Eren couldn't believe what he saw from the tree branch he was sitting on. A group of people with dark green cloaks rode past on horses. He followed them for a little bit, but didn't go too far knowing that Mikasa would have a kinipshit if he got too far from her. He was curious though when his eyes landed on a male with shiny black hair styled with an undercut and with rounded ears. He had heard about them before from Armin. They were called humans and they were fascinating. The way they looked like elves, but weren't. The way they looked old and hardened. It took an elf a long time before they looked that old. Plus they seemed to have weird equipment strapped to their bodies. Eren was curious for what it was for.
God how he would have loved to keep following them, but Mikasa was probably already looking for him and she would find him. She was way too overprotective and it was annoying as shit. He didn't need a babysitter. He was perfectly capable of taking care of himself. He rolled his eyes when she did in fact find him. He was still looking off to where the humans had disappeared to.
When he told Armin about the humans, he was ecstatic that the blonde agreed with him that they should find them and study them. He could always count on Armin and his curiosity. By the time they caught up with the humans, they were being attacked by titans. Eren watched in stunned astonishment as they used the equipment strapped to them to fly through the air and counter attack the ghastly beasts. His eyes followed the black haired man from the day before and his heart stopped at the beautiful grace the man possessed as he was pulled rapidly through the air. It was breathtaking. He watched as the man saved one of his comrades and Eren couldn't stand by and watch anymore. He ran off the branch towards the graceful man to assist. He drew his own blades mid jump. He heard Mikasa yell at him, but his attention was too focused on assisting the beautiful spinning man.
When it was over and he was staring into dark silvery eyes of the black haired male, Eren had never felt so tongue tied before in his life. He really didn't know what to do now. He hadn't really thought this one through. When Armin pushed him forward, his attention snapped back to the present instead of images of the handsome black haired male with pale skin and dark eyes gliding through the air. He introduced himself to the impressively large muscular blonde man with bushy eyebrows named Erwin. He also figured it was better to let the elf out of the bag up front, so he removed his hood. His friends followed his lead and removed their hoods as well.
The spastic brown haired woman with glasses was slightly terrifying and Eren was grateful when Erwin pulled her back. He stared with curiosity again at the man named Levi that was apparently their captain. He was shorter and slimmer than the other men, but Eren thought he was much more attractive even with the perpetual blank face. He had never seen someone so indifferent to a situation before. The man's face gave nothing away. There was no shock, no reaction at all, on his face when the elves revealed their ears. What was he thinking? Did he know about elves already? Was he disgusted by them? Eren wanted to know. He also wanted to find out if the man's face was stuck like that. Maybe it was some kind of physical quality he was born with.
Eren spent the rest of the day trying to understand the indifferent man. He wouldn't lie though that he was pissed when Levi called them pixies. They were not those little fluttering nuisances that liked to cause trouble for the humor of it. Pixies were fucking annoying and to be compared to one was beyond insulting. He was relieved when Levi apologized later that night. He didn't want to harbor ill feelings towards this human. He was even happier when Levi chose to eat with them. The man was like one of Armin's mystery books and Eren wanted figure the man out. He didn't know why. It wasn't something he could explain. He was just awed and intrigued by this short man.
He was more than happy just sitting and spending time in Levi's presence that night. He wasn't sure why he needed to correct Levi about his age, but at the time it just slipped out. Maybe he was sick of people treating him like a child and he didn't want Levi to see him that way. He wanted Levi to take him seriously. When Levi sort of smiled though it made Eren's heart flutter and he couldn't tear his eyes away. It was beautiful even if it was only a slight uptick. It also proved that Levi could indeed change his expressions and Eren couldn't help to ponder why he chose to look indifferent to world around them. He fell asleep staring up into the starry night with thoughts of Levi's smile on his mind and how to get the man to make even more expressions.
He started coming back to the world at some point during the night. He wasn't sure how long he had been asleep, but he was probably woken up by the slight chatter going on. Erwin's deep voice cut through the silence and was occasionally answered by Levi's bored tone. Eren couldn't lie that he was interested in what they were talking about as it seemed to be about himself. His curiosity won out and he decided to pretend he was still asleep to listen to strange humans.
