing a quick and easy hand game with the children, so they could join and leave the group as Sasha called them. Levi had to admit he was impressed with the girl. When he had first met her, Levi did not have the best impression of her. She was loud, messy, and disorganized. It was everything Levi hated. But he had to admit seeing how calm she was while dealing with armed children he was impressed.

He watched as one child yelled to get her attention, directing the arrow right at Sasha, who just calmly reminded the child to point to arrow only at the target or the ground. If that had been him, he would have taken the bow away and sent the child to sit out. He didn’t really have patience for children who couldn’t follow directions.

A little tug at his sleeve drew Levi’s attention back to the group he was supposed to be watching. He looked down to see Mikasa staring back up at him.

“What do you want?” Levi said a little too aggressively because the seven year old flinched away from him. The girl mumbled something at him that he couldn’t understand. That was another thing Levi hated, kids seemed to always mumble but expect you to understand what they were saying. “Speak up.” Levi said in an annoyed tone.

“I need to go to the bathroom.” The girl said quietly. Levi stared back at her.

“Grab a buddy and go in to woods.” Levi said as if it was obvious. The girl gave him a disgusted look.

“No. That is gross.” She said.

“Then you need to hold it until we finish the lesson.” Levi said dismissively.

“But I need to go now.” Mikasa said stomping her foot a little.

With a sigh Levi kneeled down so he was eye level with the girl, like Eren had told him to do. Something about being on their level helped them be more comfortable with them. He probably would have taken more seriously if Jean hadn’t whispered loudly to Eren afterward that Levi wouldn’t need to kneel to get on their level.

“Look the nearest bathroom is in the lodge so I can’t let you go there alone. So you need to either hold it or take a buddy and pee on a tree.” Levi said as calmly as he could. Mikasa looked like she was about to cry. Like the angel he was Eren intervened.

“Why don’t we get a group together of kids who need to use the bathroom and I can take you to the lodge?” Eren said. Mikasa nodded her head with a sniffle. Eren smiled brightly at the girl, who tried to mirror it. Eren got a small group of kids together and they head off away from the range.

Levi watched them go, eyes wondering form the way Mikasa tentatively grabbed Eren’s hand to Eren’s butt. Horrified with himself Levi turned away from the leaving group to look at the group currently shooting. The first thing he noticed was Jean glaring at him. Slightly weirded out Levi moved to sit on the benches in the shade.

A small group of children followed him trying to show him the craft Krista had taught them how to make. He pretended to be interested telling every kid that their cardboard mask was amazing, best mask he had ever seen. Not a single one noticed that he told each of them the same thing.

The rest of the archery lesson passed in boredom. Even after Eren and the other children returned Levi stayed at his place on the bench. He justified it by the fact that there were those few kids who refused to play any game Eren and Jean suggested so he kept them entertained on the bench. By entertain he meant let them tell him their life stories. He did notice that as each kid told a story the next child’s story seemed to try and out do the child before.

When the lesson was over they left Sasha to clean up the range, while the rest of them walked to dinner. Jean led the group a couple of kids hanging off of each arm. Eren was in the back with Levi, instead of at the front like usual which meant Levi knew he was about to get a talking to. He looked over and saw Eren giving him the look. The look was the face Eren gave him every time he wanted to lecture Levi, but couldn’t figure out how to do it without sounding disrespectful. The look had become increasingly frequent over the last couple days.

“You can just start your lecture now, so we can get this over with before dinner.” Levi said in a resigned voice. The relieved look on Eren’s face was almost comical.

“You need to be more gentle with the kids. Some of them aren’t as tough as others so just be nice.” Eren explained in an annoyingly patient voice. It was the tone a teacher uses on a child that repeatedly makes the same mistake over and over again.

“I thought I was being nice.” Levi whined. Eren had the gall to laugh at him.

“Maybe for you, but just try to think about it from a seven year olds perspective. A big muscular scary looking man is basically telling you what you think is wrong. How would that make you feel?” Eren explained.

“Fine, I’ll play nice.” Levi sighed. Eren made a pleased noise. “You think I look scary?” Levi said in a mocked hurt voice. It was just so easy to tease Eren, and never missed an opportunity to mess with the boy.

He felt Eren jump a little next to him. Eren turned grabbing Levi’s arm with both his hands, clutching at him like he was a drowning man and Levi was a flotation device.

“Ah! I didn’t mean it like that. I think you look nice. Like intimidating but you pull it off in this hot way” Eren said hurriedly. After a pause Eren realized what he said and his face went beat red. He did not remove his hands though, instead gripped Levi’s arm even tighter, making it hard for Levi to walk. “I mean not like that. Just that you look cool, no wait that’s still sounds weird.” Eren said in a strained voice, like he was about to cry from embarrassment.

Finally he let go of Levi and awkwardly stumbled forward so he was engulfed in the swarm of children and made his way to the front where he clung to Jean. Levi chuckled quietly as he watched the boy shaking Jean violently. For all of his talk about treating Jean like a camper, he seemed to have a hard time remembering to.

Dinner went by slowly as always, but as soon as it was finished they had to start setting up the Garrison for the dance party. It meant that him and Eren got to leave song tree early, much to Eren’s dismay for some reason the brat actually enjoyed song tree, not even the kids enjoyed it.

“So um about what I said earlier…” Eren said trailing off not looking at Levi. He debated if he should tease him a little bit more or let him off the hook. He did look cute all flustered, but it was starting to get awkward.

“I was just teasing you. Apparently it isn’t just the children I have to worry about scaring.” Levi teased. Eren gapped at him like a fish.

“No! I totally knew that you were joking!” Eren insisted instantly back at Levi’s side.

“Sure you did brat.” Levi laughed as they entered the Garrison.

“I’m not a brat.” Eren pouted, but Levi ignored them.

There was a box filled with supplies for the party, which he looked through. The building had a fire placed so there were all the supplies for s’mores. There were also some supplies for in door games like pin the tail on the donkey and some card games. There were also things to decorate the room. He did notice that the camp IPod, filled with camp appropriate music was missing.

“You set up, I need to go get the camp IPod from Erwin.” Levi said. Eren quickly nodded grabbing the strange titan themed decorations to set up, while Levi exited heading to the camp office. As soon as he was in the building Hanji was tackling him.

“Levi! You came to visit us up in paperwork hell.” They said excitedly.

“I think it is supposed to be down.” Levi said pushing them off of him.

“But the office is in upper camp so it is up.” They countered.

“Whatever I need the camp IPod.” Levi said wanting to get out there are quick as possible, not in the mood to have his ear talked off.

“I think I saw it around here somewhere. We can chat while we look.” Levi groaned. Of course the IPod was lost in the mess that was the camp office. He noticed that Erwin was nowhere to be found to save him. With no other option though, Levi started shifting through the mounds of paperwork.

“So I noticed that you and Eren have become buddy buddy.” Hanji said with a stupid grin on their face. Levi made a noncommittal noise, not wanting to give them any ideas. It didn’t seem to work because the manic grin only grew. “He is such a little cutie I am not surprised he won you over.” They teased, not even pretending to look for the IPod.

“Who says he won me over?” Levi countered. Hanji’s mouth formed a little ‘o’.

“Oh my god! Did you seduce him? Levi he is like half your age!” They said in a scandalized voice. They actually had the gall to slap Levi on the arm, hard.

“What the fuck. I didn’t seduce him. I just got him to stop being such an asshole.” Levi said taking a paperweight and threw it at Hanji, who dodged it laughing.

“But do you want to seduce him?” Hanji asked suddenly getting serious. Levi gaped at them not expecting that question.

“No.” Levi said simply after a moment. Hanji gave him a knowing look. “For god’s sake all I want is the camp IPod so I can have a damn dance party with a bunch of children, not get grilled about if I am trying to seduce someone that is practically a child.” Levi growled.

“Don’t worry your secret is safe with me.” Hanji said patting Levi on the back with one hand and handing him the camp IPod with the other.

“You hid it.” Levi said snatching it out of their hands. “And there is no secret to keep safe.” Levi added before storming out of the office. He threw open the door to the Garrison still fuming. Eren who was hanging up streamers froze in his spot and looked at Levi like he was about to get kicked.

“Is everything alright? You were in there for awhile…” Eren asked hesitantly.

“Everything is fucking great.” Levi said stomping over to the speaker system plugging the IPod in. He could feel Eren still watching him but Eren didn’t say anything so neither did he.

Levi scrolled through the playlist trying to find a song he could tolerate. Once the music started pumping through the speaker system the kids came pouring in. All of Sina and half of Rose had shown up, even a few from Maria had shown up despite the fact that they had RSVPed no, so there were almost seventy people in the room running around like maniacs. It was loud, it was sweaty, it was overwhelming even for Levi, let alone a little kid.

That was why Levi was not surprised when he saw Reiner and Bertolt in a corner crying. He was about to abandon his post as camp DJ to pretend like he could help comfort the children, but Petra swooped in before he could. Relaxing back into his spot Levi surveyed the room like a king over looking his kingdom, once Eren saddled up to him he felt like it was like the seen from the Lion King where Mufasa shows Simba the Pride Lands.

“Isn’t this fun?” Eren said eyes blown, face flushed, clearly over stimulated.

“I think you have one too many s’mores.” Levi commented.

“Probably, but they are addictive.” Eren said content with leading up against Levi. Levi was pretty sure this was the camp equivalence of being drunk. It was just so awkward to see, but felt great. Eren was warm and even though the room was already so hot, the warmth was welcomed.

He felt Eren go rigid and Levi worried for a second that he had done something wrong, but then he noticed where Eren was looking. The bald kid, Levi vaguely recalled was named Connie was dancing widely moving closer and closer to the large window. The kid was clearly having an out of body experience with the way he was dancing. Levi would guess that Connie didn’t even know where he was at the moment, he was just one with the music. It was kind of funny, if it was for the plank of wood that blocked the heater embedded in the ground right in the path of Connie’s dancing.

Before either of them could react they watched Connie, trip over the plank of wood and go straight through the window. The loud shattering of glass was almost lost in blaring music, but Eren’s gasp seemed to suck all the air out of the room. There was at least a six-foot drop on the other side of the window, combined with the glass; Levi was not looking forward to the scene outside.

The room stilled as Eren and Levi ran out the building to administer the first aid they had been taught, or call an ambulance because there was no way this kid was walking away from this. Levi knew he was so screwed. He was unit leader in charge of the event, which meant he was responsible for any injuries even if it was because the kids had been dancing too wildly.  He was definitely getting fired for the second time in two months.

The rounded the building to see Connie lying in the shards of glass. There was no visible blood but that didn’t give Levi much comfort. As they approach Connie hoped back up whooping loudly.

“That was totally crazy!” He yelled over the music that was still playing. Eren rushed over to the kids scanning him for injuries, but it wasn’t an easy task because Connie was already trying to go back to dancing.

“Are you alright?” Eren asked in a worried tone.

“Yeah, but I’m kind of hungry. I think I need another s’more.” Connie said trying to push past Eren and Levi to get back into the building.

“I really think you should go to the nurse.” Eren said placing a hand on Connie’s shoulder holding the boy back.

“But then I will miss the party.” Connie whinned.

“You literally just fell through a window.” Levi said dryly.

“Yeah it was totally sweet.” Connie laughed. Clearly the boy wasn’t hurt so relecuntlly Eren let him go. They returned back inside to find everyone already going back to the full swing of the party ignoring the fact that a kid had just fallen out a window. Eren turned to face Levi, a defeated look on his face.

“I guess we should probably fill out an incident report on this.” Levi said to break the silence. Eren nodded and followed Levi out of the Garrison and to the camp office.

It was oddly quiet considering that Hanji was in there. They sat at one of the office computer writing schedules. The other ad staff were scattered around the office, he could see Rico in the Trading Post doing inventory. Erwin looked up from his computer a confused look in his face.

“Shouldn’t you be supervising the party?” He asked in a serious tone. Eren squeaked out an answer that no one understood. He looked petrified; he clearly thought he was about to get fired. Levi had been afraid of that, but Connie wasn’t even hurt so it really wasn’t that big of a deal.

“We need to fill out an incident report because a kid fell out a window.” Levi said calmly. He moved to grab the clipboard with the forms. The room was still expect for him. Eren was almost cowering in the doorway waiting to get yelled at, the ad staff waiting to see if Levi was joking.

“A kid fell out a window.” Erwin repeated slowly as if he didn’t believe what he was hearing. Levi could see Hanji trying to hide a laugh. “Who was watching them?” Erwin asked, clearly trying to repress his anger.

“We were.” Eren squeaked helpfully. All eyes were on the teen now, who was visibly shaking.

“The kid is fine.” Levi said rolling his eyes.

“You couldn’t have mentioned that earlier?” Erwin said with a resigned sigh, sitting back in his chair.

“But we still have a broken window. Did anyone clean up the glass?” Hanji added. Levi and Eren gave each other a look.

“Um, I’ll go do that now…” Eren said awkwardly running out of the office. Erwin signed rolling his chair to grab another clipboard.

“You need fill out a property damage form, an injury report, and a form  to request the window get fixed along with that incident report which Eren will need to fill out one of his own.” Erwin said handing Levi way too many clipboards.

He flipped through the paper work and realized he was going to be there for a while. Eren had better be back soon to help him out with this shit. He didn’t understand why he needed to fill out an injury report when the kid wasn’t even hurt; he was probably still dancing widely.

Resigned to his fate of paperwork hell, Levi slumped into a chair, grabbed a pen and started to fill out the report. It was incredibly detailed in order to cover the camp’s butt in case the parents wanted to sue, but Levi doubted Connie would press any charges. It was probably the coolest thing that would happen to the kid all summer.

When he had finished the incident report Eren returned to the office, trying to sneak in, but Levi noticed him. He sent one of the clipboards flying at Eren’s head. It whacked the boy in the forehead giving him a small cut on the forehead.

“That is another incident and injury report.” Erwin said not even looking up from his computer. Hanji snickered from their computer while Levi scowled.

Eren plopped down into a rolling chair that slid, bumping into Levi, sending his chair rolling. Eren giggled a little as Levi pushed off slding his chair so he bumped back into Eren.

“Oh look at you two playing bumper cars, how cute.” Hanji cooed making Levi tense. Hanji had Levi on edge after their conversation earlier that evening. 

It ended up being a long night, the ad staff filing out of the office as they finished their work. Eventually it was just Eren, Levi, Hanji and Erwin left in the office. The loud music blaring from the Garrison had long since stopped. They had heard the stomping herd of elementary schoolers pass by the office on the way to their sleep out. That was a small consultation; he didn’t have to put the kids to bed. But it did mean he and Eren would have to be careful to be extra quiet not to wake them up when they were finally done with the paperwork.

Once Levi was done he traded his clipboards with Eren so they could go over each other’s work making sure their stories matched. Seeing that everything checked out, they both stood up handing Erwin the clipboards, he checked to make sure everything was filled out properly and told them they could go.

“You might as well just sleep in Sina, since it is already after midnight.” Erwin said dismissing them. Levi and Eren exited the building heading toward their dorm. Once they were in the lobby Eren turned to Levi giving him a manic grin.

“You know what this means right?” Eren said not waiting for Levi to guess. “Sleepover!” He said excitedly, running into their bedroom. Levi stood in the lobby, not reminding Eren that they already slept together normally. The only difference was that they didn’t have children worry about over hearing them. A cold sweat came over Levi. What did Eren have planned for him exactly?

Chapter Text

His night alone with Eren wasn’t as exciting as he imagined that it would be. To be honest he wasn’t really sure what he had been expecting to happen, but nothing really did. Eren had just pulled out his stash of candy and crawled into Levi’s bed trying to get Levi to spill his life story, which of course he didn’t.

He also refused to let Eren eat in his bed, pushing the kid and all of his snacks onto the floor. Eren had pouted up at Levi from his spot on the floor, but didn’t try climbing back into the bunk. Instead he just rested his head against the frame, while Levi laid on his stomach. They ended up chatting until about two in the morning when Levi realized that they should be sleeping.

He had to practically tuck the boy into bed to get him to sleep. Even after the lights were off, Eren kept talking. They didn’t even talk about anything important or deep. They literally just talked about random shit, but Levi felt like he had gotten closer to Eren even though he didn’t want to.

Waking up the next morning was hell. They should not have stayed up that late. Of course Eren was up and getting ready before Levi even opened his eyes. With a grown Levi rolled out of his bunk and stumbled into the bathroom. Eren smiled at him, toothbrush hanging out of his mouth. Levi grimaced back as he went about his morning routine. Eren spit out his toothpaste and turned, leaning against the sink.

“We should hurry so we can meet them down at the Lodge since it is our turn to set it for breakfast.” Eren said much too brightly for that early in the morning.

The only thing Levi really noticed though was the fact that Eren had a little bit of toothpaste smudged on the corner of his mouth. His eyes were drawn to the almost unnaturally red lips with white crusty paste marring his perfect tanned skin. Without even thinking about what he was doing, Levi took a step forward and gently wiped the toothpaste off of Eren’s face. Once he felt the warm skin under his fingers he froze realizing what he was doing. Quickly Levi removed his hand, running it under hot water to get rid of the paste, not looking Eren in the eye, not that kid seemed to mind seeing as he was always touching everyone Levi noted bitterly.

Levi buzzed through the rest of his routine, trying to avoid Eren as much as possible. The boy not be phased by physical contact but he was. Once he was ready he just grunted at Eren, who was sitting on his bed, to let him know he was ready. The boy just hopped off his bed with a smile and followed Levi out the door like a puppy going out for walk.

Something Levi noticed about Eren was that he never seemed to run out of things to talk about. They had stayed up talking for hours for the night before, but still Eren was chatting his ear off. He was currently telling a story about a time him and Jean where in middle school and started a fight with a bunch of high school football players. Levi was starting to notice a trend with Eren’s stories. Most of them involved Jean and normally ended with a fight. The two boys seemed to be closer than they let on.

They entered the lodge, to the chaos of small children running around throwing plates and silverware on the long tables. Jean was running around behind them trying to straighten out the place settings. The rest of the counselors were handing out plates, cups and silverware to the kids who kept running back for more.

“I think they have this handled.” Eren said proudly. Levi looked at the kid like he was crazy.

“Are you on crack? This is literally mayhem. Look over there, Reiner just broke a plate.” Levi said pointing out the kids who did not look ashamed at all for breaking the plate. Eren just shrugged but moved to help the kids, Levi did the same.

As he walked over to a table to actually set up the place settings, because god forbid the children get something right, a knife went flying past him, almost cutting his upper arm. He whirled around to glare at the child that threw the knife. He saw Mikasa glaring back.

“Go sit in the corner.” Levi said firmly, pointing toward a corner far away from the happy, excited children. Mikasa’s glare fell into a pout.

“That isn’t far.” She whined.

“ You literally just threw a knife at me. That is not ok.” Levi said his patience wearing thin, which was not entirely the girl’s fault.

“Everyone else is doing it.” She pointed out.

“If everyone else jumped off a cliff would you?” Levi sneered at the girl, who looked like she was about to cry. “Go sit in the corner and think about what you did.” Levi ordered, staring the girl down until she stomped off to sit in the corner. She stuck her tonged out at Levi before turning to face the wall. Satisfied with his show of force, Levi went back to straightening up the table. He was distracted so he didn’t feel the warm body slid up to him, pressing into his side.

“Why is Mikasa sitting in a corner?” Eren asked in a worried voice. He clearly thought she was being her anti-social self and needed help.

“She threw a knife at me so I sent her to time out.” Levi explained. He saw Eren frown, which surprised him. Eren was always the one harping about safety so he should be happy that Levi called a child out on doing something wrong.

“Did you tell her to stop first?” Eren asked.

“No.”

“So you just sent her to sit in the corner so she could think about how much she hates you right now, before giving her a chance to actually learn from her mistake.” Eren said in a frustrated tone. When he put it that way, Levi had to rethink his decision.

