1st POV

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The amount of sparkle passing through the tiny Ackerman's eyes as he entered the office almost blinded me.

"how...?"

He slowly walked inside while looking at every nook and cranny of the room, not even finding a speck of dust anywhere. I watched him touch every surface of the room as if expecting to stumble upon something dirty but nothing!

A laugh escaped my lips at the baffled expression he had which was a rare sight to witness since this man had the emotional capacity of an iron golem, never showing more than his usual scowl.

'oh boi I low-key want to snap a pic of this handsome little specimen, hehehehe-'

"it's..."

"..spotless? Yeah I know I told you sir I couldn't stand nasty places as well." I perked up before winking in his direction which he obviously didn't see, dammit. Levi continued looking at the room, impressed by its pristineness and even lack of dust smell. He suddenly stopped moving.

Ayo?

'this Colith...she keeps acting like an annoying brat but surprisingly kept things to my standards! Tch! How the hell did she do this?!'

I scratched my cheek before casually waltzing beside him to wave a hand in front of his face, but nope! No reactions!

'hm I think I broke him'

"..hellooo~ you okay in there?"

He blinks, putting an end to his thoughts before scowling and rudely pushing my head away from his frowning face.

"What are you doing brat."

"Eh?! You just froze like a statue! So I got worried. Anyway, did I do it right Cap'n?" the shit-eating grin I gave him seemed to snap him back to reality, and let's just say that he wasn't pleased by the way I called him.

"For the second time, it's 'Captain' to you cadet! Unless you want a beating I advise you to start learning more respect towards your superiors, am I clear?! And don't think just because you did things right that I'll magically trust you like the others." he walked past me to the door before looking in my direction with a glare. "and go back to work, we're not finished." I gaped at his disappearing figure in the hallway probably going to inspect the others' work. Though, I failed to notice the moment he brought a hand to his forehead in discomfort.

Bruh

'okay, I understand the distrust and all but why he mad at me like that. I thought he'd be happy to see a germ-free room for once. Fuck, just because I refuse to tell more about my motives he be sus like hell. MAN I'M ON YOUR SIDE WHAT THE HELL DO YOU WANT MORE.'

I gritted my teeth in frustration before patting my cheeks and stomping away to 'clean' every untouched room in this castlevania lookin ass castle.

'bitch I'll still destroy this plot and marry you even If I die in the process! Just you wait...oh I can't die hehe.'

[Meanwhile with Levi]

'she's truly annoying...yet, something's telling me that she's...not that bad but we can't be too careful. Brat's definitely hiding something,' he tried to convince himself while his pace faltered, feeling a weird sting in his head that made him frown. '...why do I feel like trusting her though..?'

Something was weird with his brain and he didn't like it at all.

He shook his head at the unusual feelings he got ever since he set eyes on her in that filthy cell with the Jaeger kid back in Mitras, and the sudden wave of comfort and warmth he felt caught him by surprise which was the main reason for his edge and it highly bothered him.

He first heard of her via Erwin when said commander spoke of the potential additions to the Survey Corps for this year and eagerly spoke of a...Colith Tobe, he inadvertently bumped into two years ago at Trost who was now known as the Strongest cadet or...Monster of the training corps. Levi scoffed at the thought, yet remained attentive on the whole ordeal since it was a first.

For someone to pick the three branches commanders, especially Erwin's interest to the point of still remembering said encounter two years later intrigued Levi. Hence, his curiosity got picked too. That is until he saw her that day at Trost and immediately recognized her from the portraits drawn on the cadet corps ID usually scattered on the blonde's desk when he seek recruits and to say that he was surprised would be an understatement. She was...odd and he felt it right away. Well, he couldn't linger too much on her since they were bound to start their expeditions, so he simply nodded in her direction, completely missing her, ahem, fangirling state.

After coming back to find Trost's gate-if he could call it gate- sealed forever which, let's put it simply, destroyed five years of efforts, with the district completely swarmed by those fucking atrocities called titans soured his mood. At least the discovery of two brats able to shift into...titans surprised him, but learning their identities caugh him off guards.

Eren Jaeger- he had no idea who that was.

