"Shitty brat, I was looking for you," Rivaille said, watching as Eren scrambled to his feet.

"You- you were?" Eren asked, tripping over his own tongue. Distastefully, Rivaille noted that Eren had a bit of dust coloring his pants. He reached forward and began to brush it off, his hand dragging forcefully down Eren's hip. It was only when he heard Eren's sharp intake of breath that Rivaille paused to think about just what he was doing (but damn, the dust wasn't giving up easily). Unsatisfied but grudgingly admitting his defeat in the face of lack of proper cleaning supplies (or at least, more proper than his hand) (which he promptly brushed against his own pants) he raised his gaze to meet Eren's flushed face.

Rivaille tsk'ed. Eren shook his head (like a dog, Rivaille thought), before asking, "Um, what for?"

"I'll be joining you and your classmates for morning conditioning tomorrow. Mostly you. I thought you could use the heads up."

"Oh! Uh, yeah. Thanks. But um, I meant to ask- you said I had to learn to fight? I mean, I already know-" Rivaille cut Eren off with a snort.

"You know standard fighting tactics. Freedom Wing? She's anything but standard." Rivaille sniffed, deciding abruptly that there had really been no reason to seek Eren out (why did you do it, then?), and turned abruptly around. "See you," he called over his shoulder.

Behind him, Eren sputtered. "I- what?! Aren't you going to explain anything?!"

"Hmm, no." With that, Rivaille turned back out the same corner, strolling leisurely back to his rooms. For some reason, the particular shade of Eren's cheeks lingered in his memory longer than strictly necessary.

(((***)))

Eren stared at the corner around which Rivaille had vanished. He was vaguely conscious of the fact that his mouth was still open, but- "What the hell was that?!" he said to no one in particular. Shaking his head again, he ran a hand through his hair, before taking a breath and continuing to his room, trying his best not to think of Rivaille's hand stroking firmly down his hip and thigh.

Yeah, he failed that one.

He threw himself facedown onto his bed, absently wishing that he'd washed the sheets last wash day- the next one wasn't for another week, at least. Eren groaned, sitting up to unlace his boots and strip to his boxers for sleeping. He considered showering, but if Rivaille's completely unexplained (like, really, what the fuck was up with that?! Was there something he was missing about Freedom Wing? No, scratch that, there wasdefinitely something he was missing, he'd have to ask Armin later…) comments meant anything, Eren would probably be getting sweaty tomorrow morning as well, so really, what was the point in showering now?

Content with his decision and still completely totally not thinking about Rivaille, Eren laid back and dozed off. He was awoken by Armin entering the room, and Eren felt a rush of gratitude that he was alone. If Jean had been there, he never would have heard the end of it.

"Hey, Armin."

"Hi," the blond replied, sitting down on his own bunk and beginning to take off his boots. "You didn't miss much in the rec center today- Marco's still beating everyone at poker, Sasha somehow smuggled in a bunch of food and divided it up, the usual."

"Mm. Listen, Armin, I wanted to ask you- what do you know about Freedom Wing's fighting style?" Armin paused, looking up at Eren.

"Her fighting style?"

Eren nodded. "Rivai- er, Corporal Rivaille found me earlier, he said he was coming to conditioning tomorrow , because I have to learn Freedom's fighting style, whatever that means. I thought you might know, maybe you read something about it?"

Armin slowly shook his head, a pensive expression on his face. "Sorry, I've never heard about Freedom Wing having a different fighting style from the other jaeger. I mean, every jaeger has a different style, don't they? Because of the pilots. Was Corporal Rivaille hinting that Freedom Wing is unique even in that respect?"

"Even?"

"Mmhm. She's the first jaeger to have a semi-internalized engine," Armin said. "Meaning you can't see it from the outside," he added, seeing Eren's confusion.

Eren's gaze opened. "Oh, so that's why I couldn't see her engine!" Armin nodded. Eren was about to press Armin for whatever other information he had about Freedom Wing, but just then the door opened again and Jean, Marco, and Connie walked in, effectively nixing the possibility of a one-on-one conversation. Eren had no desire to engage the others in conversation either; he already felt exhausted from dinner.

Instead, he grunted goodnight to everyone (Reiner, Berthold, and Franz had since returned as well, and Eren had been mildly surprised to learn that even after his nap earlier, he was still tired), and pulled the covers up to his chin. As they ran over his hip, he had a sudden flashback to something else running over his hip, warmer, firmer, with purpose and-

Fuck, I shouldn't be thinking about Rivaille like that… was Eren's last thought before sleep overcame him.