Eren didn’t give Levi a chance to redeem himself, because he stormed off to where Mikasa sat in her corner. Levi watched as Eren squatted down so he was on the same level as the small girl, and gently put his hand on her shoulder. The girl turned her head up to look at Eren. Levi could see them talking and even glance over at him a couple times, but he was too far away to hear what they were saying. Eventually though they both got up from the floor and went back to helping set up for breakfast. It did not escape Levi’s notice that the girl followed Eren the whole time, even sitting next to him during breakfast. Jean was on the other side of him. It seemed like Eren was starting to get quite the entourage, not that Levi was jealous or anything.

That morning they had ceramics, which was located in upper camp, which was convenient because it seemed half the kids, had forgotten something they just could not live without for a couple hours. At least today they wouldn't have to go very far out of their way since the ceramics studio was about a hundred feet from Sina. Once all the kids had collected their things they walked past the camp office to get to the studio. Levi could hear Hanji laughing loudly as the pasted the office, making him cringe.

Armin, the ceramics instructor, came out of the studio to great them. At the sight of the blind Eren abandoned Levi and Jean to attach himself to the petite man. Levi scowled, side eyeing Jean seeing the boy mirror his own expression of distaste. 

"Go ahead and leave you stuff out hear on the patio. There isn't a lot of room inside." Armin said with a laugh, turning to return to the studio, Eren clinging to his arm, talking rapidly with his friend.

The ceramics studio was a old converted garage that the pervious owners of the land had built so Armin had been right I saying that it was cramp. Most of the small space was taken up with four long wooden tables that looked a little worse for wear. They were coated in paint and clay, the benches not looking any better. Levi resigned himself to standing through the lesson. 

He watched Armin bustle around ten throwing wheels to get to a shelf full of supplies, Eren right on his heels. The boy was making it hard for Levi and I think of him as anything other than a puppy, an adorable, fluffy, affectionate puppy. Armin was pulling supplies off the shelf shoving them into Eren's arms to distribute to the four tables that Jean was herding child on to.

Levi from his spot off to the side did a head count and felt his stomach drop. They were missing one. He quickly recounted and recounted again, every time he fell short one child. Looking around Levi realized it was Mikasa that they were missing.

Quickly maneuvering around the benches and everything else that looked like it was covers in clay, which was everything, Levi made his way over to Eren, getting close enough to whisper in the boy's ear.

"Stay calm, but we have a problem." Levi whispered. He could already feel Eren tense up next to him. "Mikasa is missing." He said in what he hoped was a calm voice.

Eren whirled around, eyes wide in panic. The only thing Levi noticed was how close their faces were. He could feel Eren's warm breath that was starting to become erratic. It was most definitely indecent how close they were. Eren grabbed Levi pulling him into a corner away from the children so they could not over hear their conversation. This 

"What do you mean Mikasa is missing? We cannot lose a child, at the very least we cannot be the first unit to lose a child." Eren said in a panic voice. His whole body was shaking. Wanting to do something to comfort the boy, Levi carefully grabbed Eren's face, placing a hand on each cheek holding the boy in place. Eren lifted his head so he was staring directly into Levi's eyes who couldn't help but let out a small gasp. Even when their were little pricks of tears in the corner of his eyes, Eren's eyes could not be described as anything less the stunning.

Levi didn't realize how always their position must look until there was a loud cough from behind him. Eren's eyes flicked away from Levi making him more disappointed than he should be, then broke away from Levi's hold.  

"Shouldn't you to be watching the children instead of cuddling in a corner?" Jean said bitterness laced in his voice. Levi was ready to scold the boy, when Eren side stepped Levi so he was standing in front of Jean.

"Look Jean, Levi and I need to deal with something important so we would really appreciate it if you could help Armin with his lesson." Eren said in an even tone that Levi knew he was fight to keep. Jean straightens up, a serious look on his face, like Eren had just asked him to save his life, not just watch some children that were currently playing with the very sharp looking tools Eren had given them. Jean nodded before solemnly walking off. Eren turned his attention back to Levi, the string face he had given Jean gone. Levi realized this was his chance to make Eren proud of him.

"Don't worry about it Eren. You stay here to maintain ratio and I will go find her." Levi said confidently.

"Are you sure?" Eren asked worry strong in his voice. 

"Absolutely. Now go help Armin." Levi ordered earning him a small smile that he knew wasn't genuine. 

Levi quickly exited the studio thinking about the best way to go about looking for the brat. He might as well start my retracing their steps. He was sure they had Mikasa when they had left the lodge, so there was a good chance she had just wondered off on the way.

He quickly walked past the camp office heading back toward Sina. Entering the building he didn't initially see the child, but that didn't mean she wasn't there. He had come to find that children were very goo at hiding themselves when they wanted to. His best bet was to look in the girls' dorm.

He didn't bother with knocking because no one should be in there. He burst into the room, the door slamming violently against the wall. He heard a small little squeak of fear and knew he had been right in assuming this is where she was. He hurried down each row of bunks looking for the girl. He finally found her digging through her suitcase frantically.

"What do you think you are doing?" Levi growled at the child. She turned away from her suitcase to glare back at him, but he could also see distress on her face. 

"I am looking for my water bottle. Eren said out water bottle is our best friend." She said.

"He only said that because he doesn't have any other friends." Levi said snidely. The girls' glare intensified.

"You're mean." She said simply.

"Whatever. You need to come with me to ceramics where you are supposed to be." Levi said, grabbing the girl's arm ready to drag her with him. He wasn't expecting the girl to put up a fight . She ripped her arm away from Levi and ran across the dorm away from him.

"Get back here now." Levi yelled, only making the girl run further away. He told himself he wouldn't run after a child, it was beneath him, but he couldn't really go back to Eren empty handed, so he took after the beat. 

The girl was surprisingly good at evading Levi. Every time he got close to catching her, she would role under a bunk and escape. Finally Levi managed to get a hold of her. 

"Listen, I know you think you need your water bottle but we can get you a new one. What matters right now I'd getting back to the group in ceramics." Levi explained frustrated.

If any other counselor had tried to do this they would have had Mikasa back with the group long ago, but no Levi had to go and try and impress a kid almost half his age. Why he even cared escaped him. He had handled a lot more when he was still working at the least firm, but somehow it was a freaking summer camp that brought Levi to his limit. He felt like he was going to explode. The children didn't listen to him, every time he looked at Eren he felt himself melt a little bit but also infuriated him, and he was getting no sleep. He was at the end of his rope. Missing children and emotional baggage was not what he signed up for.

He marched Mikasa out of the dorm and to the ceramics studio like she was a prisoner. Her firm expression fit the scene perfectly. Once they were in sight of the studio Eren came running out, grasping Mikasa into a tight hug. The little girl seemed to relax finally.

"Mikasa, we were so worried about you! Where were you?" Eren asked releasing Mikasa from the hug but still had his hands on her shoulders. The girl shyly looked away from Eren as if she was embarrassed. Since the girl didn't seem like she was going to answer Levi did.

"I found her in Sina." Levi said wanting praise. Eren nodded at Levi and the went back to smiling at Mikasa. Levi felt oddly slighted by the lack of recognition. He had been expecting at least a thank you.

"What were you doing there?" Eren asked in a non-threading voice. Finally the shy girl answered.

"I lost my water bottle." She said quietly. Levi waited for Eren to scold the child for running off for such a stupid reason, instead the boy laughed. It seemed Mikasa was also confused because she was staring at Eren mouth open.

"I have your water bottle, Mikasa. Remember, you asked me to hold it for you at song tree?" Eren said a big girl on his face. Mikasa's cheeks went pink. "It is all good now, go inside so Armin can help you get started." Eren said dismissing the girl to run inside.

He stood up and almost tackled Levi into a hug. Unsure of what to do, Levi just let his arms clamp to his side and let Eren hug him. . Today just seemed to be the kind of day where physical contact was going to happen, and his ex-fiancé said he was bad at being physical. Eren didn’t seem to think he had a problem.

“Thank you so much for finding her.” Eren gushed, arms tightening around Levi’s sides. In a bold move Levi snaked his arms around Eren, hugging him back. This seemed to surprise Eren, because the boy let out a little gasp, but gave Levi a smile that positively glowed.  

“Ok, that is enough. We need to get back inside before Jean comes out here and stabs me in the back.” Levi said pushing Eren off of him. He wasn’t exaggerating. He could see Jean sitting on the end of one of the little benches glaring daggers at the two of them.

They walked into the studio and Eren immediately left Levi’s side to buzz around the tables, telling the children how wonderful their pieces were, even though most of them looked like utter crap. Not sure what to do, Levi stood off to the side to observe. It didn’t last long though, because once Armin was done catching Mikasa up with the project he came up to Levi handing him a spray bottle.

“I need you to go around and spray everyone’s clay once and a while to keep it from getting too dry.” Armin said in a tone that made it sound more like a question that a request.

 It seemed Levi still managed to scare some people. He took the bottle and started making his way around the small space occasionally spraying the children’s pieces. Eventually the children stated calling out for him, forcing him scurry around the room, lest some child’s pinch pot become too dry. Most kids asked Levi to spray them with the water, not just their pots. Levi complied, but was seriously grossed out, the whole bottle was coated in clay. There was no way he was letting that water touch him.

He got to Mikasa and sprayed her surprisingly good pinch pot. She turned around on the bench to glare at Levi, he glared back at the challenge. He sprayed the pot again, making it much more slippery and slimy.

“Hey!” Mikasa yelled.

“Hey is for horses, or in this case Jean.” Levi said earning a ‘hey’ from the boy sitting behind him.

“Stop spraying my stuff. I can handle it.” Mikasa said.

Without even think, Levi said ok and proceeded to spray the girl in the face with the water. There was a burst of laughter throughout the room, only Eren and Armin not joining in.

There was the loud scrapping of wood on concrete as Mikasa pushed away from the table. With tears in her eyes she ran out of the studio. Levi called for her to stop, but she kept running. Panicking Levi ran after her. He managed to get out of the studio, when he felt someone hold him back. He whirled around to find Eren, holding onto his arm, keeping him from chasing after the runaway girl.

“What are you doing? We need to go after her or she will get lost again.” Levi yelled at Eren angrily. The boy did not let go though; he just looked at Levi disappointment all over his face.

“Levi, do you really think she wants you to be the one to confront her right now?” Eren asked calmly but the disappointment dripped through his voice. Levi had to look away in shame. Eren trusted him and had even asked for his help, and now he was letting the boy down. He was supposed to be the role model here.

“No.” Levi said weakly, letting his arm go slack. Eren moved in, pressing into Levi’s side, wrapping an arm around the older man’s waist making Levi tense up, which did not hinder Eren at all.

“Do you remember what they told us in training about children who runaway?” Eren said starting to walk in the direction Mikasa was heading. They could see her up the path, but would not catch up at the pace they were going. Levi shook his head. “Just let them run.” Eren said. “Just follow behind them so you don’t lose them, but let them run out their anger. They will stop eventually.” Eren said. Levi nodded but didn’t say anything. Eren let go of Levi’s waist but held onto Levi’s forearm, as insurance that the older man would not chase the seven year old.

They followed the girl as she ran down the Survey trail that ran the entire length of camp. Luckily enough she didn’t run off the path, which meant she wasn’t totally distraught. Eventually though she stopped collapsing on a rock. They were far enough away from her that she couldn’t hear them, but they could hear her sobbing. Eren stopped them, when Levi made to move forward he placed a hand firmly on Levi’s chest, his face telling Levi to hang back.

He watched as Eren approached Mikasa. He sat down in the dirt next to the girl making Levi cringe. The stains would probably be impossible to get out of Eren’s khaki shorts. Eren gently rubbed circles on Mikasa’s back until the girl looked up at him. She threw herself at him, climbing into his lap, which he let her do. He wrapped his arms around her and let her cry into his shoulder even though Levi could see snot running down her face.

Eventually the sobs started to calm down and she started talking to Eren. The longer Mikasa talked the calmer she got, but the more Eren’s frown deepened. Levi was starting to get worried because Eren kept glancing over at him, but it was never for long because he was giving his full attention to Mikasa.
            It always surprised Levi how well Eren was with the kids. He never seemed to get fluster by anything they did. They could start a goddamn hunger games and he would still be level headed. The kids hung off his every word, while Levi couldn’t even get their attention, not that he had anything to say, but that wasn’t the point. Now he had a girl who had been crying hysterically just minutes before laughing and giggling. He watched as Eren pulled out an elaborate red friendship bracelet out of his pocket and tied it around Mikasa’s wrist. The looked at it like it was the most precious gift in the world and not just some embroidery thread tied in knots to make a patterned.

Once the bracelet was on the girl, the both stood up, Eren arching his back to stretch out. The hem of his shirt came up giving Levi a peak of Eren’s toned tan stomach. He mouth went dry as he looked away. They walked over to him, Mikasa clinging to Eren’s hand. They stopped in front of Levi, Eren looking very serious.

“Levi, I think you have something to say to Mikasa.” Eren said.

“Sorry.” Levi mumbled. He felt like he was a kid being told to apologize for doing something stupid, which was kind of true.

“What Levi? I couldn’t hear you.” Eren said making Mikasa giggle.

“I said I am sorry Mikasa for being rude to you. It wasn’t right and I hope you can forgive me.” Levi said through gritted teeth looking down at the child. The girl waited for a moment before smiling brightly.

“Eren likes you, so I like you to.” She said happily. “Now come on, I want to finish my pot.” She whined tugging on Eren’s arm, getting them to start walking back to the ceramics studio.

That was another thing about kids Levi could never understand, they hated you one minute but were your best friend the next. It seemed that they forgave and forgot way more easily than adults. Eren walked with Mikasa ahead of Levi, the looked over her shoulder and glared at Levi with an intensity that only Levi himself could emulate. Maybe his was wrong; kids were just really good at manipulating people.

They walked back to the studio, Eren ushering Mikasa inside, but holding Levi back when he tried to enter the studio. Eren gestured for Levi to follow him to the back patio. The back patio was an open, spacious are with another four tables and a beautiful view. It was normally just used when kids painted their work. If Levi were the ceramics instructor he would always use the space for lessons. Eren sat them down at one of the tables, facing each other.

“Levi, I want to hear what happened between you and Mikasa from your side.” Eren asked seriously. Suddenly Levi felt nervous. This seemed to be a lot bigger deal than he thought it was.

“I was being playful and sprayed her, I didn’t think it was that big of a deal because other kids were begging to be sprayed.” Levi said, which was mostly true. He just left out the part where Mikasa annoyed the hell out of him.

“And before that, when you found her in Sina.” Eren promoted.

“I basically had to chase her around the room to get her to leave.” Levi said, Eren sighed.

“Because you scared her?” Eren asked sounding tired.

“I mean that is a possible reason.” Levi said. Eren groaned.

“You do realize that you basically have been bullying a child.” Eren said.

“No, I wasn’t!” Levi insisted. He wouldn’t do that, he would never do that to a child.

“I’m sure that you would never do that intentionally, but you need to think about it from Mikasa’s perspective.” Eren explained, extending his arms out to grab a hold of Levi’s. “I really don’t want to nag, you but I have told you over and over again. You are the adult. These kids are too young to understand your humor.” Eren said. It was clear he didn’t really want to be sitting her scolding Levi, but still there he was.

“I apologized, what else do you want me to do?” Levi asked, distracted by how Eren was running his hands, running up and down Levi’s arms.

“I want you to mean it. I want you to actually listen to my corrections.” Eren said looking Levi dead in the eye. They held that position until Levi looked away.

“I will.” Levi said quietly.

 He looked up to see Eren smiling softly at him sending a pang through his heart. He hated that Eren did this to him. To anyone else Levi was this scary intimidating person that no one took the time to approach. It was what had sent his fiancé running and got him fired from his job of ten years.  But here was this eighteen-year-old kid who had come into his life and made Levi feel like the child. He hated it, but at the same time it was nice to not have to each up that persona.

“You like me enough to stick up for me.” Levi said in a teasing voice. The boy’s face went flush and he hurriedly looked away from Levi, retracting his hands from Levi’s arms.

“You are my unit leader I have to like you.” Eren said clearly flustered. He hid his face in his hands.

“You liiiikkkkeee me.” Levi said drawing it, grabbing Eren’s hands dragging them away from his face.

“Am I interrupting something?” A hesitate voice came from the doorway, killing the atmosphere.

“No.” Levi said flatting letting go of Eren’s hands.

“Good then your kids need you.” Armin said before turning to go back into the studio. Levi turned to look at Eren and started laughing. Oh god he was really in deep. 

Chapter Text

During training they learned that a child was always watching, and child was always listening. That was very true. Every conversation they had always ended up coming to bite them in the butt when some kid would come up to them and ask them about it. There was only one place that was a sort of safe zone and that was Shiganshina, the staff house. Eren figured that Shiganshina was only the staff house because no kid could pronounce it. It was also where they could do their laundry.

With a basket full of laundry, Eren stumbled into Shiganshina, trying to avoid dropping any of his dirty laundry, which was stacked precariously high in the basket. His mother had warned him about leaving his laundry to the last minute but he didn’t listen and was now desperate to get a load in the washing machine, otherwise he would be rewearing a shirt. He just knew that if Levi caught him rewearing a dirty shirt, he would get an earful, well that if Levi could stand being so close to his stink. Not really paying attention to his surroundings, Eren ran into someone, sending his laundry flying littering the hallway with his dirty underwear.

“Sorry.” Eren said sincerely, squatting down to gather up his laundry.

“It is alright Eren.” Armin said with a laugh.

“Oh it is just you.” Eren said with a smile.

“What is that supposed to mean?” Armin asked in mock offence.

“Just that if it had been literally anyone else, I would be getting yelled out.” Eren said moving to sit on the floor, ignoring the fact that they were blocking the hallway. He didn’t hear any voices, so he assumed it was just him and Armin.

“That’s not true, everyone loves you Eren. You are the camp puppy and no one yells at a puppy.” Armin said with a laugh, sliding down the wall so he was sitting on the floor with Eren. Eren gave him a look of disbelief.

“Levi would.” Eren said simply. Armin snorted very flatteringly. “What is that supposed to mean? He totally would. I can just see him screeching about how my laundry defiled his sense of cleanliness. His eyes could bugle out like they always do when his is angry. He would then proceed to lecture me on how to properly do laundry.” Eren said enthusiastically arms waving, forgetting that he still had a pair of dirty socks on his hands.

He would have continued if it weren’t for Armin’s laugh interrupting him. He threw a confused look at the blond, but Armin just shook his head laughing too hard to actually say anything. Getting annoyed Eren threw his dirty socks at the other boy, making Armin squeal and try to dodge the smelly missiles.

“Ah, I’m sorry for laughing at you, put you are so ridiculous.” Armin said, avoiding the light slap to the leg that Eren had tried to make. “It is just that Levi is probably the last one to yell at you.”  Armin said.

“No, he is the first. He hates me.” Eren pouted, rolling and unrolling a shirt he had absentmindedly grabbed from off the floor. Armin gave him a knowing look.

“I thought you hated him too. That was all you could talk about through staff training.” Armin said. Eren blushed and looked away from his blond friend. It was so not true, he talked about other things, like everything Levi was doing wrong. Oh god he was in deep.

“Well now I don’t hate him, he just annoys me.” Eren said fidgeting. Armin rolled his eye, but stood up. Eren held his arms up for the shorter boy to pull him up. They quickly gathered up the rest of Eren’s laundry and shuffled into the laundry room. Every machine was full much to Eren’s chagrin. He just dropped his basket in front of one of the machines an followed Armin into the living room.

Shiganshina was a converted dorm, a really nice converted dorm. There was a nice living room area and kitchen the had two hallways on either side leading to the sleeping areas, bathrooms and laundry room. The living room was full of couches and soft chairs with an old as balls television and vcr in the corner. Eren fell onto one of the couches spreading out taking the whole space. Armin sat down in the leather armchair next to Eren.

