Flapping Of Wings

Summary: Random bonus scenes from It Takes Two Wings To Fly, mostly from the moment Eren and Levi reunited onward. Fluff, fun, slight non graphic smut, occasional angst, short. Not in chronological order.

7. Dealing With Brats

"Come on, Luka," whined young Princess Frieda Reiss of Paradis as she followed Luka away from their camp as he went deeper into the forest. "They're literally legends. They know how to take care of themselves and I rather doubt anyone's left in this world that can hold a handle to them. They probably just needed more time to skin whatever they caught for dinner. Let's go back before Mike takes our apples again to give to Erwin."

Luka, Levi Ackerman's and Eren Jaeger's mentee, even if both Eren and Luka denied it, didn't listen and instead kept on trudging deeper into the forest. "They should have been back by now. Mr Levi is really good at hunting and skinning animals and they have Hange and Farlan with them, so finding game wouldn't have been hard. Clearly, something's not right if they are being held up." His hands tightened on the gun in his hand and Freida couldn't help but roll her eyes at the boy she had, much to her mother's amused disapproval and fond exasperation, followed when he decided to travel with his mentors.

Frieda thinks her mother only caved because Luka had a light dusting of freckles over his cheekbones. Her mother was fond of freckled people.

Also, her mother knew that her heir would be returned whole and hale in a few years after she'd seen a bit of the world, quelled a bit of her thirst for adventure and saw what life had been like for Queen Historia Reiss back when she was Cadet Krista Lenz and had been (un)fortunate enough to be dragged into Eren's 'adventures' with Captain Levi at his side.

Frieda doesn't know why her mother thought Freida would ever get enough of the adventures and the exploring. Frieda rather liked it and, if she didn't have to one day take the throne from her mother, she would have liked to stay with Eren and Levi for the rest of her life. They somehow always find some crazy adventure to go on. These first couple of months were rather tame, by their definition, only running into one gang in one of the smaller towns they'd visited last week, but dealing with them had been exciting. Frieda could not imagine how her mother could have left the military for the throne. The thrill was addicting.

Still, there were times like these, where Levi and Eren would go off on their own when Luka, whom she rather liked and had plans for, got a bit insufferable. If she didn't know any better, she'd think Luka had a crush on Levi, but the truth was that the boy saw him as an older brother, or that cool cousin who always helps you get in and get out of trouble. It was simple admiration, but he was annoying with it when that admiration got him into arguments with Eren. Frieda rather liked Eren. She liked them both.

She'd still prefer it if Luka didn't turn into a dumbass whenever the lovers tried to get a bit of alone time or indulged in their rare PDA moments. She hates when Luka interrupts them being all cute and mushy together. They're hot like that. Luka should definitely stop interrupting.

"Luka, by the Walls, Eren can turn into a fifteen meter Titan that can make anything out of Hardening and Levi is, like, the god of blades and kick-boots. And they may look young, but they're the most experienced warriors left on this continent. Even if they did run into trouble, what could we do against anything they consider trouble?"

"We can help them." The 'Duh!' wasn't uttered but Frieda still detected it in the way he said it and it made her want to smack him. "We can even just be a distraction with these," he continued as he pointed to their 3DMG, which were technically new models made for them when they expressed a desire to learn so they can race through the trees with their chaperones. Both Frieda and Luka were far from even novice level, let alone Eren and especially Levi, but they can still outmaneuver anyone on the ground safely if they had never faced an opponent with the gear before, which no one not from Paradis has.

"If we get shot and mauled by a bear, I'm dragging you with me to the Eldian afterlife so you can meet all my asshat ancestors."

"You need to ask Mr Levi to teach you better insults."

"How about numb-nuts," she countered, a bit pissed off by the whole thing, and he shot her an unimpressed look over his shoulder. She batted her eyelashes at her innocently. "No, I think no-nuts would be better to describe you."

"Hey!"

Suddenly, they heard something not far ahead and they both quit their bickering, senses on high alert. Frieda hated to admit that Luka was better at this than her since he'd spent give or take three years training with living legends of the greatest war the world has ever seen, but she had to somewhat defer to him in situations that might lead to trouble when it was just the two of them. She followed him with careful, quiet steps when he signaled they should keep moving forward sneakily, watching out for branches and following the faint sounds they could still detect.

Whatever was making those sounds was obscured by a thick bush ahead of them, which the non-Eldian carefully pushed aside so they can see what was going on.

Frieda immediately felt her whole face go red and she quickly put a handkerchief over her nose at what she saw.

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?" Luka yelled, making the two men snap their heads in their direction. Levi, pressed against a thick three, just sighed in exasperation as he tightened his arms and legs around his partner while said partner looked ready to start another Rumbling right then and there.

"You brats, didn't we tell you to watch over our campsite?" Levi asked while Eren just glowered at them. "Or is something wrong?"

Frieda just put up one thumbs up for the former Captain, eyes drinking in every detail of Humanity's Hope pinning Humanity's Strongest against the tree. They had a bad angle, as most they could see was Eren's back and Levi's head just peeking over his right shoulder, but it was clear that the older man's pants were pushed as far down as his boots would allow and Eren's own waistline was loose. "We're all good."

"Then get lost," Eren snapped, still glaring at Luka.

"Is this really the time for this!?" Luka demanded and Eren glared harder, if that was at all possible.

"Shut up, brat! Until we find another inn to spend the night in, we don't get any privacy. Like hell am I going to wait for weeks at a time to get some."

"By the Walls, just shut the fuck up, you shitty brat."

"You're nothing but a horny mutt!" Luka shouted and Frieda could see Levi roll his eyes before he looked over at her.

"Can you guys please go back to the campsite already? And put a pot of water on. We have some rabbits for stew. We'll be back soon."

"No, please, take your time," Frieda rushed out to say, taking her handkerchief away when he gave her a judging look for it. "In fact, please don't come back until you can't walk straight-"

"FRIEDA!" Luka yelped, scandalized, and the blond girl just grinned.

Eren smirked at her. Clearly, he was going to follow her instructions. "As your Highness commands."

"Eren? Wait, no, shit, you shitty brat! At least wait until the kids are gone! ErEN!"

Frieda had to be dragged away by a horrified Luka when he realized Eren Jaeger was, indeed, that shameless. And so was Frieda, because she was clearly quite content to stay behind and watch. Was it an Eldian thing? It had to be. But Levi was an Eldian, too, though Ackermans were kind of unique so Luka figured it didn't apply to him. He was clearly a species of his own, because he definitely wasn't like Eren or Frieda. At least he wasn't indecently shameless.

When the two adults got back to the campsite half an hour later with enough rabbits for both stew and to make jerky out of, Frieda was happy with the world while Luka glared daggers at Eren the whole night and a good portion of the next day, non-stop. Eren glared back and Levi glared at them all, because Eren had been a bit too enthusiastic in following the Princess' 'order' yesterday.

"I can't imagine how you can constantly deal with brats like Luka," Eren complained as they stopped by a stream to refill their water flasks and the boy just emptied out his whole flask of fresh, bitterly cold water over Eren's head when the brunet was too busy staring at Levi's behind. Farlan, the traitor, had helped, making Eren trip into the stream right after, so he was now dripping wet with his hair clinging to his face and his clothes uncomfortably to his body.

Levi stared up at Eren with the most deadpan expression he had ever managed in his life. "Geez, I wonder who allowed me to get so much practice."

Frieda was definitely having the time of her life.