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Eren was scrubbing at a window, squinting at this one smudge that just would not be cleaned. Gritting his teeth, he braced his elbow more firmly against the glass and scrubbed viciously. He was so not going to get yelled at for not doing a good enough job. Again. If he concentrated, he could still feel Corporal Levi’s displeased scowl burning a hole through his flesh. That was probably how he killed Titans, just scowled at them until they burned up from shame.
Not really though. Corporal Levi probably fought very well, dispatching titans with grace and precision. Eren wouldn’t really know, since he had never actually seen any of the Survey Corps fight. And he hadn’t worked up the courage to ask Corporal Levi to maybe help him train or something. He was totally going to ask, he just hadn’t gotten around to it yet, what with being busy cleaning the castle-fortress-thing and stuff.
He really did need to train though. Since he probably couldn’t rely on fighting as a Titan all the time. Unless that was what Corporal Levi had planned? Eren wasn’t really sure. He kept meaning to ask the Corporal all these questions that were really fucking important, but he’d somehow forget them all when faced with the actual displeased face of the Corporal glaring up at him. Then he’d stutter like an idiot and be forced to flee before he said something stupid. It was really, really easy to get distracted around the Corporal. He’d find himself staring at how tiny the Corporal’s feet were, how soft his hair looked, how cute he looked when he was angrily hitting someone with a broom, how his eyes softened when he watched a robin building a nest in the tree outside. And then he’d wonder what things he could do to make the Corporal’s face soften like that towards him. What would he have to do to get a look of approval? A smile? He’d vividly imagined Corporal Levi smiling in so many different scenarios and places, he had started to feel like he might have had some kind of problem. Then he had woken up one morning breathing heavily after a particularly vivid dream about tenderly kissing the Corporal under a tree while braiding flowers into his flowers, and he knew he had a problem.
He couldn’t seem to stop thinking about it though. Him and Corporal Levi. Reading together, cuddling together, fighting together, exploring the world together. All while he could barely string a sentence together around his disapproving superior officer. It was really stupid, that he had so much else to worry about, and instead his brain decides to focus on imaging Corporal Levi smiling as he walked down the aisle, one arm stretched out toward Eren an-
“Oi, Eren,” Levi interrupted, scowling from the doorway while Eren fumbled for the rag he had just dropped. “Stop daydreaming.”
“Y-yes sir!” Eren shouted, whipping into a salute quickly and pretending he hadn’t just splashed soapy water down the back of his neck with the rag. The Corporal scowled harder before stalking away. Eren let out a slow breath, turning back to the window.
“And the smudge is on the outside, idiot,” Corporal Levi suddenly added, reappearing in the doorway and startling Eren into dropping the rag. Again. He stumbled over a thank you as the Corporal walked away. Eren sighed, opening the window and finally wiping away the smudge.
“Someday,” he muttered, “I’m going to get you to smile for me.”