“I’m soooo tired. I just want to sleep one night without being woken up by some kid who wet the bed, or threw up on their friend. Who wakes up, knows their going to vomit, so they go over to their friend to vomit on their bed?” Eren said indignantly. Armin just laughed at him.

“I bet I know someone who could help you sleep.” Armin said in a teasing voice. Eren gave him a confused look. “Leviiii.” Armin drawled out. Eren took one of the throw pillows that was on the couch and threw it at his friend, hitting the blond square in the face, although that didn’t stop the blond from continued to laugh at Eren.

“Stop.” Eren whined. “Like yeah Levi is super attractive, and super cool and like super intense, but he also hates me.” Eren said indignantly.

“Can you hear yourself talk or does you not listening to anyone also apply to yourself?” Armin asked making Eren scowl. There was a loud patch of thunder, making Eren jump. He was most definitely not afraid of thunder; it had just surprised him, that was all. It had been a little cloudy all day, so he had been expecting rain but it seemed like the storm was going to be worse than he thought.

“Ugh, you know what this means?” Eren asked looking over to Armin who shook his head no. “I am going to have to lug all of my laundry back in the rain.” Eren said with a groan and too Armin laughing who took another pillow to the face.

With the rain came watermelon bugs. Eren knew the proper term was June bug but they looked like little watermelons with fuzzy antenna. That night Sina was going to be doing night ceramics, which was just the kids hanging out on the back patio of the ceramics studio painting they're pinch pots because they had finished drying.

Eren helped usher the kids on to the picnic tables and then stood back and Enjoyed not being in barge for once. Armin had already set out all of the paint and the kids just needed to grab their pots. He was leaning back against the guard rail that over looked a meadow. He felt the wooden rail vibrate as a heavy weight slid next to him. He looked over and smiled at Levi. 

"Don't you want to paint something?" Levi asked. Eren shook his head. "That is surprising normally you are more into the activity than the kids." 

"That's just because we plan such good programs." Eren said with a laugh. He saw Levi roll his eyes.

"Or it's because mentally a child." Levi said in a teasing voice. Eren pouted, but it didn't seem to have any affect on the stoic older man, nothing ever did. Eren couldn't understand how Levi could stay so emotionless. These kids did the cutest things and they always had Eren in stitches, but Levi always just stood there, the same grim expression on his face. Eren couldn't even imagine living like that. Could Levi even experience joy?

They stayed leaning up against the rail, since it seemed like Marco, Jean and Armin had to group handled. It was just late enough that the kids were starting to whine down but early enough that they weren't cranky. It was sort of the calm before the storm. Eren always hated it when the kids got cranky, because that was when they decided to push the boundaries the most and Eren hated having to discipline anybody them. Levi did not seem to have that same problem.

He turn to look at Levi. While the older man may be just that, old he didn't look it. If Levi hadn't told them he was 35, Eren never would have guessed it. He had also noticed how broad Levi's chest was. Eren knew he had a problem with respecting people's personal space, but he was finding it especially hard when it came to his superior. Without even realizing it, he had shifted closer to Levi, so his shoulder was overlapping the shorter man's. Eren shivered, a strange feeling on the back of his neck. 

He was aware Jean was coming up to him, just by the loud creaking of the wooden floor. "Eren, you have something on your neck." The boy said.

"Ha ha very funny. I'm not going to fall for that." Eren said sarcastically, turning away from Levi to face Jean.

"He is actually telling the truth. You have a bug on your neck." Levi said reaching over to grab something off of Eren’s neck.

Eren turned around to look at the bug. He wasn’t really afraid of bugs but, the children were. He didn’t know how many times they had to calm down a screaming child because there was a daddy long legs within ten feet of them. He wanted to show the kids that bugs weren’t scary and to just handle to situation calmly. When he saw the tell tale green and yellow stripes, he tensed up. He knew Levi noticed, because he saw the older man quirk his eyebrow, but he didn’t say anything. Jean was snickering behind him, he had to resist the urge to punch Jena in the face. Punching a camper is bad, Eren had to remind himself. Punching a camper is wrong even if said camper is an asshole, an ass hole that you used to sort of date. It was wrong, Eren internally told himself.

“Flick it over the edge.” Eren said in a forced calm voice, gesturing toward the meadow. Without commenting Levi flicked the bug away. Once the watermelon bug was out of his immediate sight, Eren relaxed against the rail. That was until he felt something large hit the side of his face. He was embarrassed by the panicked yelp he let out that had all of the kids and counselors looking over at him.

“There is a bug on your face.” Mikasa said, standing on the table to try and pull the bug off of Eren’s cheek, where he could feel it digging its little feet into his skin. When Mikasa touched its back it emitted a little hiss that made Eren whimper. It didn’t come off with Mikasa’s gentle tug, clinging to his face for dear life. Eventually Mikasa got it off of him and threw it away.

Still there was no salvation for Eren. The rain had brought out the watermelon bugs and they had come in full force. The patio had four bright overhead lights, which were swarming with the creepy bugs. Eren felt an involuntarily whimper leave his mouth. Jean was still laughing at him.

He watched as the bugs would hit the lights at full speed and them come crashing down onto the picnic tables. At first the kids had reacted like Eren had himself, in horror, but eventually they had realized that the bugs were just stupid and you could get them to hiss if you petted their back. Soon more kids were playing with watermelon bugs than actually painting.

Every time one would come within a foot of Eren, he was lean back, almost falling over the rail. With one practically spastic jerk, he actually did feel himself falling, but then a strong hand pulled him back. He was suspended for a moment, before Levi pulled him forward. He found himself in Levi’s arms before Levi pushed him away. He had never realized how strong Levi was before that moment. He stood dazed for a moment until Levi spoke.

“You are afraid of watermelon bugs.” Levi stated. Eren wanted to deny it, but the evidence was overwhelming against him.

“He always has been.” Jean butted in with a snigger. “You should have seen the time when we were twelve and there was a really bad storm so there were literally hundreds of these little guys flying around. Eren was so scared that he peed his pants.” Jean said loudly enough for all the kids to hear, who promptly started laughing. Eren felt his face burning with embarrassment. He already didn’t want Levi to know he was afraid of watermelon bugs of all things, but of course Jean couldn’t just leave it at that. No he had to ruin any respect Levi had for him at this point.

“Don’t be a jerk Jean.” Levi said, it very clear that he wanted to use a slightly more exploit word.

Eren was proud of how Levi managed to stop cursing round kids completely. He also couldn’t help a second wave of warmth spread over him, this time slightly different than before. He couldn’t believe that Levi was standing up for him. When Levi turned to face Eren, he felt like cold water had been dropped over him, washing away any warmth from before. Eren tried not to meet Levi’s expression still embarrassed.

“If you are so afraid of the watermelon bugs just stand behind me.” Levi said moving so Eren could shuffle behind Levi awkwardly. Eren stared at Levi’s back, glad no one could see his red face. He did notice how tense Levi seemed to be. Without thinking Eren reached out and started to rub Levi’s shoulders. They tensed up for a moment, but relaxed into Eren’s touch.

They stayed like that for a while until Armin called for Levi to go grab something from inside. Levi took a step away from Eren, before turning around, leaning extremely close to Eren’s face.

“Try not to wet yourself while I am gone.” Levi whispered with a straight face before turning to leave.

Eren felt like he was about to melt from embarrassment, until a watermelon bug landed on his arm making him yell out in fear.

Chapter Text

“What are we doing today?” Eren asked leaning over Levi’s shoulder to look at the schedule. His cheek was pressed up against Levi’s so he could feel the unnaturally warm skin the boy seemed to have. Levi also noted how smooth it felt, Eren seemly too young for stumble but too old or perfect for pimples. No, his tan skin was unmarred by anything, Levi noted bitterly.

“Spa day, which you know because you were the one that planned it.” Levi pointed out.

“True, but I still like looking at the schedule.” Eren said brightly. It sounded like an excuse to Levi, but he ignored it. “I’ll go get the supplies while you and Marco get the kids up to the Garrison.” Levi ordered, moving away from Eren. The boy nodded and walked over to Marco who was trying to count the children, which proved to be rather difficult since none of them knew how to stand still. Levi could see Reiner and Bertolt starting to wander off, with Annie not far behind.

Marco and Eren could handle it though, so Levi went up back into the Lodge toward the kitchen to get the supplies for the smoothies they would be making. He lifted a hand in greeting to Mike as he entered the kitchen to grab the box full of fruits, yogurt, and different juices. He could already tell this was going to be a sticky mess and he would be painting kids nails, letting Eren or Marco take this one.

He walked up the hill toward the Garrison, where the kids were already running amuck. He could hear them screaming from outside the building. Eren had promised him that the spa day would be a calm and relaxing day. Levi hadn’t called him out on his bullshit at the time, but he knew there was no way this was going to end well.

He entered the building, immediately getting swarmed by small children wanting to know what was in the box. He called out for them to back off so they didn’t get the contents falling on their heads, not that it helped much. He did manage to stumble into the kitchen though, dropping the box on to the counter.

“You got all the stuff for the smoothies, great. Marco is getting all the nail and hair stuff from the Big House as well as the camp IPod so we can play some relaxing music.” Eren said excitedly as he entered the kitchen. He noticed Mikasa quickly following at his heels.  Levi eyed the girl for a second before looking back at Eren’s bright eyes.

“You are running smoothies.” Levi said simply before walking out to the main area of the Garrison where the kids had started playing some sort of game that involved punching each other. It seemed Jean was helpless to stop it though because he was flittering around the room desperately asking them to stop.

“Brats. Stop it and come here so I can tell you want to do.” Levi said loudly commanding the attention of the room. He could see Jean scowling at him. He strolled to the front of the room. “We are doing a spa day. So that means you brats are going to need to calm down and relax.” Levi said firmly. “You will each get to make your own smoothie and do each others hair and nails out here or make a face mask. Yes, even the boys. It is good for your skin.” Levi said already seeing a couple little boys start to protest.

Marco was back and setting up the supplies around the room. Levi released the kids who all tried to storm the kitchen to get the food, which figured. Any time food was offered people when ape shit, he remembered going through college and then law school trying to find any and all events that offered free food, being too poor to buy his own.

He left Jean in control of the IPod, which seemed to be a mistake because soon some One Direction song was play which Levi did not find relaxing in any shape or form. It was amazing though because he could hear Eren singing along loudly from the kitchen. He wasn’t half bad, which Levi hadn’t been able to tell due to the fact that all of the camp songs had them screaming instead of singing.

Levi was sitting up against a wall supervising the nail painting. As much as the boys whined about it being too girlly, they were the ones that’s seemed to be having the most fun. Reiner was painting Bertolt’s nails surprisingly well. It would have actually looked really good if Reiner hadn’t insisted on using a neon orange color.

A couple times Levi had to intervene before some kid knocked over the nail polish remover, which it seemed no one knew how to put the lid back on. The room was starting to smell strongly of alcohol, which was not something he thought would happen at camp.

“Levi, will you paint my nails?” Mina’s shy voice asked. He looked over at the small girl who had a bottle of bright blue nail polish in her hand. With a sigh he nodded am moved so he was sitting crossed legged, leaning forward so he could reach her hands. Mina’s face lit up as she scurried to sit down in front of Levi, handing him the bottle.

He let the girl chatter as he carefully painted her nails. He had never done this before, and like hell he was going to mess up as bad as Jean had, who had turned Franz’s hand green. It was rather difficult because Mina seemed to only be able to talk with her hands, so Levi had to hold down the hand that he was currently painting.

When he was done the girl ran away happily showing off her nails to everyone, prompting a line of eager kids to line up in front of Levi. He even noticed a few kids hurry to wipe off their freshly painted nails just to have Levi paint them. He was surprisingly flattered by all of the praise.

Once he had painted almost every kids nails Levi thought he would be done, but He looked up from painting Hannah’s nails to see Reiner, Bertolt, and Annie dragging Eren out of the kitchen, pushing him toward Levi. Mikasa was following behind nonchalantly drinking a smoothie from a red solo cup. When Eren was standing directly in front of Levi, the two boys pulled Eren down so he was siting, while Annie ran off to grab some nail polish. She returned with a handful of brightly colored paints.

“Paint Eren’s nails.” She demanded, shoving the nail polish at Levi, who took them so they wouldn’t fall and break. That was a mess he didn’t want to have to clean up.

“Does Eren want his nails painted?” Levi asked looking at the blushing teen.

“Of course he does!” Reiner answered. Levi resisted the urge to roll his eyes.

“Yeah, go head.” Eren said sheepishly, but smiling none the less. Levi laughed at how silly Eren was acting. He was normally the first one to jump into any activity no matter how stupid it was and here he was getting embarrassed over having his nails painted. Levi moved to grab a teal bottle of nail polish that he thought matched Eren’s eyes.

“I want to paint his nails!” Mikasa said suddenly, moving to intercept Levi. He retracted his hand letting the girl take the bottle instead.

“No!” Reiner whined, trying to grab the bottle away from Mikasa. “Levi has to do it! We asked him not you.” He continued, but Mikasa would not give the bottle back. Bertolt tried to help his friend but Mikasa just dodged then. Levi exchanged a look with Eren. Kids could be so petty sometimes; it was frustrating.

“How about Mikasa paints one of my hands and Levi paints the other?” Eren suggested helpfully. The kids nodded in agreement, muttering that it sounded ok to them. Eren smiled brightly and placed his hands out so Mikasa could start painting on hand. Annie handed Levi another bottle of nail polish, this one a golden yellow color. Eren could have had it worse than two different colored hands, the kids could have insisted on having each nail a different color.

Levi held Eren’s hand while he painted, appreciating how soft Eren’s hands were. Even though being outside all day in the summer was wrecking havoc on his skin making it all dried out, Eren’s hand still felt nice. He wondered if Eren disliked his dry, flaky hands.

When they had finished painting Eren’s nails the kids dragged Eren back to the kitchen to make more smoothies. It seemed like the kids were done with the nail art in general so Levi casually packed up all of the supplies. He looked around the room trying to find something to do, but it seemed like Jean and Marco had it covered. There was loud yelling coming from the kitchen so Levi headed in that direction.

He was welcomed into the kitchen by shrieks of laughter as fruit bits and yogurt went flying because someone had forgotten to put a lid on a blender.  Eren managed to intervene and shut off the blender, but the damage had already been done. The kitchen was a disaster area. The national guard was about to land anytime, that’s how bad it was. Fruit peels and pieces littered the floors and counters, Levi could see the sticky mess, trying not to touch anything.

“I’ll clean it up later.” Eren said knowing Levi well enough at this point, to know that was his main concern at the moment. Levi grunted in response, knowing that if he opened his mouth he would probably end up yelling. He felt a small tug on his arm and looked down to see Mikasa holding another red solo cup. She held it out for Levi.

“I made you a smoothie.” She said quietly waiting for Levi to take the cup. He lifted the cup up to his nose taking a sniff to try and tell what was in the brownish goop. He gaged at the horrifying smell. Mikasa just looked up innocently at him. “Aren’t you going to try it?” She asked.

Knowing she got him, Levi lifted the cup up to his mouth and took a small sip. As soon as it hit his tongue he was over the sink spitting it out. He grabbed a clean cup filling it with water to try and wash the taste out of his mouth. He wondered if it would be appropriate to run over to Sina to brush his teeth.

“What the heck did you put in this?” Levi asked between gulps of water.

“A little bit of everything, plus some chocolate.” Mikasa said, not sounding offended at all that he had basically spit up the drink she made him. He heard giggles behind him and he turned to glare at Eren, who tried to hid his face behind his hands. Levi could see the smile from between Eren’s fingers. He liked how the smile always reached Eren’s eyes, making them even brighter than they normally were. Still, he did not like to be laughed at.

“What do you think you are laughing at?” Levi asked in mock annoyance.

“Sorry, it is just I bet Mikasa that she couldn’t get you drink that so now I owe her a bag of gummy worms from the trading post.” Eren said without a hint of remorse in his voice.

“So it is your fault my tongue feels like it needs to be removed.” Levi said dangerously. Eren shrugged in response. “Well that is good to know for when I am planning who is going to get sent to help clean the stables tomorrow.” Levi threatened. He saw the laughter leave Eren’s face for a look of horror.

“Oh god, please don’t Levi. The stables are so gross.” Eren pleaded, reaching forward to grasp onto the front of Levi’s shirt.

“You should have thought of that before you dared a child to poison me.” Levi said before brushing Eren off of him so he could walk toward the door. Before he left he turned to look at Eren. “Also don’t bother coming to lunch until you have this all cleaned up.” He said before leaving the teen in the wreck that used to be the kitchen.

Later that day, Levi sank into the chair that had some how become his. Even when he wasn’t in the office, he noticed that the chair remained empty. Hanji told him it was because the other ad staff was afraid of him so they left what they thought was his alone. Levi really didn’t care what they thought of him as long as his unit got the program supplies he requested. It had been a bitch the first couple times filling out the program supply request form, but Eren had patiently walked him through it and Levi didn’t want to admit it, but he had the boy look over his form every time before he turned it in.

“I guess we should feel honored that you want to spread your breaks in here with us, I just wish the other ad staff didn’t seem to run off whenever you get here.” Erwin said in an amused voice. Levi let out a loud grunt.

“It isn’t my fault they are a bunch of scaredy cats.” Levi said. Erwin gave him a look.

“Since when do you say ‘scaredy cats’?” He asked with amusement in his voice.

“God fucking danmit. Those brats are rubbing off on me.” Levi cursed under his breath. He knew no kids were around, because he always took his breaks so they conflicted with the end of dinner, but he still wanted to be sure. Both Hanji and Erwin started laughing at him.

“Are you sure it isn’t just one brat in particular?” Hanji said with a devilish smile.

“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?” Levi said, eyes narrowing into a frown. He saw Hanji give Erwin a look that made him want to punch them both. If Eren had been there he would have been having a fit at how much he was cursing, Levi thought.

“I think you know exactly what I mean.” Hanji said wiggling their eyebrows suggestively. Levi was about to tell them exactly where they could shove their eyebrows when Erwin interjected.

“That’s not really fair Hanji, you know Levi isn’t very good at getting in touch with his feelings.” Erwin said like the little shit he was.

“Thank guys, that real mature.” Levi said sourly, folding his arms across his chest.

“Ah, look we hurt his feelings.” Erwin said in an overly dramatic sad voice.

“Someone better go get Eren.” Hanji said with a giggle. Levi froze. “Oh, it looks like I hit a nerve.” Hanji said excitedly.

Levi ignored them, turning the chair away from Hanji and Erwin, so he was facing the desk and computer. He had come into the office to check his email, silently praying that there would be an email asking him to return to his old job. He was tempted to check his Facebook as well, but last time he had, there had been a message from his ex-fiancé. He wasn’t going to admit it, but he was too scared to look at it and the red notification was going to give him a panic attack.

He was sorely disappointed. All that greeted him in his inbox where promotions and, with a loud inhale of breath he saw Isabel’s email address. He didn’t even look at the subject line before quickly sign out. That was one less thing he could check. He swirled around, away from the computer, as that would help distance himself form the woman that had ruined his life.

“Levi are you alright? I know we were teasing you pretty hard, but you know we didn’t mean it.” Hanji said in a concerned voice that caught Levi off guard. He hadn’t realized it but he could feel himself shaking and was sure his face showed his distress. He was normally really good at hiding this kind of thing but here he was at camp of all places having a breakdown. He thought he had gotten over that.

“Did she contact you?” Erwin said in calm voice, that Levi could hear the anger behind. His large friend placed a hand on Levi’s shoulder in a comforting way. He hadn’t even noticed when Erwin had gotten up. Levi meekly nodded, still shaking.

“She?” Hanji asked, the curiosity dripping in their voice.

“I’m not going to go into the bloody details but the Sparknotes version is that I was engaged, she cheated on me with my best friend. In an impressively good decision on my part I got drunk before an important court case, which I actually won, but still got fired. That’s why I’m here.” Levi said dryly. There was a loud crackle as Hanji started laughing. Levi stared at them dumbfound, he knew Erwin was doing the same. Who reacted to a story like that? If he had told Eren his sob story, the boy would probably be fawning over him. Levi wondered for a moment when he had started to compare people to Eren, or even when his thoughts started to center around the boy at all.

