Summary: Eren felt a tickling in his nose. Realizing he had to sneeze, he tilted his head back, arching his back in anticipation. Suddenly, a gloved hand clamped over his mouth and nose. Eren choked down his sneeze in surprise.
"Don't you fucking dare, you little shit."
Rated: T
Warning: Cursing, First fic ever, Technical stuff.
The University of Rose, Trost had one of the best cleanroom facilities for an educational institution. It was rated an impressive Class 1, comparable to industry standard cleanrooms used by the big companies like Trost Instruments, International Business of Maria, and Recon Technologies. What was even more impressive was that the students and researchers didn't need to wear the self-contained suits that prevented human-introduced contamination like skin flakes, hair and lint that were required in other Class 1 cleanrooms. Students were traditionally told that the near-dustless state of the cleanroom because it was under the watch of a guardian angel with mis-matched wings.
Eren Jaeger was one such student that had heard of the tale, and excitedly strode down the hallway toward the fabled cleanroom. Hailing from the University of Maria at Shinganshina for his undergraduate degree in biology, he developed a strong interest in titan research after Shinganshina had a titan breakout and his mother received injuries in the onslaught that left her confined to a wheelchair. Instead of following in his father's footsteps (and his mother's urging) to become a doctor, Eren applied to and enrolled in UR Trost to begin his studies as a first year grad student. Even though Eren was not as smart as his best friend, Armin, who had started grad school at UR Trost a year earlier, or his adoptive sister, Mikasa, who had graduated first in their class at Shinganshina and tagged along with him into the same program, Eren was passionate and hard-working. This passion did not go unnoticed during Eren's interview with Dr. Erwin, who was Armin's PI and a professor at UR Trost who studied titans. When Dr. Erwin offered paid research assistant positions to Eren and Mikasa, Eren jumped at the opportunity with Mikasa at his side. The siblings even moved into the dorms three weeks before the start of school so they could get started in the lab early on. Eren and Armin became roommates, while Mikasa roomed by herself since her future roommate was on vacation.
Eren waved his badge in front of the scanner at the entrance to the cleanroom, which beeped before the door clicked to unlock. Eren pulled open the door gleefully, stepping onto the tacky mat that stuck to and removed loose particles from his shoe as he entered the gowning room. He remembered the first time he had entered the gowning room for training a week ago. Mike Zakarius, one of the staff, had shown Eren, Mikasa and a few other new grad students how to put on the cleaning room gowns and equipment in the proper order before entering the cleanroom. "We have to do our part in helping our guardian angel to keep it clean," Zakarius had said with a smile. Eren smirked at the memory as he wondered to himself about how childish the guardian angel myth was, especially since he was already 22 and Zakarius was certainly older. Regardless, Eren followed the order that he was taught: pull on booties, put on hair cover, wiggle into then zip up the suit, pull on shoe covers, then gloves, then safety glasses. Lastly he clipped his ID badge on. Giving himself a cursory look in the mirror to make sure he had everything on, Eren hit the button on the wall at which the door to the cleanroom slid open.
Spotless wasn't even enough to describe it. The cleanroom was so immaculate that the surfaces gave off a sheen that was almost unearthly. "No wonder they joke that a guardian angel cleans this place," Eren thought with awe. Eren waddled over to one of the bays, a self-contained room for various machines. The label on the door read 'Materials characterization,' and Eren stood outside, waiting for Armin.
There were still two weeks before school started and Eren planned on getting acquainted with the lab procedures and machines. Armin had some samples of titan bone that he had to look at and test to see what they were made of. Eren was interested in learning how to test the bone, so Armin had sent the enthusiastic newcomer down to the cleanroom first while he went to grab the samples.
Eren felt a tickling in nose. Realizing he had to sneeze, he tilted his head back, arching his back in anticipation. Suddenly, a gloved hand clamped over his mouth and nose. Eren choked down his sneeze in surprise.
"Don't you fucking dare, you little shit."
Eren whipped around to see who dared to interrupt his blissful release, rage boiling and ready to give them a piece of his mind. Standing before him was a very short man with the most beautiful eyes Eren had seen. The man was dressed in the same uniform as Eren with the addition of a cleanroom mask which obscured the lower half of his face. Eren's eyes flicked to the man's badge, "Dr. Levi Rivaille", and if the accompanying photo was anything to go by, Dr. Rivaille would also have the most handsome face.
"Do you have any idea how many people's experiments you would be ruining if you decided to eject your aerosol of nasal filth into the atmosphere? Do you have any idea how much money and man hours are spent each month just to keep this facility a Class 1 cleanroom? You would be making a huge mess by releasing over 40,000 drops of snot traveling up to 200 miles per hour if you decided to do something so selfish and careless."
Rivaille drawled with a seemingly disinterested expression, but his eyes remained piercing.
"I-I'm sorry sir!"
"You're contaminating the air with hundreds of 10 micron particles with your blabbering. Shut up and put this on." A face mask like the one Rivaille was wearing was placed over Eren's nose and mouth, fingers grazing the sensitive shells and neck as Rivaille slipped the loops over the boy's ears. Eren's face flushed a crimson red at the contact, but the mask from Rivaille covered his blush. "What a blessing in disguise," Eren thought.
"I'm going to have a talk with Mike Zakarias about the proper way to train students on using the cleanroom. And your PI," a glance at Eren's badge. "Dr. Erwin, was it?" Rivaille eyes smirked.
Eren's eyes flew wide, fear tugging at his heart that he would be kicked out of his lab group on his first day on the job for a just sneeze. "Please don't tell Dr. Erwin to fire me! I'm really serious about it, I really want to do research!"
Rivaille's eyes remained emotionless as he turned on his heel nonchalantly and sauntered to the gowning room. Panicking, Eren quickly shuffled behind him, nearly getting squashed by the sliding doors that were closing to separate the gowning room from the cleanroom.
