Chapter Text
You had just signed up for the Survey Corps last month and you were still very new to everything. You’d told yourself that this was the best decision you could’ve made, helping to protect your people from the titans felt like the obvious choice, even if it was terrifying deep down.
In this past month you managed to make a good few friends, Mikasa was the best shoulder to cry on and you knew you could always count on Jean and Connie to make you laugh in the least laugh-worthy situations. Everyone had their reasons for being here together and it felt so empowering.
But for the time being while you all trained and performed drills non-stop, it seemed like menial tasks like cooking and cleaning would be the death of you.
A loud bell rang through the dorms, waking everyone up and making you aware it was time to get up and get ready.
“Ugh I hope we get some time to rest today, I feel like my legs are jelly” said Sasha, while still half asleep.
“Don’t let the Captain hear you or we will all be running laps until next week…” protested Armin with a shirt stuck over his head.
“Seriously, guys?” Said Eren smugly “I feel like I could go again all day, maybe I’m just built different”
“Yeah sure thing” scoffed Sasha.
Eren’s bed was right on the opposite side of yours and you had seen him wake up with the resolve and focus of a machine every day. You wondered how long that would last.
Still getting the sleepiness off of you, your eyes wandered around the room and, for some reason, lingered on Eren and his bed hair. He looked especially good in the mornings, when you could see his face still calm from having rested, just before reality sank in.
As everyone headed out of the dorms to go get some breakfast in the food hall, you finally got out of bed and quickly threw on a clean t-shirt. You liked being the last to leave, it gave you some time to be alone. You put your hair up in a way it wouldn’t bother you for training and decided to have a look out the window. It was a bright and sunny day, birds chirping and a faint breeze making the curtains flow into the room.
“Hey” you got startled by a voice coming from near the door. Eren. “You were taking too long, you okay?”
You turned around to meet his gaze. It didn’t seem like Eren cared about you much, you weren’t the closest of friends. But sometimes when your eyes met like this, it felt like you had to look away to keep yourselves from revealing something you didn’t know was there.
“Yeah, I’ll be there in a sec” you said with a soft smile and for an instant you could have sworn Eren’s eyes dropped to your lips just before looking away.
“Alright, just didn’t want you to get in trouble with Captain Levi, see you in there.” He said as he left and headed for the food hall where everyone else was.
When Eren was gone, you suddenly realised it felt like you had been holding your breath and now you can exhale. Why were you so nervous? It’s not like you have much time to think about it so you headed out to get breakfast with the rest.
—————————
As everyone got to talking, the hall got increasingly loud, making for the perfect morning background noise. You were scoffing down some toast and drinking plenty of water to get ready for the day. You were thinking of what new techniques and moves you could try today, when Captain Levi cleared his throat, making the room go silent.
“Get changed and in gear for sparring. Make sure to clean up this hall after yourselves before you go, I don’t want you leaving a mess.” he said sternly. Captain Levi walked back to where Commander Erwin and Squad Leader Hange were sat discussing plans for the next expedition.
Nobody wanted to be the one who got a sarcastic comment or a snarky remark thrown at them, so the room immediately turned into a whirlwind of cleaning. The rest of your friends who sat at your table had gone to put away the dishes, except you and Eren who had stayed to wipe down the table.
It was an awfully cramped room and the spaces between tables were limited, but Eren didn’t seem to mind as he walked behind you to reach for some cloths. Walking would be an overstatement. As you were standing over the table, wiping, you felt Eren’s chest press against your back and as he squeezed along, you became painfully aware of his hips pressed against you.
“Ah, sorry…” you heard him quietly say behind you as he softly held your waist with his hands and finally got to the other end of the table. It felt like for an instant it was just the two of you, close against each other and then it was all ripped away.
You finished up on wiping and tried to think of ways to rationalise this. He said sorry because he was uncomfortable, right? It’s not like you’re close, so he can’t be into you. Or you could have just been the only one to feel that electricity. Who knows, but right now the safest option was to pretend it didn’t happen and focus on your training. Your avoidant tendencies get the best of you.
You were so entranced in your thoughts that by the time you fully focused on your surroundings, you’d all gathered at the training grounds. Everyone stood at attention as Captain Levi gave you all instructions.
“For today, I want you to find a new sparring partner” he said. You looked at Mikasa with a pout, you and her had been sparring and keeping up with each other so perfectly, even though sometimes it felt like she was going easy on you. “You need to get used to combat in as many varied situations as possible. Go.”
Everyone hurried to make a new pair, Mikasa waving you goodbye and walking towards Annie, possibly her best match. You looked around hoping someone nice would want to join you but it seemed like everyone made their choice. You were too slow to make your choice and ended up on your own.
Captain Levi saw you stood by yourself and started walking over to you. Oh god, please no, last thing you need now is to get your ass kicked by the Captain.
“I’ll spar with you this one time. Make sure to be quick next time.” he said. There was nothing you could say that would make you look better, so instead you decided to put the most effort possible into this spar, so as to not disappoint him.
Captain Levi was being kind but you were still receiving a hell of an ass kicking. You stopped counting how many times you dropped on the muddy ground. But you weren’t about to be morally defeated, so you got up again.
“If you did this outside of the walls, you would die and be useless to us. Try harder.” Levi said. As cold as those words were, they encouraged you.
You focused as hard as you could and countered every hit that got thrown at you. You still hadn’t managed to get a hit on the Captain but at least you weren’t on the ground.
“Come on, I’m getting bored here.” he said sharply, knowing that would tip you over the edge. You evaded a swing thrown at you and finally managed to throw one back, knocking Levi down. The Captain being far too skilled saw this coming and grabbed on to you, bringing you down with him and managing to flip you over. He settled on top of your hips and stared at you with a look you couldn’t decipher.
Your eyes were locked onto his, faces closer than you realised, while both of you were trying to catch your breath. Maybe it was the hit on the ground or maybe it was Captain Levi on top of you with his jet black hair dropping over his face, but you were not aware of your surroundings and how everyone had stopped to stare.