“I’m sorry.” Hanji choked out. “It is just so cliché it is like a movie or some bullshit.” They said through continued laughs. Levi stared for a moment, before starting to laugh as well. He looked up at Erwin, who was giving him a look that told Levi that his friend had thought he had finally lost it. But this was what he needed right now. It was ridiculous. His life had fallen to pieces, but it happened in the most cliché way possible, with him ending up in the hellish nightmare that was camp. So all he could do is laugh at this point, if he didn’t laugh he would probably end up killing someone.

After they had both gotten there fill of laughing, Hanji sat forward in their chair and gave Levi an intense stare that made him squirm in his chair. He could tell Hanji was cooking something up and he already didn’t like it.

“I think we need to start Operation Get Levi Laid.” Hanji said in a serious tone. Erwin and Levi just stared at them. “The name is changeable, but seriously you need to get laid.” Hanji said.

“No I don’t.” Levi said.

“Yes, you do. You need to get laid so you can move on.” Hanji explained like it was a simple matter. “It is really just a matter of who at this point…” Hanji said turning away from Levi lost in thought.

“That is where you are going to fail. Levi doesn’t actually know anyone.” Erwin said. Levi turned to glare at his oldest friend, Erwin just smiled back at him.

“As crude as Hanji put it, I don’t think it is a terrible idea.” Erwin said carefully. Levi noted how the larger man back away from him, knowing Levi well enough to know he was about to get slapped.

“You know I don’t do one night stands. I’m too old for that shit.” Levi countered. “Besides where would you even find someone out here in the woods?” Levi pointed out, thinking that he had won the argument, but it seemed he just gave Hanji an idea because they started jumping excitedly in their chair.

“That’s it, instead of getting laid you need a girlfriend or maybe a boyfriend.” Hanji said eyeing Levi whose mouth went dry, but did not move to stop them from talking which only encouraged them further. “There are ton of eligible, young bachelors and bachelorettes here at camp. I can already think of one really good candidate.” Hanji said growing in confidence as they continued to talk. 

“They lost their mind.” Levi said absently. “I went through sexual harassment training so I can already tell this is a bad idea. Back me up Erwin.” Levi said turning to look at the blond man who had a thoughtful expression on his face, scratch that it wasn’t thoughtful, more calculating. “Erwin.” Levi said in a warning voice.

“I can see where they are going with this, and if they are thinking of who I am thinking of there shouldn’t be a problem.” Erwin said dancing around a name.

“Well who is this person I am supposed to be getting with?” Levi said in an agitated voice. He saw Erwin and Hanji exchange a voice. “Just tell me.” He said with a sigh.

“Isn’t it obvious?” Erwin asked quirking an eyebrow. Levi practically growled at him, annoyed beyond belief. He was so close to just storming out altogether.

“Eren!” Hanji said excitedly before Erwin could tease him anymore. Levi turned to just stare at Hanji like they grew a second head. He could not have heard that correctly. It seemed like Hanji, with Erwin’s backing was suggesting he tried to get with a brat who he had just started to be able to tolerate not to mention the fact that said brat was almost half his age.

“You are both insane.” Levi said standing up.

“Hear us out Levi.” Erwin said.

“Eren clearly likes you. He is always staring at you and gets so flustered around you. The kid is like an open book. You can see it all over his face every time he sees you.” Hanji rattled.

“I think you are just proving my point about the level of your sanity.” Levi said taking a couple steps toward the door.

“You like him back.” Hanji said stopping Levi in his tracks. He could feel the smile on Hanji’s face.

“I do not. I have just come to terms with the fact that it is easier to get along with him than to hate him.” Levi said simply.

“For Levi that is about as close he gets to being affectionate.” Erwin inserted not helping Levi’s case.

“I can’t believe you two! This is not professional.” Levi said before storming out of the office and back into Sina.

Once he was safely on his bunch he started fume. Where did those to get off on telling him what he needed to do to get over Isabel? He was doing perfectly fine on his own so far, he thought. True she had scared him off of social media and now his email, but he had things handled.

What disturbed Levi the most was that fact that he was angrier about the fact that they were trying to tell him what to do, than what they were actually suggesting, even with who they were suggesting. He hated being told what to do, which was probably one of the reasons why his fiancé had left him. That and the fact that he seemed to be physically unable to show any form of affection which Erwin had so helpfully pointed out.

At some point he heard loud chatter of the kids as they approached the building. He still had an hour left of his break, so he groaned and tried to tune out the high pitch squeals and laughter. One voice stood out to him the most; the rich tone conjured up the vision of tanned skin and ocean waves. What he failed to notice how it was approaching the room he was currently hiding in.

The door up, and Levi quickly scooting up to sit up in his bed as Eren came bustling into the room. He hurried past Levi, who tensed as the boy drew near to him. He cursed in his head at how ridiculous he was acting. He had finally been able to relax around the brat, but now with a few simple words from Hanji he was back to feeling like he had a stick up his ass even though Eren hadn’t even said anything to him. He was going to kill them.

Chapter Text

Levi had just exited the shower when Eld cornered him. He tried to push past him, but Eld just followed him into the living room of the staff house. Levi notice Eren lounging in one of the arm chairs, legs open wide, as he slouched down so he was almost falling out of the chair, face going read Levi quickly turned to face the kitchen counter.

“Levi, can two of your staff cover for mine this weekend?” Eld asked as Levi poured himself some coffee. He wasn’t sure who had made it, but there was a lot in the pot so he wasn’t that worried.

The idea of having to tell two of his staff that they would have to work the weekend was not the most appealing thought. The kids were here all summer, so they had to have some people working the summer, but it was also the only time for the staff to mellow out. That was why there was always the most minimal amount of staff working on the weekends. Levi had worked the first weekend and found it to be total hell. It had only been him Marco, and Eren with all the kids. If they didn’t get extra pay it would not be worth it.

They were allowed to have counselors from other units cover for them. So far Levi hadn’t needed to do that which was good, because few counselors that had gotten used to working with older kids wanted to switch to work with younger, even if it was just for one weekend. Although if he agreed to seen two people to Maria this weekend, that meant they would own Sina a favor, which was not a bad thing.

“Krista is working with Rose and Sina this weekend, and Marco and Sasha already volunteered to work so that just leaves Eren and I.” Levi said taking a sip of coffee with a grimace it tasted terrible.

 At the sound of his Eren tried to snap to attention, but considering his current position, all it did was send him crashing to the floor, where he rolled over and stood up, walking over to where Levi and Eld stood trying to act smooth. Levi resisted the urge to laugh at the teen, instead lifting the coffee mug up to his face to cover the small smile on his lips. He didn’t want to give anyone the wrong impression like that he was actually a good person.

“What are we talking about?” Eren asked, going to lean against the counter, only to miss and stumble. Levi couldn’t resist snorting into his coffee. Eld seemed unfazed though and turned to address the teen.

“I need people to cover for us this weekend since Maria has had field trips for the last two weekends, none of my staff have been able to have a full weekend off.” Eld said. Eren nodded empathically.

“Did you try Rose?” Eren asked. Levi wondered if he was trying to get out of working. That was a weird thought, since Levi didn’t think Eren was capable of turning down a chance to work. Levi had needed to force him to take the twenty-four hours off they were required to give when they worked the weekend. If he kept going on nonstop he was going to wear out before even the half waypoint.

“I did, but they are going on a field trip this weekend, so they are all out.” Eld said shaking his head.

Eren’s lips formed a little ‘o’. Levi’s eyes followed those lips not fully aware that Eld was talking to him again. His eyes were too transfixed on those overly plump lips. He was standing pretty close to Eren, it wouldn’t take much to close the distance between them. All he would have to do was lean just a little bit in. It wasn’t until he saw Eren move to elbow him that had realized that he had been zoning out. Shuffling so he could maintain his distance from Eren, Levi turned to actually listen to his friend.

“My staff is going to go insane if they don’t get a full weekend off, so can you two manage?” Eld asked again.

“Yeah I don’t see why not, it would be nice to work with older kids again.” Levi said with a shrug. He had already worked with the kids in Maria when they did the challenge course so he already had a feel for them. Other that the overly obnoxious boy named Connie, none of them really stood out, they seemed like a mellow bunch of kids. It would be a pretty easy weekend. He said Eren grudging nod in agreement. What was his damage? Eld smiled brightly in relief.

“Thank you so much. It is a pretty chill weekend for them. They are just supposed to go on a hike and sleep out under the stars really.” Eld explained.

It sounded easy enough. It really wasn’t that different from what they did with their kids, the only major difference was that these kids could handle being outside without complaining about pretty much everything. If Levi heard another kid complaining about how they were tired because they had been walking for five minutes he was going to punch something.

“Sounds good. Eren and I will be there to relive you after lunch on Friday.” Levi said with a nod. “Now though our break is over so we need to get to dance.” Levi said gesturing for Eren to follow him.

The boy reluctantly grabbed his backpack and followed Levi out the door. Dance was held in the Blue Room so it wasn’t too far of a walk, but Eren trailed behind him. At the moment Levi was grateful for the space between them, but he had to admit it was kind of odd. He also didn’t want to admit it, but he was kind of offended that Eren wasn’t hanging off of him like he normally was. No, the teen just dejectedly walked behind him, kicking up dirt as he climbed up the stairs built into the trail. When Levi couldn’t take it any longer we stopped and whirled around to face Eren, who stopped in surprise. Levi was standing a step above Eren, which put him at eye level with the teen. It was a great view.

“What is your problem? You have had a bad attitude since Eld mentioned this weekend.” Levi asked. Eren couldn’t quite look Levi in the eye.

Maybe I was looking forward to having a weekend off.” Eren said defensively. Levi looked at him skeptically.

“I had to get Erwin to threaten you in order to get you to leave the kids for even twenty-four hours so don’t you dare pull that shit.” Levi said, whispering the last word looking around to make sure no kids were in earshot. Eren pouted pulling those big doe eyes, but this time Levi did not let the squirming feeling that cute face caused he to have show. After a few moments of Eren carefully wiggling his eyebrows he seemed to give up.

“I don’t like working with high schoolers.” Eren confessed. Levi gave him a confused look.

“But high schoolers actually do what you ask them to. They are pretty well behaved and can actually handle themselves unlike out kids who need help getting their clothes on in the morning.” Levi said. It would be nice not needing to remind kids that clothes were mandatory. Eren gave him a look that told Levi he was not convinced

“They might act that way around you and Eld because you guys are like a million years older than them, but I am basically their age which means they don’t see me as a real adult.” Eren complained. Levi tried to ignore the dig at his age but all it did make his heart hurt a little thinking about the huge gap between them.

“Well that aren’t really wrong, you aren’t a real adult.” Levi said playfully earning himself an elbow to the ribs. It was worth it though to see Eren smile again. Frowns were not becoming of Eren’s face, Levi decided.

“No, but seriously that is all you are worried about?” Levi asked. Eren nodded sheepishly. “You don’t need to worry about it. I will be there and like you said before I am like a million years old, so I think I can handle a bunch of high schoolers.” Levi said extending his hand so it was resting on his shoulder.

 He saw Eren look away from him to his hand and then back at his face, eyes fractionally larger. While Eren was always touching Levi freely, it was never the other way round. It definitely wasn’t because Eren didn’t like to be touch, from what Levi could tell Eren found great joy in having people touch him in just little ways. He had noticed how no matter who he was sitting next, Eren would shimmy up to them until their shoulders were touching. No it was definitely just Levi who had a problem with physical contact.

They stood like that for a moment, before Levi began to squirm with how awkward he felt. He quickly let go of Eren’s shoulder and turned to continue walking up the trail. He heard Eren hurry to catch up with him, not walking side by side with him, bumping shoulders instead of trailing behind.

Since Levi didn’t have the weekend to look forward to it seemed like the week rushed past when normally it dragged on for what felt like forever. When Friday’s weekly lunch of cardboard pizza and corn came to a close Eren and Levi said goodbye to their unit for the weekend. Levi pretended not to notice how all of the kids started whining when Eren said he was also going to leave. A bunch of them started pulling on Eren, latching themselves to his arms and legs as if they could keep him there. Eren carefully pulled all of the children off of himself and assured them he would be back on Sunday, he just had to help the big kids for now.

As they walked over to where Maria Unit was lined up, Levi saw Mikasa trying to shuffle over to them. He glared at the girl and gestured for her to get back with Marco. She stuck her tongue out at him, but obeyed which was a pleasant surprise. When Eld saw them coming over he excused himself from the rest of the counselors and walked over to them.

“Thank you again. Here is their schedule for the weekend.” Eld said handing Levi the unit’s clipboard containing all of the important paperwork for the unit. It was truly a mark of trust to have the clipboard handed down to you. Levi used that as an incentive for his counselors to behave. Whenever he would hand one of them the clipboard they would always act superior and rub it in the others’ faces. It was kind of funny to watch.

“Yeah. Its no big deal.” Levi said glancing over the schedule, when all of a sudden Eld pulled him and Eren in close so they could whisper without being over heard.

            “Just make sure you watch out for Mylius and Nac.” Eld whispered.

“Why?” Eren whispered back in a confused voice. Levi was curious as well. When had Maria out on the ropes course he remembered Mylius and Nac being pretty good friends and pretty low key. They weren’t really the kind of kids Levi expected needed to be warned about. Eld gave them a look.

“They have gotten overly friendly in the last couple days.” Eld said in a tone that said he was trying to imply something. After a moment it clicked in Levi and he scowled, he was not up to dealing with this shit. It appeared Eren was a little slow on the uptake though.

“Isn’t that a good thing?” Eren asked in a confused voice. Levi rolled his eyes.

“They have been trying to sneak out into the woods to hook up.” Eld said bluntly. Levi saw Eren’s face go red and resisted the urge to laugh. With that Eld and the other Maria counselors left telling the kids to behave.

Levi and Eren stood before the line of teenagers awkwardly staring at each other. After lunch the kids always had ‘me time’ which was basically another way of saying free time, so they started walking off toward Maria. Since it was meant for the older kids Maria was a tent unit, hidden away from the rest of camp. It allowed the kids a little more privacy and campy feeling. The tents were large orange ones that made Levi think of prisons, but they were on platforms and were large enough to hold five cots each. It also meant the walk was much longer, but to Levi’s relief not a single kid complained as they walked.

As they walked Eren hung out in the pack of kids, listening to Connie talk about all the food he ate at lunch as if everyone else had not just had the same meal. It did not escape Levi’s notice that Jean decided to rejoin his unit now that Eren was working with them. While Jean normally spent all day helping Sina he did technically belong to Maria, which meant he had the choice of what unit to be with. It seemed like the teen was using that to his advantage now.

Me time went pretty well and since the next activity on the schedule was just journal in nature Levi gave the unit the option to just stay back and have extended me time, to which the unit voted unanimously for. Normally Levi and Eren would have to integrate themselves into the kids’ groups whenever they had free time in order to make sure none of the kids got out of control, but now they were able to just hang out in the ramada with a couple kids while the rest stayed in their tents.

Eventually though they needed to get the kids ready for dinner. Eren volunteered to go to each of the tents to let the kids know while Levi chilled sitting on top of the counter in the ramada. He tried to keep his eyes off of Eren’s backside while he walked but it was an impossible task seeing as Eren was wearing running tights that clung to his skin today. Not wanting anyone else to notice that he was staring at his subordinate like a piece of meat he tried to engage in conversation with Connie, but that was a lost cause since Connie talked a mile a minute and there was no hope for Levi to catch up.

Once he was done Eren walked back over to the ramada and hopped back onto the counter next to Levi. Eren didn’t seem to be a good judge of space because he was too close to Levi and ended up jumping into his lap. Brain unable to function suddenly Levi mindlessly pushed Eren off of him sending him falling to the ground. The teen stood up rubbing his probably bruised backside and pouted at Levi which made him think that Eren might have known what he was doing which was not a comforting thought. It made him think back to when Hanji had talked about Eren liking him, which was absurd. Why would Eren like him, he was a million years older than him like the teen had said himself.

Looking at his watch Levi realized they were going to be late to dinner and none of the kids were out of their tents yet. He glared at Eren.

“Didn’t you tell them it was time for dinner?” He asked. Eren gave him an offended look.

“Of course I did. They are just taking forever to get their warm clothing on.” Eren suggested.

“Actually it normally doesn’t take them this long.” Connie offered helpfully.

“Then why don’t you go remind them about dinner Connie.” Eren suggested. The boy happily ran off to get his friends. It didn’t take long for the teens to start exiting their tents after that. Eren gave Levi a ‘told you they don’t listen to me’ look and went to go line the kids up. It would always amaze Levi how expressionist Eren was.

Dinner was easy, although Levi could see what Eren had meant. Anytime Levi asked the kids to do something they were stepping over each other trying to please him, but when Eren asked not a single kid seemed to be able to hear him. Levi found it kid of ironic. When they were with their own unit it was Levi who had no control but now all of a sudden the tables were reversed. He could see Eren struggling not to get angry every time a kid blatantly ignored him. Levi probably could have gotten them to stop, but it was too good watching Eren get more and more frustrated.

They were supposed to have the kids gather up their stuff to hike to their place to sleep out after dinner. Levi left Eren in charge of the kids to go and grab materials for s’mores from Mike.

It was a nice hike from Maria to one of the sheltered meadows on the outskirts of the camp. By the time they got to the meadow it was already dark out, the stars starting to come out. They helped the kids set up the tarps for their sleeping bags placing the girls tarp on one end of the meadow and the boys on the other with themselves placed on a trap in the middle. Levi thought it was kind of obnoxious since that set up didn’t take into account non-straight couples that could still try and hook up.

They started campfire going the s’mores coming out. The kids started telling ghost stories that had Levi and Eren laughing in the background while the kids sat captivated. As it got later and later Levi started to noticed kids falling asleep around the fire. He called out saying it was time for bed. There was some weak protesting but it was more for show than anything else.

While the kids laid in their sleeping bags Eren had them look up at the stars as he pointed out constellations. Levi tried to pay attention, but Eren’s voice lulled him into a comfortable sleep.

            Levi was shaken awake by a firm hand on his shoulder. He sleepily opened his eyes, squinting in the dark to try and make out who it was. He wasn’t that surprised to find Eren’s face up closed to his so they could whisper without waking up the kids.

            “This had better be good.” Levi tried to whisper, but his throat was dry to it came out lower and huskier than normal. He thought he saw Eren twitch when he talked, but it might have just been the darkness.

            “Two kids just sneaked off into the woods.” Eren said.

            “How do you know they weren’t just going to pee?” Levi asked.

            “Because they were Mylius and Nac.” Eren said in a serious tone. With that Levi quickly sat up, sending the covers of his sleeping bag flying. He pulled on his shoes and dragged Eren off in the direction that Eren had said the kids had gone. No one was getting pregnant on his watch.

            They wondered around blindly in the woods for a couple minutes, Levi starting to think it was hopeless when he heard moans coming from a little bit to the left of them. Not stopping to think about what he might see, Levi went bounding over, pushing eth bushed to the side.

            “Cut that out right now.” Levi said loudly as he approached the teens who looked horrified to see him and Eren.

            After a quick glance Levi realized that both teens were only in their underwear and limbs were tangled up. He looked away wanting to burn the image out of his mind. He was suddenly thankful for his little kids that were too young to pull this kind of shit. He could hear the teens hurrying to pull their clothes back on.

            Once all clothes had been returned to their proper place on the kids bodies, the two teen stood up and tried not to make eye contact with the two adults, which Levi was grateful for.

            “What made you think this was a good idea?” Levi asked honestly not understanding. They were in the middle of the woods probably trying to have sex on the dirty ground covered in dirt and pine needles. That did not seem comfortable to Levi at all. He saw Nac glare at him.

