A/N: Sorry, I lied. Instead of being a twoshot, this has now been extended to a threeshot. I trust there won't be too many complaints about that? On a side note, I was very much shocked (in a good way of course) by how well-received this has been so far. Thank you all very much for your support! I hope this chapter, and the next, continue to meet your expectations!

To all my reviewers The Potato to Your Pasta, xryuchan27, Azshalade, Roerie Sky, SecretBond99, datwritergirl, Igee, katrinadianne, PinkutoMomo, RabidOstrichPen, Vocafan, AncientPurebloodPrincessLolita, hamxham, Lavi-Lee, The Lynx Wearing Eyeliner, Bluumberry, Kowaku-Nai, wodolay, vakiromi, Guest (1), animeroxursox, Oooh, mafi ariadne, Asdfghjkl, Tennu, darklucifer23, Guest (2), Guest (3), NightPerson, and KinKitsune01, you guys are the absolute best!

Summary: In which Eren is completely oblivious to Corporal Levi's attempts at courting him, said Corporal is frustrated by the absolute lack of progress he is making in wooing an aforementioned cadet, and Hanji Zoe has a field day with the entire thing.

Disclaimer: All the lovely badasses from Shingeki no Kyojin/ Attack on Titan belong to the wonderful Isayama Hajime. I do not own or claim to own anything.


Courting Troubles

Chapter 2: The Direct Approach

It was already early afternoon, but the training fields were surprisingly empty for once when Eren arrived for his usual 3d maneuver gear training with one of the members of the Special Ops squad.

Eren breathed a small sigh of relief when he saw that he had arrived before his instructor. Most of the time Petra, Erd, and Gunter were fairly lenient with him, but he didn't want to risk making his instructor wait, especially if he were to end up with Auruo for that day.

Seeing that he still had a bit of time to spare, Eren started on some light stretches to help warm up his muscles. As he let his body work through the repetitive sets of stretches, Eren began to let his mind drift off, especially to the events of the previous night.

Heat immediately flooded his cheeks as he thought about what had happened, especially when he recalled Levi's heated touch by his lips. Eren clapped both hands to his cheeks, willing his flush to fade. 'You're overthinking it!' he scolded himself harshly. 'Corporal was just being considerate!'

"Oi. You don't honestly expect to train with that kind of idiotic expression on your face, do you, Eren?"

Every single one of Eren's muscles froze in place as he heard from the very last person he wanted to see right now, given his current condition.

"C-Corporal!" Eren quickly straightened up and tried to compose himself. "What are you doing here?"

"What does it look like?" Levi deadpanned. He walked toward the set of walls that were kept aside specifically for maneuvering practice. "Hurry up, we're wasting precious daylight."

Only now was Eren slowly beginning to realize what was going on. "...Corporal, it can't be that you're my gear instructor today?"

Levi gave him a flat stare. "Do you have a fucking problem with that?"

At those words, Eren felt as if his brain had shut down from sheer shock. As far as he knew, Levi never gave lessons in gear maneuvering. He quickly came to his senses and hastily said, "No! Not at all, sir! I just thought that it was going to be someone else from the Special Ops squad as usual since you are normally busy with your other duties, Corporal."

"Why don't you leave the handling of my schedule to me instead, Eren?" Levi replied. "From the reports I've heard so far, you need all the help you can get in order to improve your shitty maneuvering skills."

The insult didn't even faze Eren in the slightest because it suddenly hit him—really hit him—that oh my god he was going to get private 3d maneuver gear training with Humanity's Strongest. He even subtly pinched himself to make sure that no, he wasn't dreaming. Eren beamed brightly as unbridled excitement coursed through his veins. "It's an honor to be training with you, sir!"

"Wipe that stupid expression off your face, it makes you look dumber than usual."

Eren tried his best to curb in his enthusiasm as the corporal began to speak. "Judging from what I've seen so far, your basic maneuvering skills are passable at best, but you're absolute shit when it comes to the more advanced techniques." Levi stated bluntly. "Sticking with the basics might seem fine and all...until you run out of gas in the middle of battle. Then you're basically fucked."

