After football practice, Erwin meets Armin outside of the locker room. Well, it's more like Erwin startles Armin outside of the locker room.
"I'm sorry," Erwin apologizes to the smaller boy who's clutching the fabric covering his chest. "I didn't intend on scaring you."
"It-it's okay. I'm just... really nervous."
"Why's that?"
"Um, you'll see."
They sit in a silver booth with slightly worn-down puffy red cushions at a nearby cafe. Erwin leans back in his seat once Armin finishes his now understandably-nervous rambling. The smaller boy anxiously drums his slender fingers against his condensation-covered glass of iced sweet tea, eagerly awaiting Erwin's input.
He thinks for a moment, keeping his eyes locked on Armin's pale face. As soon as they'd sat down, Armin sheepishly asked Erwin if he and Levi are in a relationship. After receiving his answer, he went into a frantic monologue about his best friend's rather peculiar and interesting love life.
Armin clearly cares deeply about Eren, meaning his ideas are most certainly genuine. Wanting to somehow find a way to pair him up with the guy he likes is reasonable and very - unusually - kind. Doing so by trying to manipulate Levi, however, is ridiculous and absolutely pointless.
"I'll help you," he finally says after a moment, which causes the younger boy to perk up with a brightened face. "but I think your plans need some major adjustments."
"Thank you so much, Erwin. Anything will be beneficial, anything at all."
"Levi cannot be swayed. He's not an idiot; he can see through every layer of bullshit someone were to paint their walls with. If you were to go about this, you would need to instead play with Eren's emotions."
"That won't be too hard. He's very... passionate and hot-headed, in the most endearing way possible. Plus he already thinks you two are a thing."
Erwin smiles. "He's not the first, and I doubt he'll be the last."
"How do you think I should go about it?"
This takes a little bit of contemplating. The best way to manipulate Eren is by making him believe even stronger that Levi isn't on the market, which is still going to require using Levi as some sort of "bait," and that is certainly not going to be easy. But, it is possible. Levi is going to get pissed off during the process either way, so Erwin supposes he should have some fun with this. "Well..."