            “Like you two have any room to lecture us.” Nac sneered at them. Levi exchanged confused looks with Eren, glad the other counselor seemed just as confused as he did.

            “What does that even mean?” Eren asked in a tired voice.

            “It means that you two probably are sneaking around all the time too.” Mylius said in a snotty voice. Levi felt the blood rush to his face, as he blushed red at the implication.

            “One that is none of your business. Two even if that is true that still doesn’t mean it is ok for you to do and three you can get sent home for this. Do you really want to have that conversation with you parents?” Eren said effectively shutting the teens up. The grumbled no. “Good than don’t do it again, wait until you get back home for this kind of stuff.” Eren finished.

            They marched the two teen back to the sleep out site like convicted criminals, heads hung low. Levi noticed how they stood far enough away from each other that they would not touch, even by accident. Levi did not pride himself on ruining a relationship for someone else, but considering the circumstances he was pretty damn happy about it. He also made a mental note to yell at Eld for not nipping this in the bud earlier.

            Eren and Levi walked a little bit always from the two teens so they could whisper as they walked.

            “I don’t want to fill out the incident report for this.” Eren groaned. Levi agreed, he knew Hanji and Erwin were going to read it and make fun of him.

            “We can do it in the morning at least.” Levi said, Eren nodded next to him. As they walked Eren stumbled a little bit knocking himself into Levi. The touch made his skin tingle a little bit. Levi remembered what Eren had said to the two teens.

            “Why didn’t you just say that we weren’t sneaking out into the woods together?” Levi whispered harshly. Not flat out denying an allegation like that was basically saying they were true. Now those two teens where going to spread it around the camp that he and Eren were hooking up in the woods. If that reached the offices ears Levi would not be able to show his face again. Eren gave him an exasperated look.

            “What does it even matter?” Eren asked. “Are you offended by the thought of sneaking out with me?” Eren said with a shit-eating grin. Levi spluttered trying to recover the conversation. They were back at the sleep out site and they directed the two teens to opposite sides of the tarps trying to put as much space as possible between them. As Levi climbed into his sleeping bag he felt Eren press up close to his back so that Eren’s mouth was hovering over his ear.

            “Besides I don’t want to eliminate the possibility.” Eren whispered before climbing into his own sleeping bag leaving Levi with a very big problem.

Chapter Text

As the sun beat down on Levi’s skin making him regret bringing such a heavy sleeping bag, Levi noticed another heater making him sweat his balls off. This heater was much closer, in fact it was clinging to him like a koala. Feeling like he was about to have a stroke from how hot he was Levi opened his eyes, only to have the feeling replaced by a heart attack.

Eren’s face was only inches away from his, eyes still closed in sleep. Arms were wrapped around Levi’s waist, legs tangled up with his. Levi wasn’t even sure how the teen had managed to get into his sleeping bag. He would have just let it go and accepted it, but the combination of the sun and the muffled laughter he could hear from coming from the kids Levi quickly pushed Eren out of the sleeping bag effectively waking the teen.

Sleepily rubbing his eyes, Eren sat up in the middle of the mess of sleeping bags and blankets, Levi heart pounded loudly in his ears. It was only the eyes of the kids that Levi could feel on them that keep Levi rooted in his spot instead of leaning over to touch that tan skin that looked so good in the early morning sunlight.

“What the fuck do you think you are doing?” Levi hissed under his breath so none of the prying ears could hear him. Eren just shrugged sleepily at him looking like he was about to fall back asleep.

“I move a lot in my sleep.” Eren said as if that explained everything.

“That would explain you kicking me in your sleep not using me like a goddamn teddy bear.” Levi hissed.

“I like to cuddle.” Eren said in a seductive voice as chocolate locks fell into his teal eyes. Levi felt like he was about to scream in frustration, it was too early in the morning for this.

“Well keep your body parts to yourself.” Levi hissed before standing up to strech. As he looked over the tarps full of kids who were starting to wake up from the light, he noticed them awkwardly look away from him when his gaze landed on them. “Start packing up.” He barked and the kids scrambled to comply.

They were doing a pack out breakfast because the idea was that they would get to sleep in but seeing as the sun made it impossible to sleep they were actually up almost two hours early. The combination of Eren being a tease and the lack of sleep was not boding well with Levi. He knew the kids could tell because as they trekked back to Maria they gave him a wide brith instead swarming Eren teasing him, Levi could see the red blush dusting those tanned cheeks even with thirty kids in between them.

Levi broke away from the pack when they neared the Lodge to grab the supplies for the pancake cook out. The Lodge was empty, the other units having not even waken up yet. Mike the head cook was in the kitchen though which Levi knew he would be, what was a surprise was Erwin leaning against a counter laughing. He hadn't been sure that Erwin was allowed to leave the camp office, he had assumed that it went against the deal with the devil he assumed Erwin made. The two giants looked at him as he loudly walked into the kitchen not wanting to see anything meant to go unseen.

"Mike, can I get the cookout stuff for Maria." Levi asked.

"I forgot that you and Eren were subbing for Maria." Erwin said casually. "How is that working for you?" Erwin asked crooking an eyebrow. Levi wanted to shave them both off. He ignored Erwin in favor of getting the food. As Mike handed him food, Levi piled it into a wagon so he could drag it back to Maria.

While he stockpiled the food Levi thought over the schedule for the day he realized that Eld had not had anything planned for the afternoon living it up to the kids to decide. He remembered how the kids had all whined about not being able to finish the entire low ropes course when they had been out before so that would be something fun for them. The only problem was that even with how well behaved they were, there were still too many for Levi and Eren to handle on their own on the ropes course and all of the other instructors were either off this weekend or with Rose on their field trip.

He was thinking it over as he walked over to Mike to grab the pancake mix when he ran into his solution. Being lost in thought Leiv hadn’t noticed that Erwin had moved from his place against the counter to be right in his path until he ran into that broad, muscular chest. He looked up into the blond’s face as he remembered that Erwin was also certified to lead ropes course.

“What are you doing after lunch?” Levi asked abruptly. Erwin ran his hand through his hair as he thought over his schedule.

“I need to go to the craft store to pick up the supplies for All Camp.” Erwin said slowly.  

“Send Hanji, because I need you to lead low ropes with me.” Levi ordered. It seemed like Erwin was going to protest, but then he stopped and nodded.

“Yeah, sure. It will be fun to actually get to hang out with kids again.” Erwin said with a laugh. Levi nodded before grabbing the wagon and wheeling it out of the kitchen.

Breakfast ended up being a hot mess. Apparently Maria’s counselors didn’t feel the need to keep their propane stoves in the cookout closet and none of the kids knew where they were which meant the first half an hour was just them trying to find the stoves. By the time they had found them in the counselor tents, everyone was starving and starting to get on each other’s nerves. It also seemed like not even older kids could be trusted with food because at least three times Levi had to stop some kid from starting a food fight, two of the times had been Connie. They had ended up making way too much food and Levi had to stop Erena dn Connie from eating everything and getting themselves sick even if they claimed it would be a waste of food for them not too.

Trying to salvage the morning Levi forced the unit into a hike that they had all groaned about, just wanting to chill in their tents after such an intense breakfast, but Levi insisted. They were at camp to do campy things not lay around, so Levi kicked their butts into gear and got them going on a nice hike around the camp. Him telling them that they were going to be doing ropes course after lunch if they were good certainly help improve their attitudes.

After Me Time Levi marched the kids over to the ropes course shed where Erwin was already waiting for him. Even though Erwin really didn’t interact with the kids too much because he was always stuck running the camp it seemed all the kids adored him. As soon as they saw him climbing out of the shed the kids took off running to swarm him like flies to honey. Levi had to resist the urge to roll his eyes, but he was used to it because the Sina kids reacted the same why for Eren whenever the teen came back from his break; apparently being separated from the teen for a whole two hours was too much for the little kids.

While they were out on the ropes course, Levi noticed dark clouds start to gather over the camp. He was internally grateful not to have to be the one to try and use the fax machine today, because there was no way in hell it was going to be working today. As long as it didn't start lighting or pouring Levi didn't really care. Even with a larger group, it was much easier to get the kids through the elements so by the time it did start to rain Levi had already accomplished everything he had planned for the kids.

They ran back to the ropes course shed where Erwin and the other group were already trying to take cover. Levi and Eren were carrying all of the ropes course supplies so they were weighed down hanging in the back. They sent the kids to try and huddle under the shade covering but it was kind of a lost cause considering how small the shed was. Erwin came out to meet them.

"I will take the kids to dinner while you guys put this all away. If it starts raining harder or lightning don't worry about coming down to dinner, just stay safe in the shed. We will save you food." Erwin said before calling the kids over who squealed loudly while they made a run for the Lodge.

Levi quickly made his way into the shed in order to get out of the rain dumping equipment on one of the small card tables, Eren followed behind him doing that same. He ordered Eren around the shed, explaining where everything went. He wanted to get done with this as soon as possible because he didn't really want to miss dinner and the small enclosed space was becoming uncomfortable. With all of the equipment and tables there was very little room to move around so more often than not Levi found himself rubbing up against Eren. The rain was making it very cold inside the shed, but still Levi felt a warmth in the pit of his stomach.

They were almost done when a loud clap of thunder made the shed shake and Eren jump so violently that he made all of the helmets fall off their tracks. Levi could help laughing, it was just so cute. The laugh earned him an elbow to the ribs and a glare from the teen.

"Afraid of bugs and thunder, remind me again how you call yourself an adult?" Levi teased making Eren give him a pout that could put any puppy to shame.

"Why do you always see me as a kid?" Eren whined while he started picking up the helmets he had knocked over.

"One you literally just turned 18 you are practically a child. Like for God's sake you are almost half my age. Two, you act like you're a fucking 12 year old." Levi said, sitting on one of the tables shamelessly watching Eren bend over. Stopping what he was doing Eren stood over Levi so he was cornered on the table.

"What do I need to do to make you think of me as an adult?" Eren asked in a serious tone.

Levi studied the teen's face trying to figure out if he was being serious. Eren's forehead was creased with frown lines and his arms were crossed over his chest in a defensive pose. Apparently Eren hadn't realized that Levi had only been teasing. There was no way Levi would be ogling someone he thought of as a kid, besides Eren had proven over and over again his maturity just through his interactions with the kids. The teen had long since earned Levi's respect, but that didn't mean he couldn't tasse the teen. He hadn't meant to hit a nerve or actually upset Eren.

It did not escape Levi that he had subconsciously parted his legs when Eren had invaded his space so Eren not stood between his legs looking down at him. The intimacy of their position made him feel slightly uncomfortable but it was also really nice in a strange way.

"Why do you even care about my opinion?" Levi asked honestly wondering.

Eren wasn't the kind of person that cared what other people thought about them, so why was he so worked up over a little light teasing. Eren gave him a look that told Levi the teen was debating if he should tell Levi the real reason or some bullshit. He was grateful for the fact that Eren was an open book because he could see the entire debate on Eren's face. It was kind of funny to watch. He was so wrapped up in watching Eren's face that he didn't actually hear what Eren was saying.

"What did you say?" Levi asked. Eren's face went red and he brought up his hands to hide behind. Levi heard him mumble something but couldn't make it out. Frustrated Levi reached up and grabbed Eren's wrists forcibly pulling them away from the boy's face, which was turned so Levi couldn't make eye contact with him.

"I said because I like you. Like like like you." Eren said quickly. Levi's heart stopped for a moment. He did not just hear what he thought he heard coming out of Eren's mouth.

"What" was all Levi could manage to say. Eren wiggled in his grasp, stomping his foot.

"Don't make me say it again, please." Eren said in a tone that made it sound like he was about to cry from embarrassment.

"I heard you, but how? Why me?" Levi spluttered. He had gotten used to Eren being clingy but Levi had chalked that up to him being a tease, he had never even considered another option. Eren finally looked at him and Levi could see disbelief in his eyes.

"How could anyone not? You just so...so...so cool." Eren said starting out indignant but ending lamely. Levi opened his mouth to protest but Eren stopped him seeming to regain his train of thought. "You are a real adult with real life experience. You are funny and sarcastic in such a mature way. You are also really hot. Like really really hot." Eren said getting more passionate and animated as he went on.

When he stopped it was Levi's turn to not be able to make eye contact. He was acutely aware of the fact that he was still holding onto Eren’s wrists and quickly let go of them hoping Eren hadn’t noticed how sweaty his hands had gotten. His mind was reeling after everything that Eren had said. If Eren believed all that then the teen was either fooling himself or Levi was better at acting like he had his life together than he thought.

“Of course I have more life experience than any of you guys the only people here older than me are Erwin and Mike. Most people say my sense of humor either doesn’t exist or that I am just using it to cover up how mean I am.” Levi started to ramble letting his insecurities show.

He let the last comment go because he knew for a fact that he was hot. It was the one thing everyone seemed able to agree on about him. He didn’t know why but he felt the need to try and talk Eren out of liking him. He told himself it was because they were co-workers that lived together so it could get awkward real fast, but he knew that wasn’t the only reason. He just got out of the only real relationship he had ever had and it had ended really badly. There was no way he was emotionally ready enough to deal with a teenger with a crush, but it felt nice to get all this praise and he knew that Eren looked up to him which made him want to be that person that Eren saw him as.

“If you don’t like me just tell me. I can get over it, I’m a big kid. You don’t need say all that crap about yourself.” Eren said like he was personally offended that Levi did not see himself as awesome as Eren saw him, at that Levi smiled a little bit. “i just kind of hoped you like me back.” Eren whispered shuffling his feet. It was almost drowned out by the rain just managed to back it out. That had him full on smiling. Eren clearly cared so much about this and Levi had to admit he really enjoyed being around the teen and he was not horrendous to look at either.

Without thinking Levi grabbed the front of Eren’s staff shirt and pulled the boy down into a kiss. Considering how spur of the moment it was, the kiss went pretty well. he could tell Eren was shocked as the boy was tense at first but melted into it. It was an awkward angle more than anything else so Levi quickly let go.

“Wow,” was all Eren said. A horrible thought occurred to Levi.

“That wasn’t your first kiss was it?” Levi asked. Eren looked horrified.

“NO! I have kissed people before.” Eren assured hurriedly. “Why? Was it really bad? Jean always said I was a bad kisser but I just assumed he was being an asshole.” Eren started to ramble, but Levi pulled him into another kiss to shut him up. He filed the information about Jean away to ask about later, for not he wanted to appreciate the moment.

This time it was Eren who pulled away first, his face flushed and his breathing a little strained, but he looked practically ecstatic. Levi couldn’t help but smile. At some point during the kiss Levi had placed his hands on Eren’s forearms pulling him in further and now he just left his hands there happy with the warmth radiating off of Eren.

“I don’t want to ruin the moment, but what does this mean.” Eren asked shyly. That was a very good question.

“Well according to Hanji and Erwin we need to start going out.” Levi said absently without even thinking.

“You talked to ad staff about liking me?” Eren asked in an incredulous voice.

“It was more me denying that I liked you.” Levi said quickly to cover making Eren snort in a very undignified way. God, even that was cute when it Eren. “But yeah. I think we could give that a chance if you want.” Levi said mirroring Eren’s shy tone. He felt so vulnerable laying himself out there for Eren even though he knew the teen adored him. The smile those words put on the teen’s face alone assured Levi they it would be alright.

“I think I would like that.” Eren said quietly, letting the sound of rain pounding down on the shed take over. After a few moments of silence Levi spoke.

“You know this goes against everything we learned in sexual harassment training.” Levi said suddenly. Eren burst out laughing.

“So you were paying attention.” Eren gasped. Levi just smiled, rubbing small circles on Eren’s arms feeling content for the first time since he caught his fiance cheating on him.

Chapter Text

The rain provided a nice excuse to stay in the shed cuddling and making out. At some point Levi had pulled Eren into his lap, so the boy was straddling him. Eventually though the rain became more annoying than anything else. After about an hour Eren seemed to be getting restless, fidgeting in Levi’s lap. When he had disentangled himself from Levi’s arms Eren opened the shed door to try and gauge the rain. The phrase ‘pouring cats and dogs’ could be applicable to the situation. If it had only been the rain they might have sucked it up and made a run for the Lodge but the lightning was the real issue.

“It isn’t that bad. We could probably make it without getting hit.” Eren said slowly like he was trying to convince himself. As if Zeus himself had been listening in on them, a tree right outside the shed was struck by lightning, splitting it down the middle with a soul splitting crack.

With a highly dignified shriek Eren quickly slammed the door closed and practically jumped into Levi’s lap. Levi wrapped his arms around the teen who had his face pressed into the crease of Levi’s neck. He wasn’t going to admit it to Eren but he was kind of freaked out too, he was just better at maintaining his composure.

“I think maybe we should say here.” Levi said. Eren nodded into his neck. “I’ll radio Erwin and let him know.” Levi said pulling out his radio.

Erwin was more than happy to let them stay holed up in the shed, saying that they were going to use the camp vans to transport the kids back to their units. SInce dinner was over Erwin had, had Mike save them some food in the kitchen they could get when the storm let up. The entire time Levi was trying to have the conversation with Erwin he kept getting distracted by Eren who was sucking on his neck.

He ended up having to push Eren off of him to get the boy to stop. Eren looked up at him with those big doe eyes from where he fell on the floor, Levi ignored the pang that they sent through his heart.

“Unless you are prepared to go further, I would suggest stopping it here.” Levi said level toned. It was more for himself than Eren. He knew they were treading in unsafe waters as it was he didn’t really need to sink himself any deeper. It seemed Eren agreed because when he stood up and went to sit next to Levi he gently brushed shoulders but went no further.

Wanting to be the one to initiate intimacy first for once, Levi carefully reached his hand over to intertwined his fingers with Eren’s. It felt like his heart was beating so fast it would burst out of his chest he was so nervous that Eren would reject him. It had been such a long time since he had been in a situation like this. Even with Isabel, he had been best friends with her since they were little before dating her. Everything with Eren was new and it was terrifying. It didn’t seem like he needed to worry though because Eren turned to give him a smile calming his heart for a moment before sending it fluttering with a new emotion.

He hated to admit it but he had a crush on Eren. It made him feel like he was back in college again. The worse part of it was that he wasn’t entirely against it, it actually felt really nice now that he knew that Eren returned his feelings.

“So I don’t want to ruin the moment, although I think you shoving me to the floor did that enough, but maybe we should talk about what just happened.” Eren said in a nervous voice. Levi was relieved that he wasn’t the only one that was confused.

“That’s probably a good idea.” Levi said, unsure of where to actually start so he ended it there. Silence overtook them for a few moments, the rain providing a nice backdrop. It was starting to get uncomfortable, but ever the social butterfly reading the situation Eren stepped in.  

“I mean I think the biggest question of the moment is if this was a one time thing or if it is going to continue?” Eren asked in a hesitant voice.

Levi had to think for a moment about that one. There was no question he wanted to see where this went, but they were co-workers that lived together, the potential to end in disaster especially with his track record was heavy. The more he thought about it the more reasons he could come up with to just end it here and now, but he looked into Eren’s clearly scared eyes and realized he didn’t want to. they still had a little over half the summer left so there wasn’t too much time. If it went well he would have some good memories and hopefully the confidence to move on with his life and if it went badly it was just a summer fling.

“I think we should see where it goes.” Levi said watching Eren’s eyes lite up. The teen flung his arms around Levi pulling the older man into a bone breaking hug. It seemed like he picked the right option. The hug lasting longer than Levi really thought was necessary, him just awkwardly letting it happen, unsure of what to do with his arms. When Eren released him, he seemed prepared with more questions.

“Ok, if that is the case should we tell people about it or hide it from them?” Eren asked.

“I know for a fact that Hanji and Erwin will figure it out even if we try to hide it, so I think it is best to not be obnoxious but not necessarily hide it. Just let people figure it out on their own.  But nothing in front of the kids, it really isn’t inappropriate.”  Levi said, adding the last part as an after thought.

