"Just Short"
Chapter 1: Rumor Has it
"Ne ne, Eren, have you heard?"
Those were the words that Armin greeted his friend with as he bolted into the room.
Eren looked up at him, raising his eyebrows in response to his friend's outburst. Armin had strange ability to pick up random information from everywhere, and while half of Eren's interest in these tidbits of information came from how Armin got the information, he still was eager to hear what Armin had to say.
"What is it, Armin?" Eren asked, patting the seat next to him at the table. It was breakfast time, and everyone was gathered in their own little friend groups. On the other side of Eren was Mikasa, and Jean, Marco and Connie had gathered on the other side, immersed in their meals until Armin had interrupted.
"There's a rumor about Corporal Levi," Armin told everyone in a harsh voice, taking the seat next to Eren as his eyes glimmered with excitement.
"Let me guess," Connie said, placing his fingers to his temples, feigning deep concentration, "there's a rumor going 'round that he's actually…" Connie looked up, his smile revealing the joke before his words… "... short!"
"It's too early for your bad jokes," Jean groaned, not looking up from his plate.
"Well, if you really don't want to know…" Armin trailed off, and immediately caught the attention of the originally uninterested Connie. As much stupid stuff the Connie seem to blabber about, he was as interested in possible secrets about Corporal Levi as anyone else.
"I didn't mean it that way!" Connie denied falsely, falling easily for the idiot-proof trap Armin had set for him once again.
"So I heard at one point, Levi was in a relationship with one his comrades," Armin said, keeping his voice low so the surrounding tables didn't have the chance to eavesdrop.
A collective gasp came from the table, excluding Mikasa, who wasn't the type of person to show her surprise, and Jean, who was unimpressed by Armin's revealing.
"So what?" Jean said, rolling his eyes, "he's an old man, or at least compared to us, and he's been a soldier for awhile. It's no big surprise that he was with someone."
"Jean," Armin whined, pouting, "you're no fun. Besides, the important part is the 'who' and not so much the 'what'."
"Then what's the 'who' that makes it so important?" Jean raised his eyebrows expectantly, figuring he had already won his own little competition that he had just made between Armin and him.
"Commander Erwin!"
Five people at that table spit out their food they had been chewing, including the pretending to be uninterested Mikasa.
"Another guy?" Sasha exclaimed, finally taking part in the conversation as she had just spit the last of her meal out. "And Commander Erwin no less... "
"I knew there was something off with that guy," Mikasa whispered, her eyebrows furrowed in anger. After all, it was hard not to hate the guy who had beaten up Eren in what she found unnecessarily.
"Well, now we know why Corporal Levi always acts like there's a stick up his ass… Though I guess it wasn't the stick we were all thinking about," Jean said, chuckling weakly at his own dirty joke.
"I'm too stupid to understand your joke, but I'll laugh anyway," Connie said before joining in with Jean.
"Huh," was all Eren had to say, his face already once again preoccupied with eating, taking large spoonfuls at a time.
"Huh?" Armin repeated, this time in the form of a question. "It's Corporal Levi, and all you have to say is 'huh'?" Armin frowned, disappointed in his friend's reaction. "I mean, you've actually worked with him before… Could you, you know, tell?"
"Tell what?" Eren continued to munch on his food, not bothering to swallow in between words.
"You know, that Corporal Levi… swings the other way?"
"Sure, whatever," Eren mumbled, engaging himself in his meal instead of the conversation. An unpleasant feeling had already settled in his stomach, and he was trying to fix it by shoving it with food.
"Are you feeling okay, Eren?" Mikasa asked, her face already contorted with worry just because of the smallest reaction from Eren.
"Yep," Eren responded with a full mouth. Unfortunately for him, before he could even swallow, Mikasa swatted him on the back of the head and Eren managed to spit his food out instead of choking on it. "What the hell, Mikasa?"
"First, don't talk with your mouth open," Mikasa scolded, her 'scary eyes', as people learned to call them, making an appearance. "Second, stop acting so rudely. It's almost as if you're bothered by the short brat's love life."
"I'm not upset!" Eren grumbled, forcefully wiping off what had landed on his face from his mouth. The feel of soup was not so pleasant on his cheek as it was in his mouth. Mikasa was like a sister to him, and he loved her like his own family, but it was hard to not become annoyed from her constant necessity of control over him.
Mikasa's lips didn't frown but her eyes did, feeling Eren's rejection of her care. It was more than natural for her to try to baby Eren-no, to protect him. Just like he had done for her.
A bad thought dawned on Mikasa.
