His first thought when he woke up was, "Shit."
The sun was streaming in through the crack between the curtains, and immediately Eren knew he was screwed. He jerked from the bed and rushed to collect his things for school. He was late, horribly late. And it was the third time. The discipline master wasn't going to let him get away this time.
Dashing down the stairs like a madman with a death wish, he flew down the stairs with the skill of a parkour. He might admire himself on some days, but today he couldn't care less. Finally reaching at the end of the seemingly infinite flights of stairs, he saw Levi sitting and reading the newspaper like nobody's business. One hand propped the wide pages while the other held a spotless white teacup.
"Is that coffee?" Eren paused mid-run, unable to contain his curiosity.
Levi stared at him as if Eren's lack of any form of greeting offended him, but then again, he stares at everyone like that. "No, you dumbass, it's milk."
It took Eren a few seconds to process what Levi just said. Did he, the glowering (short, though Levi wouldn't appreciate being called that) pillar of unfriendliness, just make a sarcastic comment at him?
An expression of disgust passed over the older man's face. "Of course it is, twat, can't you see it's black?" He tilted the cup, not enough to spill, to reinforce his point.
And then Eren just couldn't stop laughing. Levi was undeniably annoyed, but he was too caught up in laughter to see Levi's murderous expression.
"Got a problem, brat?"
Eren shook his head, still trembling with laughter, "N-no, it's just it's the first time I heard you comment on something without making shit jokes. And usually you drink peppermint tea."
Levi raised an eyebrow trimmed neatly down to its last strand, "So, you're my stalker now?"
"It smells of peppermint every morning when I pass by."
Levi scoffed and sipped his coffee, mumbling under his breath without malice, "Damn watchdog."
"Oh, shit! I'm fucking late!" Without another word, Eren ran as fast as he could without crashing into unfortunate people. Of all days, he had to get distracted on the day he slept in. Groaning as he thought of the endless detention hours he would receive, he darted between couples and shouldered his way past stubborn bastards. Just as he was about to make a sharp turn, he heard a loud shout.
"Eren!"
Turning around, he saw Levi standing, newspaper laying neglected and cup empty. He held up his keys and jingled it, mentioning for Eren to get on the bike with him.
"Get on the bike, I'll take you to school."