“I totally agree. Not kid appropriate.” Eren said moving his hands in a chopping motion to indicate how serious he was. The corner of Levi’s mouth twitched into a smile. This was way Levi liked Eren, just being in the presence of the teen made him happier than he had been in years. That alone let him know this was worth trying. They spent the next hour hashing out the details, one of which Levi had to begrudgingly tell Eren he was no longer allowed to cuddle with him during sleep outs to which Eren pouted about.

They had to interrupt their heated debate on the appropriate amount of physical contact because they noticed that the rain finally stopped. The ground of slippery and muddy as they ran to the Lodge, not caring that it was against the rules since all of the kids should be safely tucked away into their units so they couldn’t see them.

They entered the Lodge leaning into each other, laughing. They walked into the kitchen careful to make sure there was at least a little bit of space between them. Mike took one look at them before giving them a knowing smirk.

“Erwin owes me $20.” Mike said with a laugh.

“Why?” Eren asked in curious voice leaning over the serving counter that separated them and the kitchen.

“He bet that you guys wouldn’t get together until after the Fourth of July break and I said you would by the end of next week.” Mike said moving to pull out two plates of food. Eren immediately started sputtering to try and cover his embarrassment.

"How did you know?" Levi asked confused. He had been hoping to at least have the night mentally prepare himself for people’s reaction, but Mike had figured it out from one look. I chose to ignore the bet part and take that out on Erwin later. Mike gave them a look like they were dumb.

“Levi has a massive hickey on his neck.” Mike said handing them their dinner. Lifting his hand up to his neck Levi could feel the kickey where Eren had been sucking in his neck. He turned to glare at Eren who was sheepishly trying to look away.

“How am I supposed to cover this up?” Levi demanded getting a laugh from Mike. Saying he didn’t want to get between this lover’s spat, Mike dismissed himself to go to the cook’s quarters. Levi ignored him, focused on glaring at Eren.

“You can wear my extra hoodie?” Eren suggested as they moved out of the kitchen area to of of the tables.

Levi stuck out his hand in a demand of the hoodie, Eren quickly opened his backpack digging out a black hoodie with the camp logo on the front and the word ‘Staff” written on the back. He had seen Eren wearing it many times. At least since it was a camp staff hoodie people would assume at first that it was his own. He slipped the hoodie over his head and let it fall over his chest. The neck was just high enough to cover the hockey, luckily enough for Eren. It was a good thing Eren liked his hoodies big, because even though the teen was taller than Levi, he was much more slim. Still the hoodie was a little large on Levi and smelled strongly of Eren.

They took their time eating knowing that Erwin could handle their kids for a little longer. Eren chosen to sit on the same little bench seat as Levi so they were pressed up against each other. As the usual Eren did most of the talking. Levi noticed how when he would talk, Eren’s eyes would slowly move down from Levi’s face to where the covered hickey was and then even further down to the hoodie.

“Hey, my eyes are up here.” Levi said in a teasing voice, gesturing to his own eyes when he caught Eren ogling his chest for the millionth time. Eren squeaked out an apology making an obnoxious amount of effort to make eye contact with Levi, face flushed.  Levi rolled his eyes at how easily flushed Eren was; it was kind of endearing.

They finished their dinner and quickly cleaned up, before heading out to walk to Maria. It had started to sprinkle again so Levi pulled up the hoodie of the sweatshirt breathing in Eren’s scent. It was a much better smell than the dirty muddy smell of the rain soaked forest at least. Levi had to split his attention from watching the ground so he didn’t accidently step into any puddles and looking up to make sure he didn’t run into any tree branches.

“Don’t you love the smell of rain?” Eren asked suddenly. He took a big inhale, puffing out his chest.

“You mean the smell of mud?” Levi asked dryly.

“No, the smell the trees and plants put out after the rain. It just smells fresh.” Eren said shaking his head as if disappointed at Levi’s inability to appreciate nature. Levi sniffed trying to figure out what Eren meant but couldn’t smell anything fresh; fresh was clean laundry or washed dishes, but not rain. That was just something they put on soap bottles to sell them better.

When they got to Maria, Erwin was sitting in the ramada with a few kids. It seemed most had gone back to their tents to wait out the rain. When the camp director spotted them, he dismissed himself from the kids to walk over. He gave Leiv a report on the kids behavior, which was excellent. Levi saw his friend looking between him and Erwin suspiciously. Discreetly Levi adjusted the hoodie trying to make sure the hickey was covered, the last thing he needed right now was for the kids to see it.

Eventually though, Erwin left them to run their evening program. Levi had Eren round up all of the kids while he set up the art supplies. They were making star jars and journals about the constellations they learned about the night before, although Levi assumed the kids had fallen asleep during Eren’s talk just like he had. He had enough mason jars for him and Eren to make their own as well. He knew one kids was allergic to acrylic so made a special table for the paint.

As the kids started taking seats around the benches Levi had to remind them not to touch anything until he gave them instructions. It seemed high schoolers were just as bad as elementary schoolers when it came to not touching things. Once Eren was back with the last of the kids he explained how to paint the inside of the jars and assemble their books. He let Eren supervise the painting station while he made sure no one accidently hurt themselves with the hammer as they made their journals.

It took the kids about two hours to finish completely. When they were down Levi had them all get ready for bed. As each tent finished Eren and Levi ran nightly meetings just recapping the day. It seemed most of the kids enjoyed being in a car more than anything else for the day to which Levi rolled his eyes. Once they were sure all of the kids were sleeping they went into the counselor tent. Two beds had been cleared off for them. Eren dropped his stuff on the bed closest to the door signally that he was on call for the night, which meant unless something intense happened, Levi would be getting a full night of sleep.

They unrolled their sleeping bags and changed into their pajamas.They walked together to the bathroom to brush their teeth. As they walked Eren bumped up against him, pinky finger wrapping around Levi’s, who let him. Inside the bathroom Eren leaned up against Levi as they brushed their teeth. They heard the door squeak open and Eren quickly separated himself from Levi. A yawning Connie came into view.

“Where is your buddy?” Eren asked after quickly spitting out toothpaste. Connie shrugged.

“No one wanted to get up, but I had to pee.” Connie said trying to move past Eren.

“You still need a buddy. What if you had gotten hurt?” Eren insisted, not letting Connie pass.
“But he didn’t, so just let him use the bathroom and let’s go.” Levi said in an annoyed voice, grabbing onto Eren’s wrist dragging him out of the bathroom.

They made their way back into the counselor tent where Levi climbed into his sleeping bag zipping it almost all the way up. The rain had certainly brought the temperature down, it was freezing and they were actually in a tent. It made him miss Sina with its nice insulated walls. Thinking about how cold it was Levi called out to Eren.

“Oye, brat. Don’t even think about climbing in bed with me, no matter how cold you get.” Levi said sternly.

“Ah, but Levi I want to cuddle.” Eren whined before Levi firmly said his good night ending the conversation.  

The next morning they got the kids ready and to breakfast on time. The only other unit present was Sina since Rose was on a backpacking trip. As soon as they entered the Lodge, Mikasa came running up to Eren demanding that he sit with her. Eren looked at Levi and shrugged letting the child drag him off. They had learned if it was something as easy as just sitting with them, it was best to just let the kids have their way. This left Levi to be hustled into sitting next to Connie who was probably the second most disgusting eater at camp next to Sasha. He looked up from his plate and saw Eren laughing at something Mikasa had said. he didn’t want to seem paranoid but he thought he saw the little girl smirk at him.

After breakfast the counselors who had the weekend off came back, taking over so the weekend staff could have an extended break. Levi and Eren gave their report on the children to Eld before as discreetly as possible making a break for it. They needed to get out of their before their children noticed that the Maria counselors were back and demanded that they come back to the unit.

Their only free time the whole weekend had been spent in the Ropes Course shed, so they hadn't been able to shower unless you counted the rain, which Levi did not so their first stop on their break was Sina. They did not make it that far though. As they walked past the camp office a high pitched shriek stopped them in their tracks. The loud crash of something falling over and two shouting voices made Levi realize what was about to happen.  

“Run before they catch us.” Levi suddenly in such a serious tone it sent Eren sputtering in confusion. That precious times waste was their undoing because Hanji came bursting out of the office demanding that they come inside. Not realizing what a horrible mistake that was, Eren complied dragging levi along with him.

“So Mike informed me that I lost out bet.” Erwin said.

“And you told Hanji.” Levi said. Eren shifted nervously next to him

“Like I wouldn’t have figured it out on my own. You are wearing his hoodie, Levi. You might as well have yelled it out at song tree.” Hanji said rolling their eyes. Levi adjusted the hoodie, but made no motion to take it off. He had accidently sleep in it, because of how cold it had been. It was his now, he called it.

“Mike said it was to cover a hickey.” Erwin added helpfully. Hanji squealed loudly lounging at Levi trying to get at his neck like a blood crazed vampire. Levi batted them away like a twig. Eren managed to stay out of it like always did, just looking extremely awkward and uncomfortable.

“Get the hell off me and keep you hands to yourself or I won’t tell you anything.” Levi ordered successfully getting Hanji to back off. They sat back down in their chair, both Hanji and Erwin looking up at him expectantly.

“Yes me and Eren have expressed to each other our feelings for each other. We are going to see where this goes and no it will not affect how we work together.” Levi said purposely leaving out as much detail as he could.

“Ok come on Levi give us some details. I want to know everything. When did it happen? Where? Who started it? Who kisses better?” Hanji whined.

“Please stop. This is embarrassing.” Eren said his face covered by his hands, but they could still see the red twinges around his face. It seemed that Hanji had forgotten Eren was there at all, because there was a pause where Hanji looked at Eren like he had grown a trunk before diving onto him, asking non-stop questions. Levi laughed at Eren’s face, because the teen looked like he was about to pee his pants.

“I think that is enough Hanji. I am sure they will talk to us when they are ready.” Erwin said effectively sparing Eren. Before Erwin could change his mind, Levi grabbed Eren and pulled him out of the office toward Sina.

“Sorry about that. They are freaks.” Levi said shrugging at Eren who laughed.

“It is alright. I’m sure if my friends from school were here they would do the same.” Eren said.

“Those two are supposed to be adults though.” Levi insisted.

“Don’t worry about it. It is cute how much people care about you.” Eren said with a smile. He hooked his arm through Levi’s so they walked in tandem. A warmth spread through Levi because he knew he could add Eren on to that very short list of people who cared about him.

Chapter Text

Extended breaks were both a blessing and a curse. While on one hand Levi desperately needed time away from the kids, there was still the feeling of impending doom, having to go back to the kids when it was over. Whenever Levi got a break over two hours he wasn't sure what to do with himself. It wasn't like he could go anywhere and he didn't have any friends to try and contact, he was actively avoiding contact with the outside world, trying to avoid Isabel at all costs. These breaks essentially just showed Levi how much of a loser he was.

“So what do we want to do for our break? I really need to get a load of laundry done, but other than that I’m not sure what to do.” Eren said brightly as he and Levi entered Sina.

Levi was a little embarrassed to admit it, but he was a little shocked that Eren would want to spend his break with him. Like he knew Eren and him had a little thing going on, but he wasn’t really sure what it meant and didn’t realize it meant Eren actually wanted to spend time with him.

“Well while we want for the laundry, I guess we could watch a movie?” Levi suggested, watching movies together was a coupley thing to do he thought. It seemed like a good answer anyway, based on the smile on Eren’s face.

“It will be nice to watch a movie with a rating higher than PG.” Eren said with a laugh. “Let me just get my clothes together.”

“You know if you kept your clothes in I don’t know a hamper, you wouldn’t have this problem.” Levi said with a small smile as he went to gather his own laundry, he heard Eren snort from over by his own bed.

“You sound like my mom.” Eren said with a laugh, Levi could see Eren’s trying to wiggle himself under the bunk to grab a stray staff shirt. His hips were up, wiggling making Levi think of a dog digging for a bone. It would have made him laugh if what Eren had said didn’t make his stomach lurk.

“That’s because you are still young enough to be living with your mom.” Levi mumbled, as he pulled his sheet off his bed throwing it into his basket.

“What was that?” Eren asked popping out from under his bed. Levi just shrugged shaking his head. “Well I’m ready!” Eren said carrying an overloaded basket that Levi eyed, but did not question, not really wanting to know when the teen had last done his laundry.

As they walked to Shiganshina, they passed the ceramic studio where Rose was sitting on the porch painting titles. Some of the kids noticed them calling out to Eren, totally ignoring Levi not that he was surprised or cared, not that, that stopped Eren from dragging him over to the porch to chat with Armin. He was tempted to just tell Eren he would meet him in Shiganshina, but Eren stood so close to him that he was sure the teen could feel his breath on his neck. It felt nice to be so close to so someone, that he didn’t feel like moving even if hearing Eren gab to the blond mushroom wasn’t on his list of things to do today.

“I need to go load the kiln, but we should talk later.” Armin said giving Levi a pointed look that Eren seemed to totally miss.
They finally made it to Shiganshina which was thankfully empty, Levi could only put up with the over the top camp attitude for so long. Levi liked Shiganshina because it was like a nicer verizon of Sina, expect with a kitchen and laundry room. It was almost a lodge style dormitory, and seeing as it was free of children was actually quiet.

They made their way down the long hall to the laundry room. There were only two washers and dryers, which made figuring out a way to get all of the counselors laundry done hell. Eren moved to claim the washer furthest from the door, dumping all his laundry into the machine. If they were anywhere other than camp Levi would have scolded the teen for not separating his colors. Eren quickly made his escape from the laundry room calling back to Levi that he was going to pick out a movie.

It didn’t take Levi long to load his own machine, and return to the communal sitting and kitchen area. Levi looked around in disgust at all of the empty snack food containers that littered all available surfaces. Grabbing an empty garbage bag Levi went to start cleaning up the living space, knowing that he was not going to be able to relax until it was clean. He was so absorbed in picking up the trash that he didn’t notice Eren come up helping to grab the trash startling Levi a little.

“I know you we aren’t going to get to watch our movie until this is done, so why don’t you start wiping down the kitchen counters while I finish this up?” Eren suggested. Levi nodded moving away from the teen. It seemed Eren had finished before him, because not too long later he heard the menu screen for whatever movie Eren had picked out for them. Levi quickly finished wiping down the counter making a mental note to kill how ever had made spaghetti and not cleaned up after themselves.

He turned to join Eren, before faltering. The room was set up with two long couches and a few arm chairs. Eren was seated in the long couch directly facing the tv. Levi was embarrassed to admit it, but he wasn’t actually sure where he was supposed to sit. He figured Eren wanted him to sit next to him since he was on a multiple person couch, but was he supposed to sit right next to him or on the other end? What if Eren was only sitting there because it was the best place to view the screen and did in fact not want Levi to sit sext to him?

Eren must have noticed him standing there staring in panic, because the teen patted the space next to himself as an invitation. Taking a deep breath Levi moved to sit next to Eren on the couch. He sat down close enough to Eren that it would indicate that he was familiar with the teen, but far enough away that it was still casual, but Eren threw all that out the door by scooting over until he was partially sitting in Levi’s lap. Eren didn’t say anything about it so neither did Levi.
They were watching some horrible dudebro comedy, 21 Jump Street or something, but Eren was laughing so Levi held back his biting comments. Whenever the movie would send Eren into a fit of laughs, Levi could feel that laughter roll through the teen’s body that was partially sprawled out over his. At some point during the movie they had to pause it in order to change out their laundry, and Eren made them popcorn. They resettled into the couch, Levi a little more comfortable with the closeness.

With the end credits rolling Levi figured they would be done for the day, but when he went to stand up he felt dead weight on top of him. During the end of the movie Eren had managed to claim was little personal space Levi had left and was completely on top of him and currently snoring. Levi’s heart dropped. He wasn’t sure what to do in this situation. If this was Isabel, he probably would have just woken her up, but maybe that was why she had broken things off. She always did say he was cold hearted. Maybe he was supposed to let Eren sleep, but it was the middle of the day.

He wasn’t good with this kind of thing. He had forgotten what it was like to this confused about a relationship. He couldn’t do anything without worrying if he was going to screw everything up like he always did. At least if they were back in the city and Levi fucked up he could just disappear and pretend that Eren never existed but here at camp if they fucked this up they still had to live together, although Levi was sure that Eren loved the kids enough to at least keep a professional relationship.

Eren moved in his lap, turning so he was facing into Levi’s chest, making Levi tense up. He prayed to whatever sick deity was watching his trainwreck of a life that at the very least Eren would not drool.

Chapter Text

Every Sunday there was an all camp campfire where kids and counselors performed skits and songs. It was great of your were a child or an over-excited counselor, but for the rest of the staff it was their own personal hell. Levi was convinced that some layer of hell was just the “Baby Shark” song being sung on repeat with the “Princess Pat” sprinkled in for good measure.

Normally Levi managed to hide in the back never volunteering to go up, he preferred to save that pleasure for over excited brats like Eren. Unfortunately for him since taking his relationship with Eren to the next level that was no longer an option. They had entered the amphitheater that overlooked the lake and Levi stood to the side like he normally did waiting for his counselors and kids to file in so he could sneak off to sit in the back with Erwin and Hanji. Once the last kid was sitting, Levi moved escape but a firm hand held onto his wrist. He looked down to see Eren’s giant doe eyes looking up at him, from his seated position.

With an internal groan Levi allowed himself to be pulled down so he was seated next to Eren. He noticed Mikasa glaring at him from the other side of Eren.

“Ah, I wanted to sit next to Eren!” a loud wail came from Reiner who stood in front of Levi pouting. Levi was about to offer his seat up to the boy but Mikasa leaned over Eren and handled the situation.

“Reiner, go sit next to Bertholt and Annie. Bertholt looks like he is going to cry.” Mikasa said bluntly, effectively neutralizing the other threat to Eren’s attention. Levi watched as Reiner scurried off toward his other friend who indeed looked like he was about to cry.

This week Petra had be chosen to lead campfire so as she made her way to the front, Levi settled down ready for a couple hours of misery. He had given Petra a resounding fuck no when she had asked him if wanted to sing or be part of a skit. At this point he wasn't sure why people bothered asking anymore considering it was the same staff who volunteered every time. Eren was definitely one of them.

The roll call started and Levi tuned out and glazed over.

As the evening wore on Levi started to nod off. It wasn't long until Levi became acutely aware that Eren's shoulder was the perfect height to rest his head on. Mikasa seemed to have the right idea seeing as she had monopolize all Eren's lap space.

“Now we have a special treat. For the first time ever Levi will be performing for us with Eren!” Levi vaguely heard Petra yell. That certainly woke him up. Eren didn’t give him time to run away though, as the brat was already pulling him down the stairs toward the fire pit. A million ways to kill Eren went through Levi’s mind as Eren maneuvered him to stand in front of the entire camp. Levi could see Hanji and Erwin gaping at him from the back row. Levi gritted his teeth willing himself to not flee. It was only Eren’s hand on his elbow that kept him place. It seemed that Eren realized this since even when they were in place behind the fire, Eren did not release him right away.

When Eren did let him go, he immediately dropped to the ground and started rolling around stopping every so often to pose in the dirt, giving Levi pointed looks. Confusion added to the annoyance that was strongly present in Levi, with disgust starting to add to the mix.

“What are you doing?” Levi asked loudly.

“Oh, nothing. Just being a role model.” Eren said with a big cheesy grin on his face like he was proud of himself for that atrocity of a pun. Eren stood up after that though. Levi hopped that was all he was dragged down for and started to move back toward his seat, but Eren pulled him back.

"All jokes aside Levi and I are going to sing Levi's favorite camp song, the coconut song for you." Eren said loudly. Levi tried to communicate to Eren that he better sleep with one eye open with only a death glare which was difficult seeing as he had to keep it camp appropriate since he was standing in front of the whole damn camp.

