Eren ran his finger across the top of the withered bookshelf. A trail formed where his finger had been, and his fingertip was coated in thick grey dust. He started to draw pictures in the dust, first a circle, then a triangle, then a heart. He wrote an 'E +' in the heart, when...
"Jaeger!" A voice called from the doorway. He jumped, almost falling off the stool holding him up. "I'm pretty sure that's not what I asked you to do."
"U-uh, how long have you been standing there?" Eren stuttered, wiping away most of the dust with a rag.
"Long enough." Captain Levi stood at the door, examining the room with disappointment in his eyes. "Jaeger, have you done anything at all in here?"
"Y-yeah, I've been working pretty-I mean, really hard. I threw away a lot of things, washed the windows, swept the floor..." He hopped off the stool, landing on the wooden floor with a thump.
"Right. Well, I asked you to clean to my standards," he paced around the room, running his own fingertip across things, "and I'm pretty sure this isn't good enough." He examined the dust on his fingertip and cringed.
"Sorry."
Levi left the room, only to come back a few short minutes later, carrying cleaning supplies with him. Eren stared at him, a puzzled look on his face. "I thought you wanted me to clean it alone," Eren said.
"Yeah, well, if I want something done right, I guess I have to do it myself," said Levi, grabbing a rag and setting down the remaining cleaning supplies. The two set out cleaning together, without speaking. The awkward silence became too much for Eren, and he decided to try and start a conversation with the other man.
"You're not very talkative today, Captain," Eren said, turning to face Levi.
"I'm tired," Levi replied flatly , still facing the wall. As usual, Eren had failed to get him to talk. Sighing, he turned once more, and continued to clean the bookshelf. Levi was opposite to Eren, re-cleaning the window that Eren had scrubbed earlier. He shook his head and laughed to himself. The stool Levi stood on for support was much more rickety than Eren's-he could hear the legs squeaking with every small movement he made.
"Uh-Captain, want to switch stools with me?" Eren asked. Levi turned, a crease forming between his eyes to show his confusion.
"Why would I want to do that? Mine's fine." He turned once more, continuing to scrub the already cleaned window. Eren kept nervously glancing at the chair as the creaking increased. Against his better judgment, he ceased his cleaning and quietly stood behind the Captain.
He had been standing there for only a few short seconds when he heard a SNAP! The stool leg snapped and gave out below Levi. Eren, standing just behind him, stretched his arms out and caught him as his fell, and both of them tumbled to the ground.
"B-brat, what are you doing?" Levi yelled, sounding slightly embarrassed, "Did you do that?" He pulled his cleaning mask down and revealed the rest of his face.
"No," Eren laughed, "I just thought it might happen." Eren propped himself, Levi still sitting on his lap. Levi stared at him, and Eren stared back. His eyes were a deep blue, Eren realized. He had never gotten to look at them for this long before. Before Eren had time to say anything, Levi's lips were planted on his own. Eren was shocked, but for some reason he couldn't pull himself away; maybe because some part of him knew that he had wanted this for longer than he was willing to admit. He let his hand cup the back of Levi's head, pulling him into the kiss. It got more passionate after a while, and Eren felt Levi's tongue slip into his mouth. He didn't try to stop him. After a short while, Levi pushed Eren away from him, and stood up. He brushed off his pants, pulled his mask back over his face, and said, "Get back to work, brat."
Eren sat on the floor for a second, still stunned and confused by what just happened. When he finally regained his composure, he stood up and brushed his pants off in the same manner that Levi did. He walked back over to the wooden bookshelf, and resumed his position on the wooden stool. He looked at the top of the bookshelf, at the one spot that he left dirty. The heart with 'E+ ' written inside it remained. He smiled as he finished the writing inside the heart; "E+L."