Behind the Door

"Finally done" Jean said, wiping sweat from his forehead as he and Armin finished mopping up the HQ's basement "Shouldn't this be Eren's job?"

"The basement hasn't been his room for years" Armin pointed out "And he's busy, so it can't be helped. Besides, it didn't take all that long."

"Whatever you say, Mr. Positive" Jean said with a sigh "Let's get out of here."

Climbing out of the basement, they were about to pass Hanji's room on their way to put the supplies away, but a loud crash from the room stopped them in their tracks.

"…It's Hanji's room; it's probably nothing important" Jean said after a moment of silence "She's always causing trouble."

"Yeah, something probably just toppled over because she was running around" Armin agreed "But maybe we should check that she's okay? She might have gotten hurt."

Before Armin could knock on the door, they could both hear rustling from the room, the sounds soon growing louder.

"She seems to be fine after all" the blond said with a small smile.

"It's the commander after all" Jean said with a smile of his own "Let's go."

Before they could, they heard a voice from inside the room: "Levi, no!"

"Was that Hanji?" Armin asked, his voice not exactly a whisper, but quieter than it was before.

"Sounds like the captain's there too" Jean said just before they heard another crash "Just what on earth are they up to?"

"I'm going to do this no matter if you like it or not!" they could hear Levi yell, making their eyebrows rise.

"No way!" they heard Hanji protest, and for a while they only heard rustling and things falling.

"…Are they fighting? As in, physically?" Jean asked, really uncomfortable. Hanji and Levi argued often, but he'd never seen them lash out at each other physically. If that's what they were doing, should they stop them? Would they get in trouble since the two were their superiors?

"It sounds like it" Armin admitted "But surely they wouldn't do each other too much damage? Maybe Hanji chugged a pillow at Levi or something."

"Or maybe the captain whacked her with a broom" Jean said with a snort "He does that sometimes."

Another crash. A bit worried as they were, they already planned to leave their superiors to themselves. If it took them too long to show up, they'd come back with Mikasa… or maybe Yelena.

"Levi, stop it! Hands off of my shirt!" …or maybe not; that sounded bad.

"What the hell is the captain doing!?" Jean hissed. Had it not been Levi of all people, he would've barged in by now.

"…Maybe we should go get Mikasa" Armin suggested, glancing worriedly at the door.

"Do we really have the time for-?"

"LEVI, NO!"

"To the hell with it, we clearly don't!" Jean screamed before kicking the door open. It was surprisingly easy; it didn't seem to have been locked. And it was no wonder, for the sight before them was not at all what Jean and Armin had been expecting.

Hanji and Levi looked surprised to see them as well, having frozen in place as the door had slammed open. Levi had one hand in a bucket, holding a cloth over a laundry board and the other one against Hanji's forehead, clearly trying to push her away. Hanji on the other hand had a bundle of dirty clothes tugged under her left arm, the right one having a hold on the same cloth as Levi.

Raising an eyebrow, Levi asked: "Can we help you brats somehow?"

"We… err…" Jean stuttered, heat creeping to his face. There was no way he could tell them what he thought had been going on, but Levi was quick to catch on lies. Just how was he going to get out of this!?

"We heard a ruckus and got worried" right, Armin was there too. He'd get out of this by keeping his mouth shut and going along with the guy "We were wondering if there was some experiment gone wrong with all that yelling."

"Thank god for Armin Arlert" Jean thought, certain that even Levi would have trouble with catching a lie when it came from the blond.

"I wish that'd be the case!" Hanji moaned dramatically "Levi's stealing my clothes!"

Armin and Jean turned their questioning eyes to Levi, knowing that there was more to it. With an irritated sigh, Levi said: "I'm washing these filthy rags you call clothes."

"Without my permission" Hanji pointed out "And they're not filthy, they're perfectly fine!"

"They're filthier than Connie's socks" Levi stated flatly, making Jean wince. He knew how filthy those could be. Hanji just laughed "What, you do laundry checks on your squads?"

"He does" Jean thought and was about to voice it, but Armin elbowing him in to the ribs stopped him. Right, better to keep his mouth shut.

"That's not the point" Levi said. The two veteran scouts started throwing subtle and not so subtle jabs at each other. Jean and Armin just stared before glancing at each other, coming to a wordless agreement. As one, they disappeared back in to the hallway, making a solid decision to never suspect their captain again.

And to go check their laundry, just in case.