The coconut song was right on up there on the list of song Levi would never be able to purge from his mind. In the early hours of the morning when Levi would try to fall back asleep after having to deal with a situation, he would be in that dream state where nothing feels real and everything is bliss and then just on repeat "I'm a nut boom boom. I'm a nut boom boom. I'm a nut , I'm a nut, I'm crazy." He hated that song and he knew Eren knew that. The other day they had been on break together and Eren unconsciously had started to sing the coconut song to himself under his breath, even doing the repeat after me part all by himself. While it was cute to watch the teen absentmindedly sing to himself while trying to figure out his college schedule, it  wasn't worth getting that song stuck in his head. Levi had proceeded the roughly fall on top of Eren effectively shutting him up.

"Not that I don't enjoy being crushed by angry middle aged men, I have to ask why?" Eren had asked with a laugh. Levi swatted at his hair in retaliation for the comment.

"That song is literally the worst thing ever. If I have to hear it one more time I will slap someone." Levi had issued the empty threat. Eren gave him a bemused, but calculating look before pushing the older man off of him.

Looking back on the incident Levi realized that Eren had already planned out this shit. He made a mental note to get the brat back. Eren started singing while Levi remained dead weight by his side, until Eren started elbowing him painfully in the ribs. He mumbled along wishing that he was literally anywhere else. Eren was doing the arm motions so largely that Levi was mildly concerned about being hit in the face.

His eyes scanned over the crowd to see kids sing loudly looking like they were going to explode with excitement over a song they had already sung a hundred times. Levi felt his ice heart thaw a little bit at the cuteness, but that didn’t change the miserable look that he knew was on his face. He looked a little higher to see Hanji crackling, barely holding it together. Never mind his heart was stone cold again.

When the song was finally over Levi practically flew back to his seat, Eren following much more slowly. Mikasa was waiting for Eren.

“I liked your song Eren.” Mikasa gushed basically climbing into Eren’s lap once he was seated.

“Thanks.” Eren said before turning to cheekily grin at Levi, who bit his tongue as there were children present.

The rest of campfire Levi spent plotting his revenge. Admittedly singing in front of the whole camp wasn’t as bad as he thought it would be, but Eren could have at least warned him. He knew if the boy had warned him though, he knew he would have flat out refused which is why Eren went behind his back. Even though he knew why Eren did what he did, didn’t mean that Levi was going to excuse it.

As the sun started to set the slow part of campfire started. This was the part of campfire that everyone including the kids hated, but for some reason they still had to do. It seemed like even Eren could run out of energy since he could see Eren’s eyes start to close and head start to roll. It wasn’t surprising since they had a late night the night before. Fraz had over eaten at dinner and ended up throwing up all night. While Eren had calmed the kid down, Levi had been on his hands and knees scrubbing vomit up all night. He didn’t trust the other counselors clean it up properly.

A sudden thud on his shoulder jolted Levi back into the present, as Eren head fell on him. It could not be a comfortable position with their height difference, but Levi allowed it. He heard snickering from behind him and turn carefully to see Oluo and Erd gaping at him. He just gave them a pointed looked and returned his attention to the fire where Sasha and Krista were singing a song about going home that Levi just knew would cause at least three kids to get homesick tonight. It seemed like those two had just volunteered for homesickness duty.

A shot of anxiety ran through Levi. He and Eren haven’t been exactly secretive about their relationship to the other staff but they didn’t want kids to know. Maybe letting Eren rest his head on his shoulder was too much. It seemed harmless but kids grabbed onto anything and could twist literally anything into being an issue. The slight twinge of anxiety started to turn into full blown panic. He didn’t want to snub Eren by butting him off, but he also didn’t want to jeopardize his position at camp.

Indecision, a problem Levi didn’t normally have, was crippling. In the end it was Mikasa who made the decision for him. As soon as the little girl noticed that Eren was asleep and thus could not give her any attention Mikasa was shaking Eren awake. The brunette’s head jolted up looking dazed and confused. Mikasa tugged on his shirt, and Eren looked down at the girl with a soft smile.

Before long the campfire was ending and the units being dismissed. After campfire was time for the units to schedule what they wanted to do for the upcoming week. Levi was required to be there every week, but they were able to rotate the unit counselors so they didn’t get burnt out. Krista and Sasha had to be there to schedule for their program areas and Marco preferred to be with the children so it normally fell on Eren to be the back-up.

“You are falling asleep on your feet Eren.” Levi commented as he watched the teen struggle to keep his eyes open. “I think you should just head back with Marco and I can schedule tonight.” Levi offered.

“Are you sure?” Eren asked. Levi could tell the younger man was struggling with the need to be the perfect counselor and the the physical need to sleep.

“Yeah I got this.” Levi said. “Get a some sleep. I don’t want you and Marco waiting up for me and I especially don’t want the kids to be up when I get back.” Levi said in a warning voice before heading over to the lodge for scheduling.

It was probably best that scheduling was directly after campfire as it made the whole ordeal seem like heaven in comparison. It was more annoying than anything else. All of the units had to compete with each other to get the program areas that they wanted and then  figure out how the hell they were going to fit breaks in for all of the staff. It was especially difficult for Levi to do breaks seeing as over half of the Sina staff were program staff meaning that they literally and no time for breaks. Eren always volunteered to give up his breaks, which Levi hoped never to take the brat up on.

Dropping his stuff off at his normal corner of the of the lodge that him and Eren always claim, Levi joined the queue for coffee that everyone in the room desperately needed in order to stay awake. Hanji joined the line behind him.

“We enjoyed your performance at campfire. It seems Eren has been a real positive influence on your attitude.” They snickered. Levi ignored them and quickly filled his mug before going to grab a stack of blank schedules.

The sooner he started the sooner he could get this done and over with. Normally he was in charge of scheduling all of the Challenge Course groups for the week, but without a Sina counselor there he had to defer to Petra. It was a horse week for them which meant two hours of leading kids around a ring on ponies. That was the first thing he scheduled so he could let Sasha, Krista, and Petra know not to schedule any groups during that time since ponies required them all to be there. Next he went through all of the kids favorite activities. A good about of their time would be spent in the meadow that acted as the sports area. The goal was always to have the kids tire themselves out as much as possible before the evening so they just crashed at bedtime.

Eventually he made his way over to the waterfront. Every group was required to have their kids swim at least twice a week, which made it hell to schedule. It didn’t help that it was always tricky figuring out ratio for swim times and that Eren had flat out refused to come to swimming always insisting that his breaks be during it. He wasn’t sure why Eren didn’t like going to waterfront activities since he never offered the information up freely himself and Levi had never bothered to ask. Since Eren himself did the schedule most of a time it hadn’t been a problem until now.

Levi was comparing his schedule to the lifeguards and realized that Eren was going to have to come to swim time at least once this week. Part of him wanted to go try to rearrange their arts and craft time with Krista to get the boy off the hook, but the other part of him still was bitter about the campfire incident. Without a second thought Levi signed them up and smirked at his schedule as he walked away. Eren was about to find out that paybacks a bitch.

Chapter Text

Levi should have realized that just telling Eren to get some rest and go straight to bed wouldn't work. Eren too many control issues to not waiting up for Levi to micro manage the schedule. Still Levi slipped into the staff room as quietly possible as to not wake up the rest of the staff who did actually want to get some rest.

Surprise, surprise Eren was sitting up on his bed playing on his cell phone looking totally absorbed in his game. The teen was probably playing bejeweled or something, he could never really keep up with what games were popular with these days. He may have a fancy smart phone but that was simply because he had needed it to check case files on the go. He had only been at camp for a little over a month yet his old life as a lawyer seemed like forever ago.

Levi tried to sneak past Eren, hoping that the teen was too into his game to notice him but the bed betrayed him. As soon as Levi sat his ass down to slide into his sleeping bag the mattress made a terrifyingly loud fart noise which of course alerted Eren to his presence. The brunette looked up from his phone. Once it registered in the groggy teen's mind that it was Levi who made the noise he was out of his own bed and on Levi's invading his personal space.

"Didn't I tell you to get some sleep?" Levi whispered.

"Can I see the schedule?" He whispered back ignoring the question entirely. Part of Levi wanted to deny Eren the schedule and insist that the boy get some sleep, but he knew that Eren would just fight him and they would end up waking everyone up. Eren cared too much, it was going to end up affecting his health at some point. Submitting Levi pulled out Eren's copy of the schedule and handed it to him.

Levi sat back into his bed while he waited for Eren to look over it. It had already been approved by Erwin and Hanji but compared to Eren they were easy. He saw Eren's eyebrows knit together and got ready to defend his schedule.

"Why do we only have one art session?" Eren asked. "The kids love it."

"Because they had three last week and we have pony rides this week." Levi pointed out. Eren nodded in understanding moving on to his next complaint.

"You have us at doing archery right after challenge course with only ten minutes to walk. Last time it took the kids 35 minutes and they ended up missing most of archery. Bertholt cried." Eren pointed out. Levi hissed grabbing the schedule out of Eren's hands looking over their Tuesday morning block. He hadn't noticed that and since he always stayed with challenge course to clean up he had never done the walk with them. "Can we ask Sasha to give us another time?" Eren asked knowing he was right. Levi shook his head.

"She is pretty packed. I can switch our challenge time with one of our meadow times." Levi said thinking it over before leaning over the edge of the bed to grab a pen out of his backpack to scribble in the correction. Eren nodded his head in approval. Levi was a little ashamed by the pang of pride that came from getting Eren's approval.

Eren moved on making little comments about things he wanted to do during self lead time. Finally Eren moved on to the breaks. This is where Levi held his breath waiting for Eren to notice his prank. The teen was nodding along as his eyes scanned the paper before freezing and going wide. Levi struggled to keep the grin off his face while Eren's eyes darted up and down the paper wide with horror.

"Um, I think there was a mix up, my break is during parachute games and fairy houses instead of swimming?" Eren asked tentatively.  

"Why would that be a mix up? I know you prefer afternoon breaks to morning ones so I just insured you got your preferred break." Levi said with a straight face.

"Because I normally lead those things. I don't want to leave Marco hanging by skipping out them." Eren countered.

"Marco is very capable I'm sure he will be fine leading kids in piling sticks and leaves for 'fairies'." Levi said. Eren bit his lips trying to think another way out of it, but Levi wasn't about to let him weasel out of it. "Look Eren, everyone else has been to swimming, even Sasha and Krista who are insanely busy. The kids would really like to see you there." Levi said knowing that this would effectively guilt Eren into submission. He saw Eren wrestle with his desire not to go to swimming and his want to do a good job. "Besides it is just swimming it isn't that bad, I'll be there." Levi assured the teen. This didn't seem to help though, now Eren was glaring at him.

"Fine I will be there." Eren said in a short tone before quickly getting off Levi's bed. The teen swiftly got into his own sleeping bag zipping it up all the way so Levi could only see a little tuff of messy brown hair sticking out of the top. Levi day on his bunk for a moment wondering if he had crossed some line. Guilt started to rise up Levi’s stomach stopping in his throat uncomfortably. He had just managed to get the emotional stability to admit his feelings to Eren and now he had already fucked up. Knowing there was nothing he could do at the moment to fix the problem seeing as Eren didn't seem to want to talk, Levi just grabbed his shower caddy moving to the bathroom to get a quick shower before heading to bed. As he entered the bathroom Levi turned to look back at where Eren was sleeping and thought he saw those bright eyes looking at him before then sleeping bag was repulsed over the teen's head.

The next couple days were rough. Normally Levi was the first one up, having to practically drag the other counsellors out of bed. Sasha was especially hard to wake up. One morning she had managed to sleep through five different alarms, being tipped out of a sleeping bag, and cold water being dropped on her. It wasn't' until Levi had said to just leave her behind and get breakfast without her that Sasha had finally gotten up. Levi had never seen some get ready that fast after that. But today Levi woke up and saw Eren's bed noticeably empty and the sounds of very much awake children could be heard.

When Levi went out into the art room where most of the children had started to gather as they finished getting ready for the day, he saw Eren sitting on a bench with Franz putting a bandaid on the child a smile on his face. A wave of relief passed over Levi. It seemed like getting some sleep had calmed Eren down. Levi made his way over as Franz ran away good as new. There was surprisingly a lot of problems that children had that can be solved by nothing other than putting a bandaid on if the problem really needed a bandaid or not was another story. Levi straddles the bench so he was facing Eren, who frowned and turned away.

Well so much for a good night’s sleep to clear things up. The other counselors started filing into the art room with smiles a little too wide to cover up how tired they were. Eren stood up and hurried over to the other counselors away from Levi.

The rest of that day and the next day went about the same as that morning. Eren would stick to the other counselors as far away from Levi as he could. After Eren and put the kids to bed, Eren had gone straight to his bunk curling up in his sleeping bag refusing to talk to Levi. Now Levi was in full blown panic mode. He didn’t think pushing Eren out of his comfort zone was that big of a deal, the brat had done the same thing to him. The next day was the fated swimming time so Levi figure it would all be over tomorrow.

Wednesday came and the morning was hectic to say the least. Swimming was always hell to organize so Levi truly blamed Eren for not wanting to be there. At least one kid always forgot their swimsuit or towel or some other little thing that they couldn’t live without. SInce their time was scheduled right after breakfast the kids had to be completely ready before they left. To save time they had the kids put on their swimsuits to wear under their clothes to swimming and made the kids show them their towels before leaving the dorm. If someone forgot something then Levi would know the universe hated him.

It was just him and Eren for swim time, all the other counselors either on break or leading their own program area. The kids happily threw aside their clothes into the dirt and ran toward the lake where the lifeguards were waiting with lifejackets. During their first visit to the lake the kids had been required to take a swim test to prove that they could successfully not drown. A few children had failed the the test requiring that they wear a PFD every time they were near the water.

Levi casually walked onto the dock sitting down on the turf slipping his feet into the water. It was cool and refreshing considering how hot it was for 10am. He wasn’t surprised that Eren had chosen to not come and sit by him, but was surprised that Eren hadn’t even gotten on the dock.Eren instead was sitting in the amphitheater, where the kids had thrown all their stuff, about as far away as you can get from the water.

The kids were all splashing around screaming at each other, the lifeguards paying dutiful attention to them so Levi stood up and wandered over toward Eren. The nasty look the Eren gave him as he made his way over hurt Levi, but this had gone too far and Levi was determined to be a mature adult and just talk to the teen about it. As he approached Eren it became apparent that the nasty look wasn't even directed that him at all. Eren was actually death glaring the lake.

“Why are you all the way over here?” Levi asked getting in between Eren and his view of the lake. The teen looked up at Levi clearly startled. He had been so caught up in stare off with the lake that he hadn’t even noticed Levi approaching.

“I was just keeping an eye on the kid’s stuff.” Eren said a little bit too quickly.

“You don’t need to. Come sit on the dock so you can help watch the kids.” Levi said gesturing for Eren to follow. When the teen didn’t move, Levi sighed and sat down next to him. “what’s going on Eren? Ever since I told you to come to swim time you have been freaking out.” Levi said calmly. Eren flinched a little bit.

“I just don’t like the lake.” Eren said defensively.

“What are you afraid that the loch ness monster will get you, because if you are that is a legitimate worry.” Levi joked hoping to get Eren to lighten up. It seemed his joke had the opposite effect making Eren go pale. “Tell me more.” Levi said utilizing the grade A training he had received at the beginning of summer. Eren groaned.

“I kind of can’t swim.” Eren said so quietly that Levi almost missed it. Even though he had heard the statement Levi couldn’t quite believe it. Eren had proven over and over again that he could do anything he set his stubborn little mind to, so the idea that this bright eyed adult sitting next to him couldn’t swim was actually funny to him.

“Don’t laugh at me.” Eren whined even though Levi was sure he hadn’t laughed. “Everyone else laughs.” Eren said bitterly making Levi’s heart go out for Eren.

“Why haven’t you learned?” Levi asked. Eren shook his head.

“My parents never had time to teach me or take me to lessons so they just figured camp would teach me or I would learn on my own. The first summer I came here I had a...let’s just call it a traumatic experience with the lake. Ever since I have always refused to get in.” Eren said sheepishly. Levi did some quick math in his head.

“So you haven’t gone swimming in 13 years?” Levi asked to clarify. Eren nodded. Levi thought for a second. “I’m sorry that I forced you to come here.” Levi said slowly. “But not sorry enough to let you off the hook. I won’t make you go into the water because that would be cruel but you need to at least get onto the dock.” Levi ordered using his big boy lawyer voice. Eren’s eyes widen in panic.

“No! I can't. No. You can’t make me.” Eren started to splutter waving his arms around widely. It seemed like the teen was close to hyperventilating. Levi quickly grabbed Eren’s wrists still them.

“Take a deep breath Eren.” Levi ordered looking straight into oace colored eyes, that Levi now found ironic. Once the teen’s breath had returned to normal Levi continued. “Part of coming to the waterfront is helping watch the kids. I know that you are afraid and that is ok. I was here for the first couple swim times and believe me there were at least five kids who refused to swim but if you notice now they are all in there having fun. That’s because they pushed themselves to get out of their comfort zone. That’s what you need to do Eren. I just want to sit next to me on the dock and watch the kids.” Levi said in what he hoped was a reaffirming voice.

It was silent for a moment between them before Eren spoke.

“What if I fall in?” He asked. It was kind of a silly question considering that the dock was about six feet wide and completely solid. Unless Eren was trying he wouldn’t fall in. It was obvious that falling in was a legitimate concern of Eren's though so Levi had to take it seriously.

“You can wear a PFD.” Levi said gesturing to the shelf full of them by the dock. Eren looked a little put off by that.

“I’m going to look stupid.” Eren whined. Levi resisted the temptation to roll his eyes.

“It is a safety feature. I am sure it would actually make the kids who have to where there feel better seeing an adult wear one.” Levi said.

“Really?” Eren said perking up.

“Totally. Just do it for the kids.” Levi said knowing that was basically Eren’s personal mantra.

It worked though as Eren stood up and let himself be lead to the rows of life jackets. Levi ended up having to help Eren put it on since the teen was hopeless and couldn’t figure out how to tighten it although it was adorable to see Eren struggle with the PFD stuck up by his ears. Once the life jacket was one Levi carefully lead Eren onto the dock. As soon as one foot had stepped onto the turf Eren’s hand had shoot out to grasp Levi’s arm in a painfully tight grip. Levi lead them over to the watcher position and sat them down.

“Stop fooling around with it. There is nothing wrong with wearing a life jacket.” Levi said swatting Eren’s hands away from the zipper. The teen pouted.

“It is embarrassing though.” Eren said

“You will be fine. Most of the kids have to wear one. No one is judging you.” Levi said. This seemed to calm Eren down a little. Still he sat cross legged on the dock so not even his feet would get wet.

Reiner came swimming over to where Levi and Eren sat on the dock. “Life Jackets are an abomination. If man was made to wear a life jacket they would have been born wearing one. You are just supposed to sink or swim.” The small child said without prompting before swimming away like nothing even happened. Levi turned to see Eren’s face bright red complementing the orange PDF well. Before he could stop himself he burst out laughing uncontrollably. It wasn't until he felt himself be pushed into the lake that he stopped.

“Oh now you're in for it brat!” Levi yelled still laughing a little at the shriek Eren let out as he quickly scooted as far away from levi as he could without falling into the lake, but the teen was laughing. It seemed like everything was going to be alright with them.

Chapter Text

The absolute worst part about working with kids was how they were always touching everything and everyone with their dirty sticky little hands. They just couldn’t seem to keep their hands to themselves. Levi wouldn’t have cared if it was limited to kids wiping their germs on other kids, but they insisted on wiping their snotty hands on him as well. As soon as possible Levi had invested in as many bottles of hand sanitizer as he could get his hands on. Eren had laughed so hard that he actually choked and needed a clap on the back to get air again.

Levi aversion to germs seemed to have left him the last one laughing now because what was simply referred to as the camp plague. Kids and counselors alike were being taken down by this mysterious ailment.