"Unlike you, most of us can't just turn into a bigass Titan whenever the hell we want, so we have to rely solely on our skills to survive," Levi paused for a moment as his unflinching stare bore into Eren's own eyes. "Today I will attempt to drill into that minuscule brain of yours an important maneuver that can potentially save your sorry ass one day."

Eren was nearly beside himself with anticipation. "What technique is it, Corporal?"

"Why don't you put that brain of yours to work for once?" Levi snapped before answering. "It's one of the more commonly seen advanced maneuvers, but also one of the most difficult to pull off correctly—spinning."

"Spinning?" Eren was suddenly struck with an image of Levi in battle, whirling gracefully through the air, his blades nothing more than a lethal silver blur that delivered certain death to any Titan unfortunate enough to cross his path.

"It's a damn good technique to know, especially if you can consistently pull it off during battle." Levi said, pulling Eren away from his thoughts. "It both maximizes your mobility while minimizing your gas usage. But first thing's first, have you ever even heard of centripetal and centrifugal force and momentum or is your pathetic education even more lacking than I thought?"

"Yes, sir!" came Eren's immediate response. "Uhm...at least I think so?" He trailed off uncertainly.

Levi looked far from impressed. "Alright, listen up you ignorant brat, the reason why spinning attacks are far more likely to successfully kill a Titan is due to the additional force provided by your spin. That's your centripetal and centrifugal force at work. You use the momentum of your initial swing to propel yourself up to an appropriate height without using any additional gas before beginning the spin. Surely even someone of your intelligence level can understand this much."

"Yes, sir!" Eren looked extremely eager to start—his excitement was rolling off of him in waves. "Can I please try it out now?"

"So eager to fail are we, Eren? Well, don't let me rain on your parade."

Eren didn't let Levi's words deter him. He was going to learn a new maneuvering technique and it was going to be from Corporal Levi himself. This was going to be fun!


Who was the idiot who said that this was going to be fun again? Eren groaned as his body slipped out from his latest spinning attempt. He only barely managed to keep himself from taking a painful spill to the ground (again) by quickly shooting another grapple to slow his descent. Eren's feet slid along the side of the wall and he bit back a frustrated sigh when he realized that he had failed yet again.

Even from the ground, Levi's sarcasm could still be heard as clear as day. "Well, congratulations, Eren. I never thought I would say this, but you've managed to impress me through the sheer number of times you have failed."

Eren slowly lowered himself back onto the ground. "I'm really sorry, Corporal. I'll try harder next time." Despite the fact that Levi had hurled insult after insult at him after every failed attempt ("How the hell you managed to pass training is something I want to know."), Eren was surprised that he was still willing to stick around despite his very obvious lack of progress.

"The results probably wouldn't change much even if you did," Levi remarked idly.

"Sorry..." Eren could only mumble in response. He lowered his head as he clenched his fists in frustration. Dammit! Why couldn't he get this?

Levi took in the sight of the discouraged Eren and let out an imperceptible sigh. "Maybe this technique was too advanced for you after all. Let's call it a day and..."

"No!"

Levi raised an eyebrow at Eren's sudden outburst. Eren's hands fisted into his pants. "Please! I-I know I can do it, Corporal, I just need a little bit more time!" For some reason, the thought of disappointing the corporal was something that Eren just couldn't handle. He refused to let all the time and effort that Corporal had spent teaching him go to waste.

"I will master it!" Eren said decisively, the same determination that Levi witnessed during their first meeting burning brightly in his vibrant green eyes. Eren swore to himself right then and there that he will succeed or he was willing to die trying (though at this rate, the latter seemed very likely).

Levi stared at the resolute figure before him for a moment longer and heaved another light sigh. "I'm not going to stop you when you've obviously made up your mind, Eren." He stepped forward and tapped Eren on the chest. "But you're going about this entirely wrong. Your body is too damn stiff. You're not a useless sack of flour, so stop acting like one. Let your body relax until you reach the highest point of the arc, then let your momentum carry you through the spin."

