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When Eren first heard that he was going to be kept at an old castle that hadn't been used in years, he wanted to scream. It was already bad enough that he'd been kept in that grimy dungeon for so long as his fate was being decided. The floor had been smeared with dirt, the bars caked in something vaguely sticky that he did not want to know about, and the sheets covered in dust. Still, there hadn't been much to do about it then, and Eren had to be content with trying not to get out of bed, dust being the lesser of several evils.
Don't get him wrong, Eren was fine with getting dirty when the situation called for it. And that was it, wasn't it? Riding a smelly, sweaty horse, splitting titan flesh and being coated in blood was all fine. And even as much as he internally griped about the cell, he had more important things on his mind. Most chiefly, his life and the survey corps. The point being, there was no good reason why he'd have to deal with a dusty former headquarters. Besides the whole Titan thing, of course. Oh well, Eren figured that someone on one of these horses were bringing cleaning material with them. He didn't really want to go on a huge cleaning spree, but if it had to be done, it had to be done.
Finally, they disembarked. While it was nice to see the outside world after his near death experience, the ride was uncomfortable what with being caught glancing over at Corporal Levi, and Auruo nearly biting his tongue off while trying to be intimidating. Which was strange. Eren already knew the reputations of all these people, and of course he knew they were the ones who would be taking him down in an emergency.
As Eren finished taking care of his horse, he huffed at the abundant weeds and debris surrounding the stable area. That wasn't a good sign at all. Eren hoped anew that someone would have the sense of mind to suggest putting the castle back into shape, because he couldn't exactly ask for their help, and would probably die of exhaustion trying to do it himself.
“-inside, a sea of dust is probably awaiting us.” Eren overheard someone comment. He couldn't help wrinkling his nose at the confirmation of his fears. “Then we must sort it out immediately” Corporal Levi spoke next, and Eren's heart lifted. If it was the corporal, then surely everyone would have to participate.
“Oh, why are you grinning, brat? Thinking you can get out of it just because you're a kid?” Surprised, Eren turned to face the Corporal. “Of course not, sir!” Levi's face remained blank. “Alright. You can start by cleaning the basement, that's where you're staying. If you can't do that properly, then you can sleep in the filth.” Eren grinned. “Thank you, sir.” This was perfect, he could take care of his own living area first, without having to entrust it to someone less critical. Sure, it was in the basement again, but this time he'd be getting full reign over its maintenance. He'd be able to concentrate on making the rest of the castle spotless with the knowledge that he had somewhere sanitary to crawl into at the end of the day.
Eren immediately got to work, first with a broom and duster, then with a mop and bucket. There were suspicious stains and smells down in the basement, but nothing he couldn't deal with. Being both a clean freak, and relatively poor meant that Eren had perfected his cleaning strategy. Armin and Mikasa would constantly drag dirt everywhere, even though they didn't mean to. And it had only gotten worse when they were trainees. Oh yes, Eren had earned a reputation as the stain-master among the other recruits.
He lost track of time as he was seeing to the basement. It wasn't really Eren's fault, the basement was big, and probably even more dusty than the other rooms. Still, by the time someone came down to check up on him, he was just finishing up. To his pride, the walls were nearly sparkling, the floor completely spotless. “Hey, Eren, Corporal Levi says you need to get yourself to the upper floor- woah.” Petra stopped herself as she took in the transformed space. “And the corporal just thought you were trying to avoid work. I think even he would be impressed. How did you get it so clean so fast?” Petra was incredulous. Eren chuckled, a little pleased from the attention. “I just like to keep things clean.” Petra nodded, gazing around the room again. “I can see that. In any case, you should get to the upper floors and help with the cleaning there, and make sure corporal Levi knows you made it up there. He should still be working on the offices up there.”
“Okay. I will take care of that as soon as I am done. It will only be a few more minutes.” Eren quickly scrubbed the disinfectant into the table with extra vigor “Finish up with what?” He heard her speak quietly to herself. He elected not to answer, instead crouching under the table to get at the legs. Eren heard her walk back up the stairs, and he followed not long after.
