The only noise throughout the small apartment is the scraping of pencil against paper as Erwin completes his Calculus assignment. Levi is sat across from him at the table, reading a copy of A Brief History of Time. Each of the boys have a cup of tea on a coaster in front of them. The pair are no strangers to silence, but the air is feeling a bit odd this evening.

The blond glances up from the sheet to see Levi drinking out of the porcelain, his uninterested façade failing to hide the ever so slight hint of trouble in his eyes.

"Rivaille?" he asks softly.

Levi's eyes flicker from the book to Erwin, his expression not changing.

No signs of annoyance.

That's unusual.

He hates being referred to by his proper name.

"You doing all right over there? You've been a bit out of it today."

The smaller of the two sets his cup down. "What makes you say that?"

"You haven't said or done anything about it yet. Usually you notice as soon as you walk in."

Levi arches a brow. "Notice what?"

Erwin looks over at the bookcase on the other side of the room. Dust is starting to gather on the shelves; this is the first time Levi's been over in a while, and because Erwin doesn't mind a little bit of something so tedious, he hasn't cleaned it up yet. When he looks back over, his guest is sitting straighter than normal, his muscles tense and a look on his face that is both disgusted and horrified.

"You were actually raised in a fucking barn, weren't you?" he snaps, standing up and immediately going to the cabinet full of cleaning supplies.

"If this is what you think a barn looks like, I would love to see you inside a real one. You would go absolutely maniacal."

Levi mumbles a "Whatever." and slides on a pair of latex gloves before going over and wiping the shelves with a cloth dampened with some type of cleanser.

Silence falls over the two again as Erwin observes his friend.

Levi's scrubbing isn't as vigorous as it usually is. He is, of course, still using more elbow-grease than a regular person would for something as simple as a little bit of dust. But him not not putting in his typical unnecessary amount of effort is concerning.

"You know you can talk to me about whatever's bothering you, right?" Erwin asks, looking back to his homework. He can feel Levi roll his eyes.

"Je ne suis pas une fille, crétin. I have no intentions of gossiping with you for hours about my stupid boy troubles."

"You're having boy troubles then?"

"God damn it, you did it again. Stop being so manipulative, you fucking bastard."

"I didn't manipulate you, you forgot to put your trusty filter on," Erwin smiles and looks over. "It is what I do best, though."

"I seriously hate you."

"Repeated lies don't always become the truth, Ackerman. Is it about Eren?"

Levi turns around, his eyes wide. "How the hell did you know?"

How could he not know? Levi's expression is always a bit softer and more relaxed when he sees the kid. He spends a lot of his time staring at him, though the gaze isn't obvious to those who are unaware of the weird ways Levi works. He complains about Jean's brutality every time he and Eren fight, even if Eren was the initiator (which was almost all the time, really).

It's endearing, truthfully. Erwin loves the fact that Levi is genuinely interested in pursuing someone for something other than one night of pleasure.

"Lucky guess. What's wrong?"

"I.. He.. I always thought he was kinda.. into me, but.. Arlert.."

"Arlert..?"

"They're a thing."

Oh, Levi. So mislead and clueless.

"Are they?"

"Yes, Erwin. Don't you see the way they look at each other? It's hard to get either of them alone, too, because they're always with each other all the fucking time. And they're 'touchy-feely' and shit. It's so blatantly obvious."

Now it's Erwin's turn to raise an eyebrow. "So you're upset because Eren has a boyfriend?"

Levi looks back to the bookshelf and continues cleaning it. "I wouldn't call it 'upset'."

"Then what would you call it?"

He shrugs. "Pissed off, I guess. You shouldn't lead someone on like that. Shitty thing to do."

"I don't exactly think you're one to talk. Your track record isn't exactly.. pure and approachable."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"It means a lot of things. Mainly, you used flirt with people just to have sex with them, and that list of people is quite lengthy. It can be intimidating and even potentially a bit offensive to those who are actually infatuated with you."

"You know damn well that that list isn't anywhere near as long as the rumors like to make it seem."

"Yes, but it isn't exactly as short as you like to make it seem, either."

"Oh, fuck you."

Erwin says an impudent "You already have." before taking a drink of his tea.

"Douchebag."

"You don't seem to show any resentment against Armin."

"That's because I can't want to punch his stupid face without hating myself because he's so fucking nice. Why the hell can't Eren be dating a jackass?"

It takes Erwin a lot of self control to suppress his laughter. "I don't know, Levi. That's just the way life goes."

Levi sighs. "I guess so, yeah. And, Erwin?"

"Hm?"

"Don't tell anyone I got all sentimental with you."

"I think the rest of the world's definition of 'sentimental' is completely different from yours, but I won't do that to you. You've my word."