A/N: Here's another update before I go off for my exams. Will probably continue in like around 2 weeks later :/ Please be patient with me! Don't worry, I update pretty fast when there's no commitments (if I say so myself) :D
And thank you all for the reviews/ favourites/ follows etc. I'm glad to see that my writing hasn't withered and died xP
Disclaimer: I do not own SnK!
CHAPTER 2:
Step #1 Start a conversation
Eren took a deep breath, going over the lines he had carefully scripted out with much difficulty the night before. After that last meeting and finding out about Rivaille-san's age, things had been pretty awkward whenever they were together in the library, so he had decided that a little conversation would warm Rivaille-san up.
Rivaille-san was at the library at five-o-clock every evening, and Eren would drop by whenever he could to help out with the cleaning and such. It was pretty much the only time they got to enjoy each other's company- Eren never had the chance of running into the mad before six. Though he was not sure if Rivaille-san did enjoy his company, the fact that he wasn't chased away yet would he was not that unwelcomed.
Taking another deep breath, he gave a firm nod to himself and strode into the library a little earlier than his usual timing.
"Hey! Nice day today huh, Rivaille-san?" He yelled a little too loudly, causing his fellow library users to SHHHHH him in annoyance. Oops, that was little too loud. He had completely forgotten that there were others in the library. He muttered a small "sorry" and headed straight to his and Rivaille-san's little corner. Yes, he called it their corner, for no one else seemed to go there. It was mushy and all, but it wasn't as if anyone else would know. Part of him told him that nobody dared to approach that area because Rivaille-san was there, and that he was foolish for being the first to do so, but the romantic bone in his body told him that everything in the name of love was A-OK
He turned down the corner and indeed, Rivaille-san was there. Clearing his throat and getting the other man's attention, he repeated the words in his script:
"Hey! Nice day today huh, Rivaille-san?"
Rivaille-san gave a 'hmm' of acknowledgement as he wrung the towel he was holding and started wiping the table.
Eren was slightly disappointed at the lack of response, but did not let it deter him. He was not one to let such matters bring him down of course! He moved forward to Rivaille's side and grabbed the towel from him.
"What are you doing?" Rivaille-san's voice was a little threatening as he kept his firm grip on the towel.
"Let me help you! You can do other things and I'll help you wipe the tables!" Volunteering his services excitedly, Eren did his best puppy-eye gaze. It looked extremely horrifying, with his eyes bugging out and his lips puckered in a weird pout (it reminded Rivaille of the so-called 'Titans' he had read in the storybooks when he was a kid) so Rivaille quickly agreed just to get the disturbing expression off his face:
"Are you sure you know how to clean it?"
"Of course! Cleaning is my expertise! My mum says I clean my room very well!" Eren chirped, trying his best to impress the older man. Well, it was Mikasa who had helped in most of his cleaning, but a little omission would do any harm. He started rubbing the cloth along the sides of the table, with Rivaille-san watching him for a moment until he was appeased enough to begin his task of cleaning the windows. The two of them lapsed into a comfortable silence as both concentrated on their task of making the area sparkling clean.
Ahhhh this is how it should be… It's-It's almost like a date! Eren's internal cheering had him bursting out into an uncontrollable silly grin. He rubbed the table harder in his excitement, causing Rivaille to turn towards him.
When we grow old together, Rivaille-san and I will enjoy life cleaning our house!
His overexcited and overly imaginative mind had him dreaming of the beautiful future that lay ahead for them…
It was their hundredth anniversary, and Eren and Rivaille were celebrating it with their favourite hobby- cleaning the house.
"Le's c-c'ean 'e windows 'oge'er E-Eren…" Rivaille-san mumbled softly when they were done with mopping the floor.
"O-Okey, R-Ri'aille-'an… Le' me 'ake ou' 'e window cleaning supplies" Eren mumbled back as he trudged to the storeroom full of Rivaille's treasures.
Even when Rivaille-san was a hundred and thirty years old, he was still so beautiful, with his bushy white beard kept as clean as a whistle, and his wrinkles are neatly arranged on his face. Rivaille-san was still able to maintain his image of a perfect man. Eren grinned a toothless grin to himself as he carried the supplies out one by one.
"P-Pass me 'e W-Windex, w-would ya?" Rivaille-san asked politely, and Eren's trembling hands passed the bottle to his love's similarly shaking ones.
The soft 'psst' of the Windex was calming to their ears, and Eren felt that they could stay that way forever, rubbing the cleaning their house in that blissful moment of love.
