Previously/ LEVI POV: The tan hand of Eren waved through the air and small Survey Corps blue and green sparks formed in the air creating a nice picture.

It was me. The sparks hung in the air to look like me, my face. They soon rearranged themselves to look likea fox and then a bird.

It was magic. Real magic!

Eren certainly managed to entertain me with the unexpected. I knew about the ice, but this was spectacular.

I continued to eat while Eren made images in the air with the sparks and it was all over way to soon. Eren was sweating slightly and my apple slices were all eaten up by then.

"Was that to your liking Captain?" he looked a little bit smug.

Slapping his shoulder, I pushed the empty plate into his hands and shooed him off my bed. "Clean this up Jaeger and take some rest. Take a shower too, a warm one will help you fall asleep faster. I am retiring for the night." Eren looked cheekily at me, "Sure you are not old enough to retire from the army oldie?"

Throwing a pillow at the retreating soldier I fell asleep soon after,dreaming about magical sparks and Eren.

*Go read the Manga! EREN IS NUTS!

_I only use as a second hobby writing place, not my main one_

Levi POV:

I can't say that I was having a bad night's sleep. Because for once in my god's damn life I actually slept throughout the whole night and into the morning. It was a pretty new experience, being woken up by Petra poking me with a stick to be out of my attack range.

I must say that I am a little proud that she learned that I was not safe to rouse from sleep, trial and error. This only ever happens when I have been hurt and need sleep to heal, and to be honest, I like the feeling of waking up to sun streaming through my bedroom window and not moonlight.

I remember the times where I was wary of the sun and the moon, them being so large and intimidating when I first truly spent time above ground. Now however, I am okay with them, the time they amaze me the most is dusk and dawn when they are both up on the sky. I liked night the most though, seeing the stars twinkle down, not intimidating at all. They were rather calming and sweet to look at, small night lights for me to fall asleep and wake up to.

I have a feeling Eren was more of a mid-day sun kind of person, with his beaming personality and burning passion to protect those within the walls. Erwin was more like a lunar eclipse, ominous when his special ideas formed. Hange was the morning sun, harsh light forcing its way onto you. My squad was a bit difficult, Petra had to be the time right before dusk. Eld must be the moon, reflecting light. He did after all have his own kind of energy, being quick. Gunther was dusk itself, warm burning colors on the sky as it is getting a bit cold. Auruo is the sun right before it reaches its peak, readying for a show.

The stars probably reflected who I am, or the moonlight. Distant, scattered but still shining in the darkness, guiding others.

Morning training went as usual, other than the fact that my whole squad stared at me as if I would keel over any minute. This was the first time I slept until breakfast without being injured or sick, so it is no wonder they are worrying. I am pretty pleased with myself.

Eren was getting better at 3DMG, not nearly as good as I have to admit I am, but if he kept getting pointers from Eld, Gunther and I, he would excel in the art of stopping right before impact with the ground. Eren did have an upper hand in training though, not really having to be scared of hitting the ground too hard, or having his limbs being chopped off, or snapping his spine in half. Not that I let him be reckless, he has to do his very best to keep himself in once piece.

I felt myself connect with the teen, well more like young adult. He was after all old enough to be considered one (well he is supposed to but him being so childish sometimes it was hard to believe). Eren had graduated and was in the army, he has seen things few have seen and experienced things few people deserve. He is strong and it feels like he understands me, giving me looks that can convey simple questions and understanding gazes.

Hanji was right (for once), I do have a chance, maybe. The scientist knew how to observe, and I might have the largest chance than anyone else in these walls to get Eren to like me more than a captain or a friend. I might be getting competition from his adopted sister though; she clearly meant a lot to Eren and she clearly cared a lot about the green-eyed soldier.

I spent more time outside, going paperwork while watching over the brat, or sometimes getting him to look over a few things to ease the amount of work I have to do. Sometimes he would organize the papers, other times read through rapports and write down a summary, so I didn't have to read the whole thing.