(((***)))

Rivaille woke up to the sound of the blaring alarm, cursing it in every language he knew before deciding that hitting the snooze was a worthwhile use of energy. Of course, it went off again five minutes later, and Rivaille grudgingly accepted that fate wanted him up (the thought of coffee from the mess hall also helped). As per his usual morning routine, Rivaille dragged himself to the shower, allowing some cold water to wake him as much as possible while still lacking caffeine. That done, Rivaille dressed in dark blue slacks and dark blue top, throwing a light jacket over the workout ensemble.

He headed down to the mess hall, feeling the cold water rush begin to wear off. As soon as he joined the line for breakfast (coffee), he found himself surrounded by Hanji, Mike, Auruo, and Günter, three of which were not caffeine addicts and thus far too awake for Rivaille's tastes.

"So you're gonna teach Eren Freedom Wing's special secret today?" Hanji asked brightly, invading Rivaille's personal space and tugging on his shirt. Auruo muttered something which made Mike laugh, and Rivaille grit his teeth.

"Hanji, I still haven't had my coffee. If you'd be so kind as to hold off for five fucking minutes while the line- oh!" Rivaille walked (possibly quite a bit faster than he normally would) towards the open coffee-maker, punching the buttons for a double espresso. A few seconds of impatient waiting and an almost-but-not-quite scalded tongue later, and Rivaille was already feeling better. At some point while reveling in the taste of his coffee, Rivaille had managed to pick up a bagel and find his way to the table at which the others were sitting, and he finally turned his gaze upon Hanji, who was engrossed in conversation with Mike.

"-but no that's not even the really cool part! The cool part is that if you cut it open, you know, it'll begin to heal right back! Except, we've discovered, if you coat the tools with-"

"Hanji, to answer your question from before, yes," Rivaille said, giving a small nod in acknowledgement of Mike's grateful glance. Thus successfully distracted, Hanji re-directed her general enthusiasm for life towards Rivaille, who'd immediately zoned out and was quite contentedly spreading cream cheese over the second half of his bagel. It was only when the other three at the table started laughing that Rivaille thought to look up. "Hmm?" he mumbled, as all four (five, if you really counted Hanji) pairs of eyes locked on him

"She asked why you didn't wear your other pants," Günter said, the stress of his words making it abundantly clear to Rivaille which 'other pants' were in question. Rivaille shot Hanji an icy glare, and she returned it with a smile, sipping innocently from her mug of tea.

"I think you should," Mike said around mouthfuls of… what was he even eating? "They make your ass look great and if what Hanji's been telling us is true, you've got yourself a very avid spectator, hmm?" he added, a shit-eating grin on his face. Rivaille glared first at Hanji, then Mike, then at Günter and Auruo too, for good measure.

"Hey don't look at me!" Auruo complained.

"So I don't know why the entire shitty world has a fascination with my ass, but no, I will not feed my shitty, hormonal, bratty, clumsy excuse for a co-pilot's lust, if that's what you're all insinuating," Rivaille grumbled. He'd always been confident in his body, despite being short, and he knewthat he had a nice ass- but really, some things were just overdoing it (Rivaille pushed aside the nagging voice that suggested maybe he shouldwear the other, tighter pants instead).

The table was quiet for a few moments. Then Hanji started talking.

"First," she said, ticking the number off on her fingers, "the entire shitty world does not have a fascination with your ass- the only reason for that of course being that most of the entire shitty world probably hasn't seen your ass, since the only times you really go on television are when you're in your jaeger. It's really quite a shame, you know. To deprive that many people of such wonderful eye candy. Secondly," another finger down, "that was four adjectives you used to describe Eren- five, if 'excuse for a co-pilot' is counted- and are you quite sure this is a one-sided crush going on here?" She, and the others, regarded Rivaille quizzically.

He opened and closed his mouth a few times at the sheer absurdity of it all. "You're all a bunch of moronic gossip queens," Rivaille concluded, eating the last bite of his bagel.

"You know, I think Eren's wearing one of those tight workout shirts too," Hanji crooned. Rivaille stared into his cup for a second, almost wishing there was still coffee on there, so that he could dump it on Hanji's head (there wasn't, and so he settled for turning the cup upside-down and placing it (carefully- it's be no good if the cup broke) on the scientist's head. She took it rather well, even holding still while Rivaille adjusted it to make sure it wouldn't fall).

Rivaille stood up and took a step back, admiring his handiwork. "Nice hat," he said finally. "Now all four of you get your damn minds out of the gutter, or else I'll just go back to eating alone," Rivaille half-threatened. "Goodbye," he tacked on, grabbing his tray (leaving the cup) and making his way out of the mess hall.