The other members of corporal Levi's squad were significantly less impressed with Eren's cleaning habits. “What are you doing, I just cleaned that cabinet, newbie! You're wasting time.” Auruo complained. Eren looked back from his position of spraying down the upper shelves. “Ah... you missed some spots.” He explained innocently. “Bullshit, no I didn't. Stop screwing around and go scrub the floor, it hasn't been done yet.”
Eren blinked. “But it's not clean. If I do the floor first, then the dust that falls from cleaning these shelves will stick to the floor and make a bigger mess.” Honestly, it wasn't that complicated. He was well aware that most didn't care for his standards of cleaning, but at least they didn't get in his way about it. Auruo gave a look like he wanted to add something, then just sighed in annoyance and turned away. That was fine with Eren. Maybe he'd get annoyed enough to leave, and Eren could go over his poor attempt at wiping the walls down in peace.
The next room was probably worse. Eren winced as he saw one of the squad members- Gunter Shulz drag a mop almost lazily over the tiles. The worst was that he appeared to be trying, wasting time scrubbing a nasty scuff mark that Eren could immediately tell would only come out with a direct application of stain remover, and a brush. He could still see missed dry spots along the edges of the walls, along with thin strips of wet grime pushed against the corners- did he try to remove the mess by pushing it up against the wall instead of sweeping it into the center of the room and gathering it into the mop? Of course that would leave leftovers!
Finally, Eren coughed awkwardly, bringing attention to himself. “Sir, may I... take over this room?” The man gave him the strangest look. “Why? Out of work?” Eren shook his head. “No, I just saw, and you're...” He tried to think of something respectful to say that would get his point across, but gave up. “Doing it wrong. Sir.”
Gunter raised his eyebrows. “Really? Looks fine to me.” Finally, familiar territory. Doing his best not to appear too critical, Eren pointed out all of his earlier observations. With despair, he noted the other man's face twisting into a scowl. “Please don't tell me we have another clean freak on our hands.” Surprised, Eren watched his expression turn to one of self suffering as he handed Eren the mop and left the room without another word.
By the time it got dark outside, Eren had finished that room and another by himself. That time he had been smart enough to choose a room that no one had gotten to. He wiped his brow, careful not to do it with the cloth that had been cleaning the windowsill just now. Now that Eren thought about it, wasn't dinner supposed to be at sunset? Well, he supposed there would be leftovers, it was specified that they were to only take breaks if the room was completely done. Eren made his way to the mess hall, careful to not look into any of the rooms. He did want to eat after all, not get distracted by more grime.
Most of the others were already eating by the time Eren got there. No one paid him any mind as he took a prepared plate. Although, when he made for the cleanest empty bench, there were already a few stares coming his way. Eren heard “newbie” being mumbled a few times, but not much else. Then the clang of doors sounded through the room, silencing everyone. Then whispers began again, only this time Eren could catch more of it.
“Oh crap, it's Corporal Levi.”
“I wonder who he's going to pick on this time?”
Corporal Levi's strides came closer to where the soldiers were seated. Then they stopped. “Who was in charge of the study on the third floor in the right wing?” He asked in a monotonous tone. With dread in the air, one stood to attention. “How would you call that clean? It's horrible. You didn't even touch the chandelier.” The man apologized with a “sir!” and immediately left the mess hall to redo his work. In that fashion, Corporal Levi sent back at least five others. Eren tried not to react, but was inwardly happy. Just as Eren had assumed from the way the others had talked, Corporal Levi was indeed the other “clean freak”. Eren could really get used to working with someone who understood his plight to some degree.
“Finding something funny again, brat? Think you're cleaning is up to my standards, just because you didn't get called back?” Eren hadn't been able to completely control his satisfaction. Flustered at being put on the spot, Eren blurted out his first thoughts. “I know they are, sir.” Then he proceeded to sweat, realizing just how obnoxious that sounded. Corporal Levi twitched, letting out a long “ohhh?” Eren already knew he had shoved his foot into his mouth, but there wasn't any point taking it back. Even though he didn't really know how much of a stickler Corporal Levi was for cleanliness, Eren was still confident. There was a limit on how clean a castle could become after all, and Eren knew he had hit it in the rooms left in his care.