"Relax my body..." Eren murmured, hanging onto Levi's every word as if it were gold itself.

"Now watch closely, Eren, because I'm not going to demonstrate this again." Levi shot a grapple into the nearby building and used it to launch himself up to rooftop. He then aimed another grapple at the opposite wall, leapt down from his perch, and swung himself into a wide arc to propel himself high into the air. At the peak of his arc, Levi effortlessly threw himself into a fluid spin, before ending by landing gracefully next to Eren.

Eren's voice was breathless with awe. "Corporal's form is so flawless."

"Of course, brat. That's a skill honed from countless battles you're seeing here," Levi said bluntly. "Now, isn't it your turn to attempt to impress me or are we just going to stand here and make idle chit-chat for the rest of the day?"

"Yes, sir! I'll be going now!" Eren looked up at the walls with no little amount of trepidation. Like Levi beforehand, Eren used a grapple to propel himself up to a higher altitude before starting. He took a deep breath, shot his grapple into the opposite wall, and leapt.

Keep your body relaxed, Eren repeated the directions in his mind as he used his wire to swing his body into a sweeping arc. Wait until the highest point, Eren gritted his teeth as he hit the apex of his curve. Then spin! The difference was immediately noticeable—unlike the previous times, Eren felt his body actually responding to his thoughts as he performed a slightly awkward, but still perfectly intact spin.

Eren landed, eyes and mouth agape. "I...I did it!"

"So you did, Eren." Levi allowed a small, rarely seen smile to grace his lips. "Good job. You worked hard today."

"I did it!" Eren repeated disbelievingly. When the realization of what he had just accomplished truly set in, Eren gave a loud whoop. "I did it! I can't believe it! Yes! I did it!"

"Oi, don't get cocky, brat. One lucky attempt doesn't mean that..."

Levi was cut off when Eren suddenly engulfed him in a tight hug. "Thank you so much, Corporal!" Eren all but gushed as he continued to hold onto the older man. "Thank you thank you thank you!"

To his credit, Levi reacted with nothing more than a slight widening of his eyes. "Eren." His voice sounded slightly strained. "Oi, Eren."

Awareness of his careless actions suddenly caught up to his euphoric mood and Eren quickly dropped his hands from Levi as if they were burned. "I-I'm so sorry, Corporal!" Eren stuttered, red-faced and embarrassed. "I didn't mean to...I mean I was just so..."

"It's fine." Levi said stiffly. His hands tightened imperceptibly by his sides, as if he were holding them in place.

"I, uhm..." Eren stammered, trying to dispel the awkward air that suddenly settled between them. He settled for bowing lowly. "Thank you very much for teaching this new technique to me, Corporal Levi sir! It was an honor learning from you today!"

Seeing Eren act like his usual self was enough to bring Levi out of whatever haze that had briefly settled over him earlier. "Don't think you've mastered that technique just because you managed to get it once. You have to keep practicing until you can perform it even in your sleep. Maneuvers aren't worth shit unless you can pull them off consistently."

"I understand, Corporal." Eren said earnestly. He winced slightly when he felt his muscles beginning to protest against the intense workout he had just put them through. Eren was thrilled to have successfully learned the new technique, but he knew that he was going to be immensely sore tomorrow. The spinning maneuver had worked out muscles that Eren didn't even know he had. "Now if Corporal would excuse me..."

"Where do you think you're going, Eren? I don't recall having dismissed you yet."

Eren halted in mid-step. "I thought we were done here, sir?" he asked uncertainly. Eren didn't think his muscles could last if Levi wanted him to keep practicing.

"I didn't actually think that you were stupid enough to leave before caring for your muscles, especially after such extensive training with the 3d maneuver gear."

"Caring for my muscles?"

Levi narrowed his eyes. "Didn't they teach you shit back in training? Yes, caring for your muscles, you ignorant brat. Don't tell me you actually expect to be able to move around normally after a training session like that. If you don't properly massage your muscles after using your gear, you're going to be sore as fuck tomorrow."