"Ri'aille-'an… I love y-you…"
"E-Eren… I-I love y-you 'oo…"
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAH! Eren, being all caught up in his daydream, failed to notice that he had stopped wiping and had ended up giggling like a crazy fangirl. His eyes glazed with happiness and whatnot, he clutched the towel to his chest and sighed dreamily.
"Stop that, it's creepy." That had Eren looking up into Rivaille's face before realising what a fool he must look like. He schooled his expression into one that mirrored Rivaille-san's. Perhaps that was the correct attitude to have when cleaning- a serious and unaffected attitude of concentration. Wait… This is so uncomfortable, how does he maintain such a face all the time?! He resumed his wiping of the table, his eyes and lips twitching as he struggled to keep the expression up.
"Stop that, you look like me." Rivaille-san ordered, his eyebrow arched in an unimpressed manner. Or rather, trying to look like me. And failing miserably, he added.
"O-okay…" Eren let his face returned to his normal self, his face a bright shade of red.
The awkward silence between the two of them was definitely not what Eren had envisioned. He opened his mouth to add on, but realised that he had completely forgotten what came after that line about his mother. His daydream must have robbed the words out of him!
Shit! Er… Wracking his brains for the line he was supposed to say did not help much, and Eren was left stunned with his mouth opening and closing like a fish. He absent-mindedly sprayed the table, a little unnerved by sudden short-circuit.
"Dust would fly in there."
"Huh?" came his intelligent response at Rivaille-san's words. Registering the meaning of the sentence, Eren closed his mouth immediately. Rivaille-san probably liked people with clean mouths. He made a mental note to rinse his mouth with Listerine at least five times a day.
Wait, did Rivaille-san just say something out of his own accord? The full implications of this dawned on Eren as he stared in open wonder at the other. Up until this point their conversations was mostly Eren talking and Rivaille making 'hmmph's in reply.
"R-Rivaille-san!" was Eren could say. His chest bursting with emotion at this new point of their relationship, and he resisted the urge to fist-pump the air. Grinning happily to himself, Eren continued his scrubbing of the table. He picked up the bottle and got ready to spray another dose when suddenly, his arm was grabbed roughly and he found himself being jerked back.
"OI ARE YOU BLIND? THAT'S FEBREZE YOU ARE USING!" Rivaille roared as silently as possible (since they were in the library), his eyes flashing dangerously at the sight of the horrifying cleaning mishap. Eren glanced down at the bottle in his hand, and sure it was, it was Febreze. He dropped the bottle in panic, causing the contents of the bottle to spill and soak the carpeted floor of the library.
Oh shit was Eren's only thought as Rivaille and him watched the carpet turn into a darker shade of red, the wet stain blossoming like flowers, which was a highly inappropriate analogy to use at that moment. And indeed in deep shit he was when he looked up to see Rivaille-san's glare directing daggers at him, threatening to stab his very soul multiple times even if stabbing souls defied logic.
OH SHIT!
"Eren. Jaeger."
The tone accompanying Rivaille-san's words was not very comforting at all, and Eren felt himself standing at attention, eyes squished shut in fear of whatever was to befall him.
The footsteps approaching him were ominous, and Eren did not have the luxury of time to think about how on earth was Rivaille-san even able to make footstep noises on carpets before he dropped to his knees on the ground and kowtowed desperately.
"I-I'm sorry, Rivaille-san! Forgive me! I'll clean it up!" Scrambling for the nearest cloth, Eren started rubbing over the wet stains of the carpet, cursing himself while he did so. Rivaille-san, in extreme head cleaner mode, supervised the younger boy as he made pathetic attempts to remove the patches of Febreze from the carpet.
After a few minutes of watching Eren's futile scrubbing and obvious panicking, Rivaille sighed. Much as he appreciated the boy's attempts at helping him, he brought a little more trouble than he was worth at times.
"Forget it, Febreze can be used for carpets anyway. Just get go back to cleaning the table again, but this time, not with Febreze. Use this instead." A spray bottle of Pledge was pushed into his hands, and Eren accepted the bottle with gratefulness.
"Thank you, Rivaille-san! I won't screw up this time! I'll make the tables really clean!" With that, Eren rushed to the table to begin his task of table cleaning.
Watching the boy eagerly rub the table and going over each spot with precision while humming some random tune, Rivaille sighed again.
As interesting as he was, Eren Jaeger was sure going to bring him a lot of trouble.