Eren was chatting happily with Eld, something about facemasks and skin care. I was signing boring paperwork next to Petra, who was talking about some interesting things she had heard around the marketplace when she was buying the groceries the scouting legion needed restocking on. A childhood friend of hers had also gotten a child with a lumberjack, and had learned woodcarving, gifting Petra with a wooden sparrow.

I had to admit, the sparrow was pretty. It was realistic and its eyes had been singed to be darker than the rest of the wood. "Captain… do you think you will ever get married?" I glanced up at Petra, who looked like the question had nagged her for quite some time. Her hands were wringing the edge of her loose orange shirt, making her look like she was ablaze in the sunlight. Her eyes looked down in her lap, but shot up occasionally to look around her, staying a little bit long on Eren as he was mixing something in a bowl with Eld. The two were sitting on some homemade pillows. Auruo and Gunther were trimming the trees that were used for training.

I wrote with my neat but large handwriting about the new requirement of sour pickles since Hanji had accidently gotten some sweet ones. I hated the sweet pickles. I am not even sure starvation could get me to eat whatever Hanji had bought. I decided to be honest, Petra would either try and prove me wrong, or agree with me. "I am not sure. Who would want a survey corps soldier who would choose humanity over them? Like sure, I would do my best to be there for them all the time and help them, but the survival of humanity is on the top of my priorities if they clash. I always work, work is what I have."

Petra stared at me, her mouth a little bit open. That was probably some of the most emotion filled thing I had said this week. My squad are used to some affection a couple times a week; they were after all my squad.

A smile graced her face, "I am sure someone will understand and love you. It is quite amazing how you put humanity first. I don't think I would be able to do that… maybe not even handle being put second." She tapped her cup of tea, "Work seems to be your life, maybe someone as dedicated to their work as you are would be a good idea. Not someone who would push you aside all the time, but someone who understand the importance of the thing you do. "I let myself drift into my thoughts. Someone who is dedicated to their work. Someone who understands the importance of what I do. Someone like Eren.

Eren knows the importance of what I do. He also seems to put humanity first. He is dedicated and also at the same workplace as I am. He will be close by and probably will be until one of us dies if we are lucky. I have a shot on him.

Speak of the devil, and the devil shall appear. Said brat bounces towards Petra and I a bowl of something in his hands. Petra took one look at the bowl and slowly inched away, trusting me to make my own decisions in this. The brat had something on his face, a grayish blue paste. Eren sat across from me at the table, "Look captain, Eld taught me how to make facemasks!" He put the bowl in front of me. I looked at its content, it seemed to be whatever Eren had on his face. "Oh, and what sort of miracle does Eld say it does to the skin this time?"

I think Eren was blushing underneath the pasty facemask he was wearing, "Cleansing of the pores and inducing calm. Gunther seemed to agree with some of the ingrediencies and the lavender in there do work to some extent for calming people." I raised an eyebrow and Eren nodded, "Yeah, my dad and mom sometimes used it to help calm down panicked patients. It doesn't cure anyone, but it can be calming. Wanna try?"

This could be my chance to be on Eren´s side… and to possibly get great skin and a calming feeling for my paperwork. Not that I need better skin other than under my eyes where my bags where, I for some reason looked half my age at almost any given moment. Can't tell if it is a cruse or not.

I let out a sigh to pretend I was bothered and flicked my wrist, "Yeah sure brat."

The green-eyed wonder beamed and immediately dabbed one of the cloths into a water bowl that Eld had put there while I was talking, knowing I could not say no to the brat.

He walked around the table and sat down next to me, his legs on each side of the bench. He leaned forwards towards me, and my pulse quickened. His eyes were glowing in the sun and the slight breeze gave him the perfect wind-blown hair. The brown locks (when did I start seeing them as locks?) swished softly, making the owner of said locks look pet-able.

The water was lukewarm on my face and Eren carefully dabbed my face, "We must first moisturize unless we want to murder the skin." I closed my eyes as he dabbed at my eyelids, "Don't you LIVE for killing things?"