"Oh..." Eren followed with wide eyes, as Levi sat them both down on a relatively clean patch of grass.

"Massaging your muscles immediately after a hard workout can help reduce inflammation in muscles and help speed up muscle recovery. Not that you need the increased recovery," Levi added wryly. "But anything beats feeling like complete and utter shit."

"Wow, I didn't know that..." Eren contemplated this new piece of knowledge.

"And now you do. Well?"

"Oh, right! Uhm..." Eren glanced nervously at Levi before placing his hands on his own leg and gingerly rubbing at it.

"How can you expect to massage anything by using such pitiful strength?" Levi said, sighing. "Like this."

Eren yelped when Levi suddenly picked up Eren's legs and draped them across his own lap. "C-Corporal? W-What are you doing?"

"What does it look like?" Levi said. "You obviously have no prior experience doing this and you're going to do a shitty job if I leave you to it so I will have to show you myself."

"But Corporal..." Eren was trying and failing to hide his rapidly growing blush. "Can't you just tell me what I'm supposed to do?"

"No. Now shut up and watch." Eren bit his lip and tried to control his flush as he watched Levi strip off his boots. He tensed up slightly when he felt Corporal's hands on his sore calf, but a moment, a soft sigh fell unbidden from his lips when Levi expertly kneaded at a pressure point.

The corporal's hands were warm and steady against his legs and Eren felt himself beginning to melt against his touch as Levi massaged all the soreness out of his muscles. Eren's eyelids fluttered close and he emitted soft little sighing sounds every now and then as Levi continued to work on his stiff legs.

"Feels good, doesn't it, Eren?" Levi said huskily.

Eren was in complete and utter bliss until he felt Levi's hands slowly skim up his thighs. His eyes snapped open as red quickly flooded his cheeks once again. "C-Corporal?"

Eren was surprised to see that Levi's face had crept quite close to his own. His wide green eyes met with Levi's own and from this distance, Eren could see the corporal's gray eyes smoldering with something he couldn't quite name.

"Are you just going to keep staring all day, shitty brat?"

"Oh, sorry!" Eren quickly looked away, only belatedly realizing then that the corporal had already slipped his legs off from his lap in his brief lapse of concentration. For a moment, Eren missed the familiar warmth that Levi's lap and hands provided, but he quickly shook that thought from his head as he donned his boots.

"Corporal, I just wanted to say again thank you very much for today! I learned a whole lot!"

"I already heard you the first time. Now go wash up, take a shit, and do whatever the hell you do to get ready for dinner."

"Yes, sir!" Eren quickly rushed off, eager to share with his friends all the new things he had learned today. In the back of his mind, a little voice questioned why Corporal had acted so, dare he say it, nice to him today, but Eren quickly shoved it aside—those thoughts were something he would have to ponder on later.

Levi watched until Eren disappeared into the doors of the building before releasing the small breath he didn't realize he was holding. He clenched a fist.

"Shitty brat, how much longer are you going to keep me waiting?"


It wasn't until early afternoon of the next day before Eren found out the repercussions of yesterday's training session.

"Hey, Eren!" Hanji waved enthusiastically from her spot at one of the tables.

"Hello, Hanji," Eren greeted when he made his way over. "Was there something you needed from me?"

"No, I was just wondering whether or not you had lunch yet," Hanji chirped. "If not, you can eat with me!"

Eren blinked at the unexpected question. "Oh, I already ate with my friends earlier. Thanks for the offer though."

"That's fine then." Hanji said, nodding. She sighed. "Too bad I can't say the same for Levi though."

Eren immediately snapped to attention. "Is something wrong with Corporal?!"

"No, no, nothing too serious," Hanji quickly reassured. "But I'm just worried that he's overworking himself, you know? I mean, he did grab a quick bite to eat for lunch, but he couldn't stay long because he had tons of paperwork he had to catch up on."

"Corporal has lots of paperwork he has to catch up on?" Eren repeated, incredulous. The corporal had always been one to stay on top of his responsibilities. Eren couldn't imagine what could have caused Levi to push back his work like this.

