A/N: Written for day seven of ereri week on tumblr. Canon, established relationship.
Eren frowned in front of the military's offices. He'd been all over the place looking for a certain corporal, but he was nowhere to be found inside the structure. The odds of him going home early were low, unless something was wrong, but if that were so, he or someone would have told Eren. Not sure what else to do, he began looking around outside.
Even that seemed fruitless after a few minutes of no sign of his quarry, and was about to turn back, until he heard a soft clicking noise coming from the back of the building. Back there was just the alleyway- who'd be there? It was gross even by his own standards.
Now curious, the young man cautiously rounded to the back, peeking around the corner.
He found Levi, the man who did all he could to avoid filth, squatting down in a small puddle that originated from who-knew-where. "Slow down, Eren," he spoke quietly. "You're scaring him."
Huh? Scaring who? Just the same, he took even more care in his movement, hearing his boyfriend speaking soothing tones.
"That's just Eren, don't worry about him- he doesn't have the intelligence to hurt anyone. You'd probably like him too, if only you came out of there."
As the brunette drew closer, he saw Levi was holding out his hand to a darkened corner, his head adverted from it even as he spoke to it, a small piece of meat on the edge of his outstretched fingers. Eren looked between the man and the darkness, still unable to figure out exactly what was going on, until, so slowly, a round pair of yellow eyes and a black furry face came into view, sniffing at the offered morsel.
Levi was giving a treat to a stray kitten? Even summoning the patience to give it to him directly? No wonder it had taken himself so long to find him; he could've been at this an hour or more.
In any case, this was more adorable than he could handle, but managed to keep his mouth shut what the little ball of somewhat-matted fur (and probably tons of fleas) took the offered morsel, then looked at the blue-eyed man expectantly. "Sorry, all I got," he replied, finally turning his head to look at the small creature. It let out a yowl that could have been gratitude or annoyance, and scampered off.
"What were you doing back here?" Eren asked as his lover stood.
"Followed him," was the reply, wiping his hand off on an handkerchief as he turned to walk out, the other still at his heels. "Some of the new recruits were being assholes to him. That was an apology for their behavior. They won't be thinking too highly of their next set of chores, either."
Eren laughed. That was Levi. "Why weren't you looking at it?"
"You never look an animal in the eye, Eren, least of all when it's agitated. They don't like it."
"Oh… It-It's surprising though, that you followed it so far. I'm glad I got to see it."
"Needed a reminder I'm not always an asshole?"
The green-eyed man laughed again, taking the other's hand only long enough to squeeze it- they were getting to be among people again. "No, but I like having a list handy," he admitted, still grinning.
He expected Levi to call him and idiot, or at least scoff, but all the other did was give him a soft sideways smile before going into their schedule for the rest of the day.