"He never answered your question, did he, Hanji?" Auruo asked. Hanji had a pensive look on her face, the same kind she wore for running calculations.

She didn't answer Auruo's.

((( ***)))

Eren walked into the training and conditioning room side-by-side with Armin and Mikasa, eyes quickly scanning around for Rivaille. He was almost sad to note that the other man wasn't present. As Coach Sis ordered them to form up, though, Eren wasn't disappointed- Rivaille walked in, silence falling immediately and the double-doors swinging shut dramatically behind him.

"Sis, I need Eren. Jaeger," Rivaille said, blunt and to the point as usual. Coach Sis grinned back in return- Eren wondered what kind of relationship he had with Rivaille, to be able to smile at his impassive face like that.

"Do ya now? Well I can give him to ya, but only fer a price," Coach Sis said. Rivaille raised an eyebrow, and Eren would almost have sworn he saw Rivaille's lips twitch, as if concealing a smile.

"What's your price?" Rivaille asked, fiddling a bit with his jacket. Coach Sis leaned over to Rivaille and whispered in his ear, to which Rivaille nodded. The entire room of cadets watched the exchange with bated breath. Coach Sis stepped back from Rivaille, grinning wider, and Rivaille shrugged off his jacket, revealing a very nicely form-fitting dark shirt and bare, toned arms.

Coach Sis's voice brought Eren out of his daze. "-this was a move developed by Corporal Rivaille a couple o' years ago, and is now a pretty commonly used jaeger technique. All o' ya who wanna become pilots should pay special attention now- ya can only use this move on bipedals, fer which it's perfect fer practicin' in pairs. Now watch Rivaille closely- I'll be the kaiju," he said, and then began to advance on Rivaille.

Rivaille, for his part, stood almost perfectly still, the weight of his body concentrated on his toes. As soon as Coach Sis was close enough, Rivaille sprang into action. His right foot swung out at the same time his right arm swung the opposite way; Eren watched the muscles on Rivaille's back bunch as he twisted his body, arm and leg making contact with Coach Sis at the same time.

Coach Sis went flying, probably saved from cracking in his skull only thanks to his stellar "safe fall" technique. Rivaille didn't even look phased.

Coach Sis stood up, gesturing towards Rivaille. "And that, students, is how ya execute the flip. Thank ya, Corporal. Ya can take yar Jaeger, now," he said, motioning towards Rivaille before looking at the class at large and shouting for them to pair up with someone of equal strength.

Eren was very, very glad to be out of there- he reallydidn't feel like getting pummeled by his classmates. Instead, he followed Rivaille into a darkened room that Eren hadn't even known existed, the door to which was hidden along the farthest back wall of the main training room. Rivaille flicked on the lights.

"Um, Rivaille?"

"Yes?"

"This looks like a dance studio."

"Well at least you don't need glasses."

"Why are we in a dance studio?"

"Just put these on and I'll explain to you in a minute," Rivaille growled, throwing a pair of black ballerina flats at Eren, who caught them with a look of stupefaction on his face.

"Are you serious?"

"Yes," Rivaille looked at him with a bemused expression, his own flats already on. "I don't want the floor to get dirty."

Oh my gods, Eren thought, turning to a curse he'd heard Krista use once, Rivaille is actually serious about this.

(((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((******* *******************))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))) ))))))

Full chapter title: Things, or: a chapter in which Eren is a teenager and Rivaille is a caffeine addict, and things start to happen

Okay you guys should tell me if the formatting is screwed it looks funny in my word processor :/ ALSO again, if you missed it earlier, my AO3 account is also Piyo13, and I update Freedom Wing over there before I update it over here. So… yeah, keep an eye out there ^^

I wanted to get this out earlier but then the characters refused to stop interacting with others and I couldn't fit in everything I wanted to so it's late but also longer? ^^;; (and this isn't even where I wanted to get for this chapter ugh!) But a GINOURMOUS thank you to the people who reviewed, you guys really are what kept me working through this chapter 3

In other news, this here: nagisa-chan-san tumblr /post/57511465629 is Freedom Wing in all her crappily sketched glory.

Also did you know that caffeine from drinking coffee takes about twenty minutes to come into effect as a drug? Yeah. But Rivaille's also got a placebo-effect-thing going on with his coffee, so insta-effects it is.

Extra bonus-points if you get why that's Krista's curse :P

Also this chapter is like completely un-beta'd (it's almost 7:30 am) so please- any mistakes, lemme know, kay?