"Oh, didn't you know? Levi had a particularly large amount of paperwork to take care of this week, but he still insisted on taking time out to help you with your 3d maneuver gear training yesterday."

"Corporal did?" Eren looked stricken as guilt began to gnaw away at him. He was the cause for Corporal overworking himself?

"No, no, no, I'm not blaming you in the slightest, Eren!" Hanji quickly said. "Sorry, I got carried away with myself for a moment. Levi didn't actually want you to find out about this, you see."

"He didn't?" Eren looked hurt. "But why not?"

"Well, first, probably because he knew you would react like this." Hanji said, reaching out to ruffle Eren's hair. "Cheer up, Eren! You can't blame yourself. Levi did what he did because that's what he wanted to. You know Levi, always trying to shoulder everything by himself. It would be nice if he could rely on others more." she mused.

Eren seemed to ponder over something for a moment, his mouth pressed into a thin line, his brows furrowing in concentration, before he made up his mind. "Thank you for letting me know, Hanji," he said, giving her a courtesy bow before heading for the door.

Hanji cocked her head curiously. "Where are you going?"

"Even though Corporal has so much work of his own work to take care of, he still took the time to help me with my training yesterday." Eren looked determined. "Now, I want to be the one to help him in any way I can."

"You're such a good boy, Eren." Hanji cooed. "I'm sure that Levi would appreciate the help, especially if it's from you."

"I really hope so."

"Oh, but I'm quite certain~"

Watching as Eren walked purposefully out the room, Hanji let out a mad cackle as soon as the cadet left her line of sight. "This is too much." She said, pounding the table as she wiped tears of mirth from the corners of her eyes.

Irvin came up to her table a moment later, shooting Hanji a half-exasperated look as he took the seat next to her. "You said too much, Hanji."

"Hey, a little intervention never hurt anyone, right?"

"You might end up getting hurt if Levi finds out what you just did."

"But I want to see some more progress! All this time and we only got a bit of touching action going on!" Hanji exclaimed. She jabbed an accusing finger. "And don't pretend that you're not enjoying this as much as I am, Irvin."

Irvin shook his head as an amused chuckle slipped out from him. "I never said that I wasn't. That maneuver gear training session yesterday was quite the interesting sight."

A wide smile split across Hanji's face. "Wasn't it? Ahh, that was the cutest thing ever! And I had the greatest view from my office too~ I never thought that Levi could be such a good teacher!"

"It was only because this is Eren that Levi would go this far. Anyone else would have probably been reduced to tears by the fifth failed attempt."

"True, true! And did you see when Eren hugged him afterwards? I thought Levi was going to take him then and there! But then he still insisted on helping him massage his muscles afterwards," Hanji gave an incredulous laugh. "Levi's self control is truly commendable."

"It's probably because he couldn't stand the sight of Eren in pain." Irvin mused. "However, Levi's most likely reaching his limit by now. It's already been two days since he decided to implement his new 'direct approach' tactic, the first night notwithstanding."

"Aha! So you are keeping track!"

"If you don't recall, Hanji, I believe that it was you who first instigated this so-called bet."

"Eh? But I thought we never officially consented to it!"

Irvin gave a slight smirk. "Oh, but I never actually said that I didn't agree to it, now did I?"

Hanji shook her head as she smiled indulgently. "Calculating as always, Irvin."

"You should have known better than to try to bet against me, Hanji." Irvin gave a disarming smile. "Regardless, the end is drawing near. It shouldn't be much longer now."

"You're right as usual." Hanji looked giddy at the prospect of finally seeing the two together after months of dancing around each other. "Ahh, I simply can't wait! This is going to be glorious!"


A/N: So much UST I'm dying. I'm so sorry, heichou, but please endure a little longer. You're almost there! For the rest of you readers out there, I hope you enjoyed this! Please continue to cheer on heichou as he continues to fight against the odds! I look forward to hearing your thoughts!

-Bird of Dreams