" Cadet Marlow!" Corporal Levi's voice booms through the room, startling the young soldier. Oliver quickly salutes his superior with a nervous look in Oliver's brown eyes. The boy and several other cadets from the 101st Training Corp have been in the Survey Corp for a half a month. So far, Levi isn't only strict with his training regiments but with cleaning as well.
The only problem is that Oliver was born and raised in Wall Sina. He never really learned how to clean properly or at all. Everytime he tries doing his chores up to Levi's standards, it ends up with the short man yelling at Oliver for his 'shitty cleaning'. " What the hell have you done to the windows, brat!? There are streaks all over the glass!" Oliver flinched slightly as Levi continued his ranting over Oliver's bad cleaning. " Clean all the windows over again, cadet! And I expect to see them spotless!"
Oliver salutes the corporal as he left the room. The teenager sighs as he dips his cloth rag into a small bucket of water and begins washing the windows once more. He couldn't believe he got yelled at once again for his lack of cleaning skills. "...Do you need help?" A calm, feminine voice asks from behind Oliver. The taupe haired teenager freezes and begins to blush. Oliver slowly turns his head to look at the girl that spoke to him.
Nadiya is standing in the doorway, looking at Oliver with her hands on her hips. She graduated the Training Corps with him. During Oliver's first year, he skipped meals and sleep so he could do extra studying or extra training so he could get top in his group under his family's standards. Nadiya helped him out. He slowly started to eat and sleep properly once again. It wasn't until their second year in the Training Corps that he realized that he started to have feelings for Nadiya, resulting in him avoiding her out of shyness and nerves. Now he is standing in a room with her after Levi shouted at him, making him feel even more embarrassed.
" Y-You h-heard all of t-that?" Oliver stutters nervously. Nadiya nods her head as his blush deepens. " I-I'm sorry if I'm keeping everyone back. I-I am n-not doing it on purpose..." Nadiya chuckles, causing Oliver to look away from the Ukrainian.
The girl walks over to Oliver and takes the rag from his hand. " Let me help..." Nadiya says calmly. He takes his hand away, biting his lip to keep him from yelping in surprise. " ...Let me show you." Nadiya continues as she starts wringing out the wet cloth. " If you wipe them with so much water on them, they dry with streaks on the glass."
Oliver watches as Nadiya wipes the glass in small circles. After she finishes the window, Nadiya places the wet rag back in the bucket and grabs a dry one. " You should dry them too in order to prevent it drying with streaks as well." Nadiya adds as she began to dry the windows. Oliver takes another dry rag and begin to help Nadiya.
" Cadet Melnyk! What are you doing with Cadet Marlow!?" Both cadets stop drying the windows as Levi's angry shouts echos through the corridors. Nadiya and Oliver drop their rags to salute Corporal Levi, who is also with Commander Erwin. Levi's brows frow in irritation. " Well!? Are you to answer me, cadet!?" Oliver gulps back air out of fear as he looks over at his crush. Nadiya just kept a stoic expression on, despite the angry corporal yelling at her.
" ...I was showing Cadet Marlow an effective way to clean windows, sir." Nadiya responds to Levi. " I believe it's better to show him how to do it rather than talk it at him." Levi narrows his grey eyes at the young girl.
" Very well, Cadet Melnyk." Erwin says. " Levi has some paperwork to give to Squad Leader Hange. Do you mind doing it instead cadet?" Nadiya nods in agreement as Levi shoves the files at her. Nadiya takes the papers from the short man. " You're dismissed then, Cadet Melnyk." Nadiya gives a quick salute before bolting out of the room.
Oliver was about to put his arms down when Levi shouted at him. " We did not dismiss you, Cadet Marlow!" The ebony haired man yells, causing Oliver to jump and salute his superiors once more. " We have a serious matter to discuss with you." Erwin reaches into his jacket and pulls out an open envelope. Oliver looks at his superiors in confusion before Erwin speaks up.
" It's a letter from your family, Cadet Marlow. " Erwin explains as he notices Oliver's face go pale. " They wrote us, telling us to terminate your service with the Survey Corp. They wrote that you lied on your registration papers. Is that true, cadet?" Oliver shook his head while still saluting the two older gentlemen. " At ease, Cadet Marlow. You are not in any trouble."
Oliver drops his hands and relaxes a bit. " I didn't lie to anyone, sir." Oliver tells Erwin. " My family is against my choice of fighting for humanity rather than join the Military Police. My parents and I never had the best relationship with each other..." Levi crosses his arms and listens to the conversation, not hiding the disdain on his face when Oliver brought up his family. " I sincerely apologize for my parents' behavior. I haven't kept in contact with them for two years because of this. I'll write to them to stop this nonsense. I'm not a kid anymore and they should treat me as such."
Erwin nods his head in approval. " Thank you, Cadet Marlow." He says. " That would be all, cadet. Return to what you were doing." Oliver salutes the blonde commander as Erwin leaves the room. The teen grabs the windowsill as he lets out a shaky breathe, his color slowly returning to his face.
" So you really are a Sina brat." Levi states as Oliver turns to the short man. " I thought you were lying about that. I can't stand people from Sina."
Oliver chuckles slightly. " Me neither, sir." He responds as he turns to look out the window. " I joined the military to get away from all of that. They were proud of me for joining but they did nothing but insult me for not being good at anything." Levi scoffs at Oliver's confession and he turns around.
" They might be right, brat." Levi states as Oliver looks over at the corporal. " You are shit when it comes to chores." Oliver couldn't help but chuckle under his breathe as Levi left him alone.