It had started out with one particular child who refused to cover their cough no matter how many times they were asked. It then spread to the other kids in the unit, of course it had to be Sina, that would be Levi’s luck it could be Rose or better yet Maria which was the furthest away from Sina. After only a couple days at least four kids had been sent to the Healthy Hut to rest because they had spent entire nights throwing up and bawling their eyes out.

Of course it had been Eren who went to deal with those kids, while Levi cleaned up the vomit he had told the other three to get back to bed that way at least some of them would be fully functional the next day. Trying to avoid widespread panic and in an attempt to  wake up the fewest amount of kids as possible , Levi had to silently clean the kids beds and often times the floor around them. It was not an easy task to pour kitty litter on the splashes of vomit silently. He could hear Eren comforting the sick children in the bathroom while they waited for the nurse to arrive to take the sick children away. He heard one child crying about wanting their mom.

When the nurse had finally decided to show up Levi had happily shifted responsibility for the sick kids to her. He collected the kids and Eren from the bathroom. Once they were all out the door the two counselors regrouped in the lobby area between the two sides of the dorm.

“You should be careful around all the sick kids. You are going to get sick.” Levi said leaning against the doorframe.

"I'm not going to get sick." Eren said rolling his eyes moving closer to Levi.

“Famous last words, Eren.” Levi said, Eren laughed.

They were so close at this point that Levi could feel Eren’s breathy laugh on his face. A tingling feeling went up Levi’s spine. It would have been easy to lean in for a kiss, but the kids were only a door away so Levi stayed where he was. Eren’s hand moved forward so his fingers intertwine with Levi’s. A heat crept up Levi’s face, he had to look away from Eren’s big doe eyes in embarrassment. Levi rubbed his thumb along Eren’s hand in little circles. This was typical of their intimate moments since there were always children or coworkers around. Levi would be lying if he didn’t say this was a little disappointing, but was also grateful because he knew that if he had Eren’s undivided attention he wouldn’t be able to handle it. Levi’s eyes were drawn to Eren’s mouth as the teen yawned loudly, taking his hand out of Levi’s so he could cover his mouth with the back of his hand.

“We should head to bed.” Levi said, Eren nodding in agreement eyes drooping but following Levi into the counselor room.

During dinner the next day Levi made sure to keep an eye on how much the kids were eating. They were having fake Thanksgiving so there was a nice spread of vegetables, mashed potatoes, turkey, and rolls on the table. Most of the kids were stuffing their faces to the point where levi felt the need to make them slow down.

On the other end of the spectrum he could see that Bertholt was not eating at all. He had put food on his plate but was just picking at it with his forks while Reiner animatedly talked to him, food practically flying out of his mouth. Levi had to look away from the scene in disgust but was on alert. Normally kids ate like pigs so Bertholt not eating was a red flag. Eren was at the other end of the table and Levi could see the brunette also eyeing the shy child.

Eren looked up at Levi giving Levi a good look into those bright eyes as the teen laughed at something Mikasa said to him. It made Levi’s breath catch in his throat. Eren was just stunning to Levi. The teen’s tan skin glowed in the evening light that came in through the large windows of the lodge. Levi had decided a while aoi that Eren looked best when he was laughing. The teen would crinkle his nose just a little and open his mouth so his full laugh would escape, but it was his eyes that put it all over the top. For not the first time Levi realized he was really lucky to be a part of that boy’s life.

The meal ran as smoothly as it could any other. There were no meltdowns which Levi was grateful for. Bertholt continued to not eat, Reiner ending up eating his plate of food. Levi made a mental note to bring food with them back to the unit that way when Bertholt was hungry later they would have something to give him. Desert had just been passed out when the shy child bolted away from the table without saying anything. Both Eren and Levi were up following the boy instantly.

They found Bertholt in the bathroom bent over a toilet throwing up. Levi was surprised the boy even had anything in his stomach to throw up considering he hadn’t eaten anything all day. Eren sat down on the floor next to Bertholt and started rubbing small circles into the boys back to try and prove some form of comfort to the clearly upset child.  

"I'll get the nurse." Levi said in a resigned voice.

Fetching the nurse Levi felt useless, hanging in the doorway of the bathroom while Eren comforted Bertholt and the nurse actually helped. Remembering that him and Eren had been the only two counsellors at the table meaning they had abandoned the rest of the children, Levi left it to Eren and the nurse to deal with Bertholt. Leaving the bathroom, Levi found Reiner hanging around the entrance craning his neck like he was trying to get a look in.

“Where is Bertholt?” Reiner asked

“He just isn’t feeling too well right now.” Levi said trying to lead the child away from the bathroom but Reiner was having none of that.

“When will he be better?” Reiner asked taking a step toward the bathroom.

“I don’t know. The nurse is helping him right now so let’s go back to the table.” Levi said

When Reiner didn’t move to follow Levi stuck his hand out to the boy who latched on to it. Eren had taught him that. Little kids would follow you anywhere if you just held their hand. Like that Levi practically dragged Reiner back to their table his little head turned back toward where the bathroom was trying to get a glimpse of his friend.

It wasn’t until after all the plates had been scrapped that Eren returned to the table, Reiner was on him instantly.

“Where’s Bertholt?” He asked getting right in Eren’s face.

“He is pretty sick so he is going to spend the night at the Healthy Hut.” Eren explained in a comforting voice. He quickly glanced up at Levi and Levi received the unspoken message. They both knew that they would be staying up all night consoling a crying Reiner.

Levi’s prediction at dinner had been about 100% truth. As soon as Marco and Eren had left the room after singing the kids to sleep Reiner was knocking on their door complaining about a stomach ache. This was always the worst; Reiner probably did have a stomach ache but not from being sick, it was probably just him missing his friend so much that he was making himself sick and couldn’t understand the difference. If he was sick then they could safely push the problem off on the nurse but if it was just separation anxiety then it was their problem.

Eren and Marco went out to deal with the crying child, taking him into the art room. Levi rolled over in his sleeping bag trying to fall back asleep. It was weird being in the room by himself after having shared it with Marco and Eren for a couple weeks now, it felt too big by himself. It felt like forever before Eren and Marco snuck into the room. Levi sat up as soon as the door cracked open.

“Sorry we woke you up.” Eren said apologetically but making no attempt to be quiet now that he knew Levi was awake.

“Is Reiner alright?” Levi asked. Eren gave him a noncommittal shrug so Levi turned to Marco.

“We got him to calm down a little bit and back into bed but I doubt he will make it through the night. We told Krista and Sasha to watch for either him or Annie sneaking out because I can totally see that happening.” Marco explained while climbing into bed. Levi nodded and curled up into his sleeping bag ready for some well deserved sleep.

It felt like no sooner than Levi had closed his eyes that there was a loud knock on the door and muffled sniffles. He saw the vague outline of Eren falling out of bed tangled in his sleeping bag trying to get up. Taking pity on the boy Levi stood up and went to the door already knowing who would be on the other side.

“What’s up Reiner?” Levi asked leaning against the door frame. He looked down at the sniffling and could almost say reiner’s response along with him.

“I feel sick. I need to go to the Healthy Hut.” Reiner whined.

“Why don’t we go into the art room and talk?” Levi suggested feeling Eren come up behind him, well he assumed it was Eren otherwise Marco had suddenly become very friendly with personal space.

“I just want to go to the nurse.” Reiner said stomping his little foot on the ground.

“Come on Reiner, let’s go into the art room so we don’t wake everyone else up.” Levi insisted moving toward the art room, Eren following. Angry the child trailed behind them.

They sat down on some empty benches facing Reiner. This was a familiar situation. The only sounds in the room was Reiner’s sniffles and Eren letting out a loud yawn that turned into a fit of coughs.

“So what’s up Reiner?” Levi asked leaning his arm against the paint stained table so he could prop his head up with his hand.

“I feel sick.” Reiner said.

“You said that before. How do you feel sick?” Levi asked.

“I don’t know. I just feel sick!” Reiner said in a frustrated voice. That tended to be the same reaction they got from all of the kids when asked to explain their thought process or other emotions. They were too young to be able to put what they felt into words meaning conversations often times were painful for both sides. Levi understood what it felt like to be able to communicate your feelings seeing as he had the emotional range of a child.

“Well why don’t you try to say how you're feeling without using the word sick?” Levi prompted. He could almost see the cogs in Reiner head turn trying to come up with the words to describe how he was feeling.  

“My stomach feels icky like there is something trying to get out.” Reiner said slowly.

“Are you going to throw up?” Eren asked. Reiner shook his head.

“I don’t know! I don’t think so!.” He complained. “It just feels icky and my heart hurts.” Reiner said clutching his chest.

It sounded like he was just missing his friend and couldn’t tell the difference from being physically sick. Levi stood up without saying anything and wandered over to the cabinet that held the drawing supplies. He returned to the table placing a piece of paper and handful of markers in front of Reiner.

“I think what you should do is make a get well card for Bertholt and then tomorrow morning you can give it to him. I bet that would make him really happy.” Levi suggested. Reiner looked like he wasn’t totally convinced.

“Are you sure this will help?” He asked eyeing the markers. Levi nodded.

“I think making this card will help you and Bertholt feel better.” Levi confirmed. That seemed to be all Reiner needed as he grabbed up a marker and started drawing. It seemed like he was attempting to draw out him, Bertholt and Annie all together but his artistic skills left a lot to be desired, but Leiv had to admit it was cute. Once he was done drawing he wrote ‘Get Well Soon Bertholt’ in big letters on the top.

“I can give this Bertholt?” Reiner asked no longer sniffling.

“Yeah tomorrow morning. We don’t want to wake him up now since it won’t help him to get better if he doesn’t sleep.” Levi explained. Reiner nodded in understanding yawning so he couldn’t respond. “The same goes for you. You should get back to bed so you can make sure you are well.” Levi said standing up to lead Reiner back to the dorm.

They waited in the lobby area for a few minutes to make sure Reiner didn’t come running back out crying. Levi had been comfortable to just stand leaning against the wall but Eren had dropped down to the floor eyes drooping so Levi sat down next to him. Once Levi was on the floor Eren had curled up into Levi’s side head resting on Levi’s shoulder.

“That was really smart to have Reiner make the card.” Eren mumbled into Levi’s neck tickling it a little. Eren’s voice sounded a little hoarse to Levi.

“Are you feeling alright Eren?” Levi said with a frown. Eren nodded weakly.

“Your are sick!” Levi accused.

“No! I just need to get some sleep.” Eren protested.

“Then get to bed!” levi said pushing Eren off of him before standing up. He put out his hand to help the teen up and led them both inside their room. Eren practically collapsed on to his bunk not even bothering to get into his sleeping bag.

The next morning Levi could not for the life of him wake up Eren. He ended up radioing both Erwin and the nurse that he was just going to let the teen sleep and just pick him up after breakfast while the kids were in art.  

When he entered the room to wake Eren up he found the teen’s bed empty but the tell tale sounds of someone gaging in the bathroom. Entering the bathroom he found Eren sitting on the floor looking absolutely miserable. Levi actually laughed out loud making the teen glare at him.

“Don’t mock my pain.” Eren said standing up shakily. Levi moved to help Eren support himself so he didn’t fall and give himself a concussion. He wrapped his arm around Eren’s waist and the teen instantly leaned into his weight. Levi tried to lead the teen back to his bed but his feet were unsteady almost sending them both falling to the ground. It was much easier for Levi to just carry Eren so he picked him up bridal style and carried him over to his bed. Eren was too tired and sick to protest so he just buried his face in the crook of Levi’s neck.

“You are the one who insisted that they weren’t sick.” Levi laughed as he lowered Eren into his bunk.

“You are the one that jinxed me!” Eren insisted. Levi moved to stand up but Eren’s hand shot out grabbing onto the front of Levi’s shirt pulling him down so their faces were only a couple inches apart. Then Eren closed the distance between them so their lips were touching. Before it could turn into a real kiss Levi pulled away from Eren.

“If you fucking get me sick Eren I will murder you and bury your body so deep in the woods no will ever find it or better sink it in the 90 ft deep lake where search and rescue won't even find it.” Levi threatened in total seriousness but Eren just laughed him off which turned into a fit of coughs that went on so long Levi had to clap Eren on the back to get him to breath again.

“Just get some rest so you can get better.” Levi said kissing Eren on the cheek before rushing out of the room so Eren couldn’t see his own cheeks a flaming red.

Chapter Text

Levi hated coming to archery. The kids were too small to hit the target unless it was only ten feet away from them. A few of the kids were too small for even the smallest bows so Sasha had to help them pull the string back. Only Mikasa and Annie had any real success at actually hitting the target consistently.

Still he there were worst program areas to come too. Since Sasha was the only one who actually was good enough to teach she didn’t expect the other counselors to do much. Basically all Levi had to do was help the kids put their arm guards on because even though the kids had come at least to archery at least 10 times they still couldn’t remember how to put on the arm guard.

The kids started to shoot, complaining when they didn’t hit the target and screaming for attention when they did. One practically excited Franz reminded Levi why children show not be given weapons when he turned around his whole body so his fully loaded and drawn back bow was pointed where Levi and Eren sat.

“Are you watching me? Watch me! I’m going to get a bullseye!” Franz called excitedly not put off at all when Sasha forcibly turned the boy’s body so the arrow was pointed back toward the target. Levi had to hold in a snort of laughter when the arrow didn’t even hit the target.

“You’ll get it next time.” Eren called encouragingly.

“If not the target then he has a good chance of of hitting us.” Levi whispered into Eren’s ear making Eren laugh.

“Don’t be mean Levi.” Eren said quietly shoving Levi.  

After what felt like forever archery finally ended as Sahsa called for the kids to bring her all their arrows. The fact that had made it through another session of archery with no one getting shot amazed Levi to no end.

Marco and Krista had been on break and should be meeting them at the range so Eren and Levi could take their break while the kids went to row boats. Levi could only handle tipping over so many times before he refused to come to boating. You weren’t even supposed to be able to tip over row boats but somehow the kids managed to do it every time.

The two counselors arrived bringing Jean with them. The CIT immediately went to Eren’s side distracting the teen. Levi stood off to the side annoyed about the way the two friends kept touching each other. Eventually though the kids were ready to leave to Jean could only follow behind the line of children while Levi dragged Eren toward the trail to upper camp.

The trail they took was fairly isolated to it was safe to chold hands without being caught. It was kind of pointless to pretend like they weren’t dating because every adult knew at this point seeing as Eren was overly affectionate and Levi was a pushover who gave into the teen’s whims. Levi wouldn’t have been surprised if most of the kids knew at this point seeing as they seemed to know all the counselor gossip anyway. Levi had heard a rumor that some of the older kids had been writing fanfiction about him and Eren which creeped him out to no end. Eren had just laughed when Levi told him though.

They split up once they got to upper camp, Eren giving Levi a quick peck on the cheek before running off to do god knows what, leaving Levi to actually get work done.

Levi was hanging out on the office computer again, looking up job openings for after camp ended. As much as camp was helping him now, it would end and Levi would have to go back into the real world. For most of the other counselors that meant going back to college or starting college for the very first time. Levi chose not to think about the fact that Eren was in the latter category. They hadn’t talked about what would happen after camp ended yet, other than occasionally Eren would ask Levi advice about college. Levi would then struggle to remember his own college experience, feel old and ignore the question.

He tried to distract himself from these nagging thoughts by focusing on finding a real job. He had filled out applications and sent resumes for a few law firms back home but couldn’t really see himself actually working at any of them, but a job was a job so if he got an interview for any of them he would take what he could get.

Now though he was starting to branch out a little bit looking into law firms a little further away. If he was going to reinvent himself why not move away? Then he wouldn’t have to worry about every running into the reason he was in this situation to begin with. Levi’s grip tightened around the mouse.

"Isabel has been calling again." Erwin said in a decidedly noncommittal voice. Levi grunted in response.

"What have you said to her?" Levi asked. He wasn't worried about what the bitch wanted and was more worried about what Erwin might say.

"I haven't told her anything other than that you don't want to talk to her." Erwin said looking up from his computer.

"Good" Levi said under his breath.

"You know she won't accept that for very long. You should just talk to her and get it over with." Erwin said.

"No way in hell am I ever talking to her again, not after what she did." Levi hissed anger in his voice. Erwin sighed in frustration but didn’t press the matter any further. There was silence in the room, leaving Levi alone with his thoughts. Suddenly unable to stand being in the room Levi excused himself, grabbing his backpack and water bottle, practically running out of the office.

Once outside Levi wasn’t sure what to do. He had about an hour left of his break so he wasn’t about to sacrifice it by going back to his unit. His laundry was already done and folded, and the dorm was clean. He knew Eren also had his break now, Levi decided to go to the Staff House to try and find the teen.

It seemed like he was in luck because Eren was sitting cross legged on the couch watching some DIsney movie. Without saying anything marched into the room, dropped his backpack and landed down on the couch so his head was in Eren’s lap. The teen seemed startled at first, his mouth forming a wide ‘o’, but then setting into a smile.

“Is something the matter Levi? You seem upset.” Eren said looking down into Levi’s face. Looking up into those bright ocean eyes, made Levi feel a little bit better, or calmer at least.

“Just thinking about post camp life.” Levi said flicking his eyes toward the screen. Levi had never been a big Disney fan, but he recognized Aladdin. He heard Eren sigh, and felt a hand start playing with his hair.

“We still have like a month left Levi? Why are you thinking about it?” Eren asked.

“Because there is only a month left of camp. In a month you will be going to college with pretty much the rest of the staff and I currently have no plans.” Levi said trying and failing to keep the bitterness out of his voice.

“I thought you were applying to bit hotshot law firms because you are a big hot shot lawyer.” Eren said. Levi rolled his head so he was looking back at Eren. The teen had a frown on his face.

“I am, but I haven’t heard back from any yet. My guess is that my old firm has blackballed me.” Levi said absently.

Eren didn’t say anything right away, but Levi felt the teen’s hand run up the side of his neat undercut. He remembered Eren saying that he liked the way it felt against his skin. Levi had just laughed at him and neglected to mention the swell of happiness he felt whenever Eren showed him those simple little affection.

It felt nice knowing that someone cared about him, but it wasn’t the same as when he was with Isabel. She would have had a detailed plan about how to get his life back on track leaving no room for Levi’s own input. While that had gotten Levi pretty far in life, he couldn’t say it had made him happy. Eren was too young to understand what Levi was going through and really didn’t know enough about the world to offer advice. All he could do is listen to Levi’s complaining, not that Levi didn’t appreciate that. It was just different.

“Did you always want to be a lawyer, Levi?” Eren asked.

“No. I mean my undergrad was in English with an emphasis in creative writing. Isabel was the one to push me to go through the pre-law program and then into law school.” Levi said already seeing where Eren was going with this.

“So you wanted to be a writer?” Eren said a smile on his face like he had made some sort of break through.

“No. I had no idea what I wanted to do in college and I was good at bullshitting papers so I majored in English. I like being a lawyer. I am good at it.” Levi said. Eren’s lip jutted out in a pout as he thought about what Levi said.

Eren was too strong headed to understand Levi’s decisions, and Levi knew that. Eren was already knew exactly what he wanted to accomplish in life and how he was going to do it. He was so self assured, and couldn’t understand when other people didn’t share this self assuredness. Some people, Levi included were satisfied just going with the flow taking what life had to offer.

The subject was dropped after that both content to just sit in each other’s presence and watch Aladdin for the rest of their break. Levi wasn’t sure if it was appropriate to talk to Eren about the them after camp. For all he knew Eren only wanted a summer fling and planned on cutting it off before he went off to college. That idea sent a pang of distress through Levi. While he knew he couldn’t expect anything from the teen, he couldn’t help feeling disappointed that their relationship wouldn’t go anywhere.

The thought of having absolutely nothing after camp; no job, no relationship, no friends, was a horrifying one that Levi tried to push to the back of his mind for now. Instead he tried to focus on the soothing hand in his hair and the sound of Eren’s steady breathing punctuated by laughter at the. They still had a month left. Until then Levi should make the most of it.