"Come on Levi you can't tell me you haven't noticed how attractive that elf lying next to you is" Erwin said with amusement.
Eren felt his ears starting to burn with slight embarrassment. Levi's silence also intrigued him. Did the short grumpy man find him attractive?
"You don't need to be shy with me you know? Eren does seem quite fond of you already. He even followed you up here to spend time with your charming self."
"Shut the fuck up eyebrows" Levi grumbled. "He's just some young brat."
Eren frowned at that. He was not some young brat. Didn't he already tell Levi he was quite a bit older than a teenager? The man still saw him as some child which was not acceptable.
"I'm just suggesting that if you got laid every once in a while, you might relieve some of that stress you carry around with you all the time. Might actually get a good night's sleep for once."
"Not interested" Levi said blandly.
Eren wasn't sure if he should be insulted by that. What was wrong with him? It must be the whole elf thing. Or maybe Levi just wasn't interested in men? It's not like he cared really.
"Well if you're not interested in the elf boy, you wouldn't mind if I-"
"Don't touch him eyebrows. He's doesn't need to be corrupted by the likes of you."
Erwin just chuckled. "Go try to get some sleep at least. You can't always run on empty."
"I'm not leaving someone defenseless with a pervert like you" Levi grumbled.
"That's simple enough to fix."
Eren heard someone moving around him. The shifting of clothing echoed into the quiet night. He felt a foot nudge his side.
"Hey Eren wake up and go back downstairs to sleep" Erwin's deep voice called out to him.
Eren pretended to just wake up and blinked a couple of times studying the broad shouldered weathered man standing above him. Erwin smirked down and winked. Eren tried not to show how uncomfortable he was at this man. He was definitely getting some creepy vibes and was more than willing to get the hell out of here at this point. "A-alright…" he mumbled and scrambled to his feet before heading to the stairs that led back down into the abandoned building.
Once he was out of eyeshot and earshot, he slumped down to the ground and tried to process the strange conversation he just eavesdropped on. They were talking about him and… about sleeping with him. What gave any of them the impression that he would be willing anyways? He was not some flippant playboy that would let anyone get a piece of him. He frowned deeply. He had only been with one other elf in his younger days and it had not ended up working out. Of course not everyone would be as obnoxious as Jean is.
He was still sitting on the steps musing over how strange the day and these humans were. They were like elves, but seemed a lot rougher around the edges. His thoughts were interrupted by Levi stopping a couple of steps above him. Levi folded his arms and frowned.
"What are you doing brat?"
Eren bristled at the name. "I'm not a brat! And I'm not doing anything." Eren huffed and stood up.
Levi raised another thin black eyebrow and with his hand he gestured at the stairs. "Well since you aren't doing anything, do you mind getting the hell out of my way?"
"Oh right" Eren said quickly and scooted up against the wall. When Levi walked past him the air shifted and Eren felt goosebumps break out on his skin. This short man had such an intimidating aura that Eren couldn't help his reaction. After a moment passed and Levi was further down the stairs, Eren broke from the little spell he seemed to be under and quickly followed after Levi.
"Hey Levi" Eren called out.
Levi stopped on the bottom step and looked back up at Eren. "Yes?"
Eren regretted calling out as it seemed like he completely forgot what he was going to ask when those silvery gray eyes looked into his. "Ah nevermind" Eren mumbled and really hoped that the blush he had wasn't visible. He averted his gaze and only looked back when he heard Levi make a tch noise before disappearing into the open doorway. Eren kicked some loose rocks on the stairs before also venturing back inside. He walked over to where his friends were hunkered down for the night and avoided Mikasa's reproachful eyes.
