Levi likes being clean because nobody ever died from being clean. He knew people were curious about why humanity's strongest soldier spent so much time dusting and disinfecting. The ones who didn't write off his obsession with cleanliness as the mad quirks of a madman made up rumors that ranged from creative to insulting. It had never crossed Levi's mind to explain himself. If the dumb shits spent all their time gossiping with each other, then they didn't have the time to come bother him. Besides, most of the ones who cared didn't have the balls to ask and the ones who didn't care just didn't care.
Humanity may be on the verge of extinction but that didn't stop humans from stepping all over each other. The people with money, power, and choices always held higher standing than the people who had no choice but to sacrifice their lives to protect them. It made little sense to Levi but he was never one for social justice. Years in the underground had taught him that justice was nothing more than a pseudo name for revenge, and revenge always came back to bite you in the ass.
Point is, the "higher ups" who gave Levi his job assumed that since he never got a proper education, he couldn't know about the health hazards of filth. Levi thought those "educated" bastards needed a thorough reeducation from his boot. Because contrary to popular belief, it was possible to learn outside a classroom. Levi never spent a day of his delinquent life being lectured at but watching his friends cough up organs and excrete blood after contracting something from the muck they crawled in had been more than enough of a lesson.
Also contrary to popular belief was the fact that Corporal Levi had a heart. Though his reputation was partially built on the fact that he didn't bat an eye over sending his subordinates to their doom fighting Titans, he'd be damned if he let their lives fade away from an infected wound, food poisoning, or any of the other five thousand problems germs could cause. The military had become so accustomed to fighting giants that they'd forgotten about the microscopic killers that lurked much closer to home. Levi was fine with fighting that war alone.
The Corporal dumped another bucket of diluted bleach onto the grime covered gray stones and watched with satisfaction as the ground bubbled from the intensity of bacterial eradication. A set of familiar, careless footsteps distracted him from his satisfaction. Levi turned around to glower at the one person who was dumb enough to walk where he'd had just scrubbed while he was still in sight. Eren's face bore its usual look of determined stupidity but Levi was mildly surprised at the handkerchief shielding the boy's nose and mouth.
"What are you doing out of the basement Jaeger? It's late."
"I am aware of that sir." Eren barked without breaking eye contact. "I just wanted to offer my assistance", he hesitated as Levi raised one eyebrow, "if you would like some help. Sir."
Levi glared into Eren's green eyes just long enough to make the boy squirm with discomfort (and lesser men to shit their pants). He had to admit, the kid had guts to not look away. "You know this won't make me like you."
Levi watched the minute shifts of the handkerchief as Eren gathered saliva in his undoubtedly dry mouth. "I am aware…sir."
"So why are you doing it? You shouldn't be wasting your time on shitty tasks if you don't have a reason. What's your reason for wanting to scrub the goddamn floor when I explicitly ordered that you rest tonight?"
"I- I don't have a reason, sir—"
Levi scoffed. "Figures, brainless brat."
"But I believe that if you think cleaning the floor is more important than resting, then there must be a good reason to do so! Sir!"
Silence reigned supreme for a good five seconds after Eren's outburst as Levi allowed himself to be taken aback for the first time in a long time. He then threw the brush he'd been holding to his very grateful charge.
"Whatever. I'll let it slide this once. Just do me a favor and blink a few times. I can see your eyeballs drying up like fucking raisins and it's grossing me out." Levi had to catch the smile that almost slipped out when Eren started batting his eyelids comically. When he grabbed the spare brush to resume his task, he purposely scoot to one side so that Eren could fall in next to him. As the sound of steel bristles against stone filled the silence, Levi allowed his mind to drift back to his previous train of thought. Maybe it was time to share his one man crusade.