I opened my eyes as the cloth was removed and Eren snorted in laughter. "Not anything that is part of your body I won't. I like you as you are." He turned around to get the bowl not noticing how my cheeks got warm, probably giving me a slight blush. Eren liked me. Don´t get ahead of yourself Ackerman, you are not a horny teenager.

Eren smiled at me and I was sure the sun brightened as his teeth flashed. I was so whipped; I can never recover from this. A new cloth came towards me and Eren motioned me to sit like he did. With my short legs on each side of the bench I tried to ignore how my feet definitively could not touch the ground this way. Not that they could touch the grassy ground in the first place, but it became more apparent now how short I was.

"Close your eyes captain, it will feel great." I gave him a one overlook, pretending it was to see if he was a danger and not me discreetly checking him out. Liking what I saw I closed my eyes.

I felt my breath leave my lungs as I felt a soft but warm hand hold my cheek, angling my head so the cloth could stroke my warm cheek. My mind was going crazy with how carefully Eren was handling me and how good it felt to be cared for. No one had held my cheek in their hand like this since my mother… well not in a similar scenario. It had happened other times when I have been hurt and needed help drinking, or a quick ronk with some person that was equally horny. No feelings involved other than getting off.

This however was ecstasy, being handled so carefully and lovingly. Being the center of someone's world for once and not being put on a pedestal for being a murderous machine. It made me fall for Eren all over again. Maybe it was just his charm, but he didn't need magic to take my breath away. I sound like one of those characters in those crappy short romance books. Completely out of character compared to how they appear to others. But maybe I was that way but never got mutual love in the way I wanted.

We sat there for a short time, Eren talking softly about what the other team members were doing. "Can I help with your paperwork tonight? I have noticed that you have gotten a lot today and I want you to get the sleep you need." I hummed deeply and if I wasn't wrong Eren stopped for a split second in his soft massaging of my skin with his cloth. "Sure brat. I don't get good sleep that often so we might as well try with lightening my load." The paste on my skin made it a little strange to talk.

I heard someone walk up to the table and I turned my head slightly towards the sound, unfortunately making my head come out of Erens grip. The footsteps were familiar, "What is it Petra?" I heard Eren gasp softly next to me and I had to fight down a smirk, I heard him whisper to himself "how did he know?"

Petra shifted in her place; she was nervous. "Umm captain… you do know some of the ingrediencies is mud right… the facemask?" I stiffened, no way the brat would- Eren shifted backwards on the bench.

I opened my eyes slowly and had them trained on the pale brat who was flapping his lips mutely, "Well erm captain mud is good for the skin if prepared right-" he let out a squeak as I found my body chasing the brat around the campus our bodies flying through the air and running on the ground. It was a pretty impressing attempt by the brat but that didn't help him for too long as I tripped him up and used him as a skateboard as he landed face first into his beloved mud. We were in the forest, critters quiet around us, knowing the danger that was me.

I leaned down from my perch on his back, "So will this mud save your face from your future ass-whopping?" some of my underground vocabulary slipped through. I honestly can't tell if I am amused or pissed at the brat. I stepped of the brat and walked back towards the castle in the distance "Cleaning duty, the bathrooms and the stables. I want them shining." I paused slightly as I heard him raise himself to his knees behind me, "Remember soldier, tell me what is in the damn concoctions."

*mini Timetravel*

It was dinner and my squad were not yet there. Had they died from the short trip through the castle?

Just as that thought hit me, my whole squad came through the door, talking, laughing and bumping each other. Every single one of them, no tense atmosphere between them. Even Petra!

"Hi captain!" beamed Eren. I gave a nod in return and exchanged looks with Hanji as they wiggled their eyebrows at me. I shoved them a little but went back to my food, strangely feeling content as my squad sat down at the large table with me and the other veterans. My squad was whole.

Hanji looked halfway through the dinner at Erens face, before getting the evilest body language ever.

My face was suddenly grabbed by the crazy scientist and squished. My cheeks pinched, "WOW LEVI YOUR FACE IS SO SOFT!" I am going to kill that brat… right after I murder Shitty-Glasses.

Please Review and enjoy

Word count: 2551

Date released: 25. February 2020