"Eren, are you trying to say that, maybe, that little brat…. Did something to you?"
So much for cleaning up. Eren sighed as he wiped up the second wave of spit-up soup of his chin.
"Don't be ridiculous," Eren said, rolling his eyes.
"As if anyone would want to touch Eren like that anyway," Jean said, not missing the chance to jab at Eren. It was only a second later when he remembered Mikasa was there, and in attempt to redeem himself in Mikasa's eyes, he tried to correct himself. "I mean-"
"Are you sure, Eren?" Mikasa asked, ignoring Jean as usual.
"Of course I am!"
"Then what's wrong?"
"Nothing!"
Nothing that Eren knew at least. His twisted stomach wasn't being healed by the countless amount of food he was shoving into it. The news had definitely brought some sort of condition to Eren, but what? Perhaps while Levi hadn't done anything to Eren in that sense, the news lead to Eren fearing that Levi would do that sort of thing.
No, that wasn't it. Eren frowned some more. Captain Levi wouldn't do that. Despite his harsh attitude, cold behavior and strange sense of cleanliness, Eren had to respect Levi, not only as humanity's strong, but just as a person. He wouldn't do something like that to Eren.
While that worry was not something that Eren had to deal with, he still had no answer to the message his gut was trying to tell him as it twisted up inside of him.
"Eren, why don't you tell me anything?" Mikasa demanded, her eyes filled with hurt as she stared at the moping Eren. She had always been there for him after all. What was keeping him from sharing?
"That's it!" Eren shouted, dismissing the majority of his concern for Mikasa for the feeling he was experiencing. 'I'm just mad he didn't tell me.' After all, this was the man that Eren spent a large part of his day with. Eren was a monster. A monster that Levi was ready to kill at any second. Perhaps that made it difficult for a bond of trust to be formed between the two men, but Eren thought he at least earned some sort of respect from the shorter male after all the time they spent together.
'I guess I really am just a brat to him,' Eren thought, not sure what emotion to pair with that thought. Sad? Mad? Disappointed? Whatever it was, it wasn't a pleasant feeling.
"Tch, what are you brats babbling about?"
"Speak of the devil," Connie whispered, and Eren turned around to face no one other than Captain Levi.
Eren was glad he had given up on eating, or else he would have sprayed his food everywhere for the third time that evening. His eyes traveled up Levi's short stature, taking every detail into note, his thin yet strong arms, his soft skin, his frowned lips… But Eren couldn't find himself to look Levi in the eye.
"Oh," Armin stood up, startled by Levi's sudden appearance. When it came to Armin's bravery, it was like flipping a coin to decide if it would make its appearance or not. The moment was a not, which was quite natural under the gaze of Levi. "Corporal Levi," Armin addressed, giving a polite nod in recognition of Levi's presence. At the table, everyone else stood up and followed suit.
Everyone except for Eren.
"Hey, brat, what do you think you're doing?" Levi's voice sent chills down Eren's spine, but not only did he continue to refuse to stand, he wouldn't even look at Levi. That twisted feeling in his stomach still wasn't going away, and Eren knew that looking at Levi wouldn't solve anything. Anyway, Eren was supposed to upset with Levi for not telling him any of his private life!
"Tch," was all Levi said before Eren felt a pressure under his arms, and in a fluid motion, Eren was lifted into the air and then thrown into a standing position. Before he could even recover, he was spun around and a hand was placed on his cheek, forcing him to face a certain short-statured captain.
"What are you doing?" Eren mumbled, his eyes casted upward as his way of avoiding Levi's gaze. Not that Eren could focus on anything he was seeing. All he knew was that the small hand on his cheek was oh so warm…
After a moment of the two boys stuck in this pose, the older one let out a small sight. "Tch, fine you strange brat. But I need to speak to you."
And as if this was enough information to explain everything, Levi walked away, not even throwing a glance at Eren. Eren knew he had to follow Levi though, knowing the consequences of further defiances would not nearly be as… kind… as they had been a moment ago.
"See ya' guys," Eren murmured to his friends before rushing after Levi, following the back that Eren's trust would always be reflected off of.
The back that he would follow 'till the end of the Earth.
Author's Note: Hey guys! This is my first fanfiction in awhile... So as you can tell, this is set in the AOT setting. I've watched the anime and bits and pieces of the manga, so if I'm missing some crucial plot thing... Oops? Anyway, this story is also on Wattpad LeftieDoesFanfiction so don't freak if you see this story there. But if you see it somewhere besides under that name, please do me a favor and report it! Thanks! Also, reviews are appreciated! Tell me if you want more ;)