The next couple of days passed with nothing too crazy. The humans were letting their wounded rest and heal. The elves wanted to be on their way, but Eren and Armin were reluctant to move on. Eren was reluctant because he wanted to learn more about Levi. Armin was because he wanted to learn more about humans in general. In the end they stuck around. Eren sticking more closely to Levi even if the short intimidating man seemed to be irritated by the company. Eren was just too intrigued by everything that was Levi. He did make it a habit though of avoiding Erwin. That man still creeped him out. He seemed way too interested in the whole getting laid thing. The looks that he gave Eren didn't help. Nor the looks he gave Armin. That had Eren's instinctive need to protect his friends rearing its territorial head.
By the fourth day, the humans decided it was time to move on. The elves said their farewells. Two of them a little bummed. Hanji also seemed quite depressed. She and Armin had become fast friends with their curious minds and neither wanted to separate. Mikasa and Sasha were right though, the elves had their own little mission given to them by their queen. Who were they to disobey royalty?
As Eren watched the emerald green capes move further into the distance, a part of him snapped. He didn't want to say goodbye quite yet. He ran off the top of the building and glided to the ground. He ignored Mikasa yelling at him to come back. Quick enough he was joined by a widely grinning Armin. Mikasa's disapproving look right behind it. Sasha and Connie were indifferent to the whole ordeal, it just appeared that they would be following another one of Eren's impulsive decisions.
The Survey Corps came to a halt when they noticed the group of elves. To say Hanji was ecstatic was a little bit of an understatement and her insistence that Armin ride on her horse with her led to the rest of the elves hopping on horses to join the Survey Corps. Sasha joined Petra. A woman with strawberry blonde hair and almost golden eyes. Eren learned quick enough Petra was a very kind person. Connie joined Gunther, a stocky brunette. Mikasa ended up riding behind Eld, a man with long blonde hair that he wore in a bun with a little beard. Eren imagined that particular pair spent a lot of time in silence as Mikasa wasn't very chatty and it didn't appear Eld was either.
"Eren you can ride with Levi" Erwin suggested with an amused tone.
Eren's heart started to do a weird fluttering thing at the suggestion. He glanced over at Levi as he responded with a snort. He started having the horse walk forward away from Eren and Eren felt his heart drop into his stomach. He wasn't sure why he felt so disappointed by Levi's obvious rejection. The black haired man must really dislike him. He looked away and scratched the back of his awkwardly as he forced a smile looking back up at Erwin's amused face. Erwin might have bushy eyebrows, but he was still handsome Eren supposed.
"Well I guess it looks like you're with me Eren. Hop-"
"Oi brat get on" Levi interrupted Erwin and rode up to them. Erwin didn't say anything further as he trotted back towards the front. Eren glanced up at Levi with some skepticism. "I'm not going to repeat myself. Either get on or don't."
Eren didn't waste another second before hopping up behind Levi with a hint of a blush. How this man could have this kind of effect on him was somewhat baffling. His hands hovered in the air trying to decide how to hold on. Levi rolled his eyes and grabbed one of Eren's loitering hands placing it on his shoulder. Eren swallowed, but nothing further was said as they started forward again.
Eren had ridden horses before, but he was still somewhat sore when they stopped for the night. He about died of embarrassment when he jumped off the horse and somewhat stumbled. If it wasn't for Levi's strong grip on his waist, he probably would have landed on his ass. Levi didn't even comment or make eye contact as he slowly released his grip on Eren before striding off. Eren's fingers trailed over where Levi had touched him. He could still feel the lingering grip. He met Mikasa's narrowed eyes and quickly removed his fingers not wanting her to notice how unsettled he was from that simple touch.
Despite how grouchy Levi appeared to be, Eren decided that he was actually kind of nice and Eren wanted to do something for him. He dug through his little bag looking for his dwindling stock. It appeared Levi liked to drink tea with his meals, so Eren would share some of his own elven blend.
That evening, Eren strode up to where Levi was sitting with his little group albeit slightly still separated from them. There was a little clay cup in his hand that he refused to admit was shaking slightly. He sat across from Levi on the ground with a smile and extended the cup towards Levi. A thin black eyebrow raised in question. "It's tea." When Levi didn't reach out to accept the cup, Eren frowned. "For you" he clarified. Unreadable gray eyes looked at Eren and he waited. Levi slowly reached out his hand and finally accepted the offered cup.