Eren stumbled into room only to see that Rivaille had already removed most of his baggy cleanroom garb, his figure now on display. Rivaille was clad in a pair of black skinny jeans which accentuated his legs, while his blue t-shirt hugged his small frame, exposing his toned arms. He removed his cap to reveal jet black hair with a fringe on top and buzzed underneath, while cleanroom booties were pulled off to reveal a pair of matching black boots. Last came off the face mask, and Eren was stunned. The photo on Rivaille's badge certainly did not do him any justice. The man had a delicate nose above curved lips pulled into a frown. A pale, heart-shaped face and fringe framed Rivaille's smouldering glare. Eren felt a bit of attraction, or perhaps lust, bloom inside his chest, which made his heart beat faster in addition to his fear. Then Rivaille was gone, and Eren realized that he also had to take off his gown if he was to talk to Dr. Erwin. With shaky hands, Eren fumbled with the cleanroom gown and equipment until he had removed it all and hastily ran back to Dr. Erwin's lab.
Eren sat in his cubicle outside his PI's office, head in his hands after divulging what had happened in the cleanroom with Mikasa and Armin. Rivaille and Erwin's voices could be heard from Erwin's office, the door muffling their conversation.
Armin peered at his childhood friend in concern.
"Eren, do you know the reason why the cleanroom is just so, well, clean?"
Eren laughed in defeat. "Because there's some guardian angel janitor?"
Armin put his finger to his lips, gesturing to Eren to quiet down.
"Isn't it because Dr. Rivaille does extra cleaning?"
Eren and Armin turned to Mikasa in surprise.
Eyes wide, Armin asked "How did you know?"
"Well, I came in extra early around 7 one morning and saw him rolling this - "
"No, Mikasa! We're not allowed to talk about Dr. Rivaille's cleaning methods. Apparently, rumor is that Trost Instruments is trying to find out how the university keeps the cleanroom so clean. Even Dr. Pixis, the head of the department gave us students a speech last year, telling us that we cannot talk about anything regarding the cleaning."
Eren was about to ask Armin why the school wasn't afraid of alumni telling its cleaning secrets when the door to Dr. Erwin's office clicked open.
"I hope you take care of that snot-nosed brat," preceded Dr. Rivaille as he walked out of Dr. Erwin's office.
"I'll talk to Eren about this. I am sure that he didn't mean it."
Eren's heart sank, watching Dr. Rivaille's retreating back as he walked away. The boys eyes lowered. What had once been covered by the cleanroom suit was now in full view, and his gaze landed on slightly swaying hips. Eren began to contemplate the man. According to Armin, Dr. Rivaille's career as a professor was blossoming, his research on titans was promising and he was at the forefront of his field. He was also dedicated to maintaining order and cleanliness in the cleanroom, making sure that young researchers like Eren could obtain good results in their experiments. He was also extremely good-looking and even with his short stature and even shorter temper, Eren found himself developing a sense of respect for the man.
"I want to win him over. I want to show him that I can do this, that I can contribute to his research."
Armin gasped in shock while Mikasa's eyes widened.
"Eren, what are you talking about?"
"I don't want him to think of me as some sniffling kid. I want him to look upon me as a researcher, an equal in the field!"
"You know, you just started and it takes years to become a researcher! Dr. Rivaille rarely accepts students and you already have Dr. Erwin!"
Eren shook his head, determination flaring in his eyes as he looked in the direction where Rivaille had disappeared.
"I will win him over!"
Author's Note:
Thanks for reading! This is my first fic. I thought it was going to be a 600 to 800 word drabble, but then it grew into a behemoth and potential chaptered fic on its own. It was so hard to write, but I'm glad I pulled through! I hope you like it! Let me know what you think, continue or not? :3
What follows is some technical stuff, if you want to know:
1) I've never seen a professor wear what Rivaille is wearing. Ever.
2) Ages: Since they're all starting grad school, Eren and Mikasa would be around 22. Armin is 21 and started when he was 20 because he is a genius like that. I'd set Rivaille's age to be around 35. Erwin would be 40.
3) PI – Primary investigator. At universities, they're typically professors who conduct research. The research assistants (RAs) are typically students that complete smaller research projects that aid the primary investigator in their over-arching project.
4) I don't know what people wear in Class 1 cleanrooms, or if people are even allowed in there. I could only find information on what to wear in Class 10 through 10,000 cleanrooms. Since the smaller the number, the less contamination in the cleanroom, I made up the part where people would have to wear self-contained suits.
5) Cleanrooms:
Class # Number of 0.5 micron particles per cubic ft
10,000 10,000
1,000 1,000
100 100
10 10
1 1
Take a moment to think about just how absolutely spotless that Class 1 cleanroom is. Just one tiny particle per cubic ft. And then Eren sneezes and puts out 40,000 drops into that space, and then those drops dispersing. Yep, Levi would be really angry.
6) I don't do research on sneezing, so I'm no expert on the science of sneezing (but I am an expert at sneezing). I read a couple of articles on it, and they are in this fic on my Tumblr.
7) When we talk about sizes (and numbers, and math):
There are 10,000 microns in a centimeter. Blah, what does that mean?
The width of a human hair is about 100 microns.
There are 1000 nanometers in one micron.
Seems like chips(for example: computer chips) made in research nowadays are around the nanometer scale.
Let's say someone wants to make a chip that is 10 nanometers long, and his sneeze drop is 10 microns and falls on that chip. That's like having someone 5000 feet tall (Or heck, a building that is as high as 5 Eiffel towers stacked on on top of the other) fall on you if you're 5 ft tall. It would definitely ruin that chip and other people's chips. Of course Levi would be mad XD.