note: I know it is really short, but we had this reading comprehension in school and the text made me think of ereri, so I changed it up a bit but kept the original thought! and this is what came out of it.

may or may not get a continuation.

Try as he could in later years, Levi could not quite remember the first time he had taken notice of Eren Yeager.

There had been lots of new faces in the dorms and around campus of Maria Tech when he was a freshman. Eren had been one of them, and he'd only gradually come to notice him. He wasn't real tall for a guy, not like Erwin, but still taller than Levi himself. His looks didn't make him stand out like others, and he wasn't one of these students that asked a lot of questions or anything. He was just there, making it hard to remember the first time Levi had noticed him. Since they were engineering students on pretty much the same track, they shared a lot of classes together, they even worked on some classroom exercises in groups, and a couple of times in pair, friendly but not really friends. For most of their freshman year and their first semester as sophomores, the sum total of his impression of Eren was that he was friendly and actually a pretty nice guy. Besides that, Eren wasn't really as smart as he was; Levi was at the top of their class rankings. Still, Eren worked hard for what he was worth and it paid off, placing him at the upper half of the class rankings, earning Levi's mutual respect. Eren was absolutely nothing special to him, and there was nothing extraordinary with him either.

But Levi remembered well the afternoon when they had first become friends.

Unlike a lot of other schools, Tech left their dorms open over Christmas break because students came from all over the world and many were not able to leave for the break, like Levi himself. Still, most students were gone and the place was pretty empty. Levi figured that he'd get some studying in, but even that got dull. It was duller than normal on New Year's Day, and for once even studying didn't seem interesting. With the dismal mood he was in and no studying being done, some human contact would be nice, even for a loner like him. He didn't really feel like going anyplace, but maybe there might be someone to have a cup of coffee with down in the cafeteria.

The sounds of a televised football game were coming from a nearby lounge as he walked into the cafeteria in the middle of the afternoon. It was pretty empty, just a few students hanging out. But he noticed Eren sitting over in the corner with a textbook open in front of him. He was staring off into space, probably thinking about something, or maybe he was just as morose and distracted as he was. He didn't consciously think about that, but took a pass through the food line, just looking.

A piece of pie maybe, he thought, but decided against it –he hadn't had the opportunity to go to the gym during the holidays since it was closed, and it started to show, according to himself anyway – it'd be best just to stick with coffee. At least it was a break from the dreary four walls of his dorm room.

He tore his eyes away from the pies at the display case and instead headed over to the coffee machine, to find Eren there waiting, presumably getting a refill.

"Happy New Year." he said with not much feeling. After the last two weeks, there didn't seem much chance that his New Year could be very happy. At least he wasn't home; that would have been a lot more unhappy. "I'm surprised to see you back so soon." Levi added after a moment.

"Things were getting uncomfortable around home." Eren commented casually as he stuck his coffee cup under the tap and filled it. "I figured it was better to be here. What brings you here early?" He added with a smile as he took away his cup.

"I never really left." Levi answered gloomily.

"Wait. Are you saying you have spent both New Years and Christmas in the dorms?"

"Yes, and don't forget birthday." Eren just stood there with his mouth open, apparent surprise displayed on his face. Levi just ignored the look – used to the look by now, Eren wasn't exactly the first – and proceeded to make his coffee. But when you finally had started to take notice to Eren Yeager, you couldn't really ignore him. "There is nowhere to return to, so I didn't have much choice but to stay here." This seemed to satisfy Eren, even if only marginally, but he wasn't stupid enough to see that Levi didn't want to talk about it further.

"But you did celebrate properly right?" this question took Levi off guard; he did not see that one coming.

"Uhm? Yeah... I guess." Way to go, moron. Levi wasn't a man of many words, but when he did in fact speak it's usually something sarcastic, intellectual, or preferably both.

"I take that as a no. Let's have coffee together now and celebrate. I noticed you looking at the pies, do you want one?" Eren continued to drag him along and order two pies and paying for them before Levi found the words to object.

"I really shouldn't-"

"Nonsense! We are now celebrating your – whatever it was – birthday, and this is my gift to you. So, happy birthday!" The way he just so bluntly said it made it sound like the most normal thing to say to a, almost complete, stranger.

They proceeded to go back to the table where Levi had spotted Eren when he'd entered. Eren quickly moved his things aside to make room for them both at the small table.

After that day, Levi would never stop noticing Eren.