“Well, if you're so confident, why don't we check your handiwork?” He beckoned, and silently, Eren followed. “Since you spent so much time on it, we're going to check the basement. And if there is so much as a speck of dirt, you will be cleaning it with your toothbrush for that cheek.” Eren agreed, becoming nervous despite the knowledge that he knew there wouldn't be any such speck. At least, not one that Eren could catch, and he was damn good at catching specks by now.
Corporal Levi was in front of him, so Eren didn't get to see his expression as they stepped down into the basement room. He paused, almost causing Eren to bump into him. Corporal Levi was silent, suddenly drifting over to the wall and walking along it carefully. Eren decided not to move, knowing his work was being carefully scrutinized. Intervention would be useless. The Corporal finished walking the perimeter of the room, his mouth thinning into a tight line. Eren knew he had been expecting to find something already.
Instead of giving up, Corporal Levi began to inspect the floor, crossing in a careful grid pattern. Then he checked the table, the shelf, and the window bars. He gave extra scrutiny to the bed, and the floor under it. Finally, Corporal Levi turned back to Eren, only instead of frustration, he appeared calculating. His eyes narrowed even further than usual. “Follow me, brat.” Corporal Levi strode out the door. Eren followed hastily, hoping to get back to his meal. That wasn't to be the case unfortunately, as Eren was lead to the upper floors. He wanted to question it- hadn't the room met his standards? But it was probably better to stay silent. Eren was stopped again, this time in front of a larger room, with a set of double doors.
“Tell me everything that has been missed in this room.” Corporal Levi suddenly orders, throwing Eren for a loop. “Sir?”
“Am I not clear, Jaeger? I have yet to call those responsible for this room back. I want you to look around, and tell me every mistake in the cleaning. Don't miss anything.” Eren could only nod. It wasn't very hard. Right away, he noticed that the grooves between the floor tiles where the mop couldn't reach hadn't been attended to, and there were still a few cobwebs on the ceiling. Dutifully, Eren rattled off each flaw as they appeared. A slightly off-colour stain by the bookshelf, some residue on the gauntlet of a set of armor, everything was glaringly obvious. Finally, Eren finished his report, turning back to the corporal. “I think that's all, sir.”
Corporal Levi stayed blank for several moments, before finally giving a look of approval. “Not bad.” He swept his eyes over the room, probably a last ditch effort to find something Eren had missed. “May I be excused now, sir?” Eren asked as politely as he could. He half expected his superior's mood to snap back to annoyance, but surprisingly enough, he nodded his assent. Before Eren could get out of the door, Corporal Levi spoke again.
“From now on, you will be cleaning with me. You will also be inspecting rooms, and I expect you to be exactly as thorough as you were just now. Is that clear?”
“Yes, sir.” And Eren was free. Slightly bewildered, but free.
It didn't take long for Eren's clean-freak reputation to spread to the rest of the survey corps staying at the castle. While he mostly got glares and rolled eyes for his inspections, Eren was still listened to when he told the others to repeat a task. It quickly got around that Eren was just as bad, if not worse than the corporal as far as attention to detail went. Most were more than willing to be asked politely by Eren than be verbally lashed by Levi.
Then things got better when his classmates that were joining survey corps came along. Mikasa and Armin listened sympathetically to his passionate speech over the state of the castle, and the rest would ignore it. Eren overheard someone ask Jean incredulously, “How did you all manage having a Levi-level clean freak, in your trainee years no less?” Jean shrugged. “I just tell him to shut his trap and deal with it. Wait a minute, are you saying that Corporal Levi is as bad as Jaeger?” he answered with a pained “we can't decide who's worse, honestly.”
“Shit. There's two of them now. Can I just throw myself over wall Rose already?”