Colith Tob- huh?!

Something in the far corner of his mind was pushing him to kneel and protect her for no reason and he hated this. Levi was known and feared by so many soldiers for his harsh and stern personality which earned him the title of [Humanity strongest, a title he didn't particularly like at first but learned to accept as time went by. Sure he was stronger than the average human, yet wasn't one to boast about it and he had a feeling that he wasn't entirely normal either. Something to do with his Ackerman heritage. And for him to feel a sudden need to protect a complete stranger, nevertheless titan brat didn't sit right with him. And the fact that it only happened with her and not Jaeger puzzled him. Beats him, he had no idea why.

He grumbled, deciding to keep a closer eye on her, because he was sure as hell that she was the one meddling with his brain and would not drop his guard down, not till he knew what was happening to him!

"tch, how troublesome.." (hi Shikamaru)

After cleaning the last untouched places, I decided that checking on my bean would be a good idea while avoiding the rest of Levi squad like a pro. I didn't feel like being a decent human being for now so talking with anyone except Eren was not a good idea. Call it my introvert side popping outta nowhere, humans were annoying as fuck so I focused on my favorite. My interaction with Levi still lingered in my mind and his snappish reaction kind of felt...off since he wasn't one to show this amount of spite to anyone except Zeke Jaeger in season 4 and I ain't no monkey man so me was confusion.

'have I done something wrong..?

EH BITCH OF COURSE YOU DID.

STUPID.

that's what you get for hiding your powers coco, no one's gonna go: "OH?! YOU'RE HIDING SOMETHIN THAT COULD PUT US IN DANGER? OKAY!" and be okay with it. Haaah, and I thought that it'll be like in those cheesy fanfictions where it's love at first sight *sigh* it's not even funny...'

With my shoulders slumped, I made my way to a, let's be honest, poorly cleaned bedroom where I found Eren aggressively sweeping a table that if it could, would've been screaming bloody murder for its torture to stop. Eh, looks like husband got to him and traumatized tatakae boy. Rip table.

"Eren my boy!"

My Rengoku impression startled him since he quickly whips his head to my way with a distraught face before it morphed to relief. "Ah, it's you Colith."

"eh, the fuck is wrong with you, harassing this poor table like that? Did the Cap'n get to you too?"

"it's 'captain' and yeah... told me to re-do everything or he'll..." he shivered at the cranky man's threat.

"Do it again! And if I find one speck of dust on the ceiling when I come back, I'll beat the living crap out of you and feed you to Hanji's titans, am I clear?"

HOW WAS HE SUPPOSED TO REACH THE CEILING?!

He sighed and vehemently continued sweeping the table for the fourth time so it could reach the corporal's insane standards. I watched him in amusement and made my way next to him.

"need help?"

"ye- I mean no, it's alright, I can do this!"

I bit my lip to contain a sarcastic retort from escaping my mouth 'cause he clearly wasn't near Levi's idea of clean and god knows how he would flip out if Eren dares say that he cleaned the room. I shrug, "if you say so~."

He continued sweeping until he stopped to ask: "Colith...When you said that you wanted to marry the corporal back then, were you serious?"

'eh, still onto that...'

"yep"

"Why?! I don't like him..! H-he's scary and I don't think it's a good idea!" he squawks quietly, still spooked by his previous encounter with the man.

I just rolled my eyes before grabbing his shoulders. "Eren honey, you don't understand the power of simpin for a cha- a man for 10 years and to suddenly have an occasion to see said man in front of you! Wouldn't do the same if it was Mikasa?!" I immediately covered my slip up with my dear Ackerman's lovely name.

"Mika- W-what the hell?!" he chocked as an embarrassed blush came across his tan skin while I stifled a chuckle at the sight of this obvious puppy love. "i-I don't like Mikasa like that!"

"he says" I deadpan. He continued stuttering like a fool. "don't think I didn't notice how you look at her when she's working out, Lil pervert. But don't worry, I ship it" I teased.

"sh-shut up! T-that's not-I never did that!" he clumsily backed away but yelped when his back hit the dusty bookshelves in panic, which knocked over the few books on the ground ruining the little cleaning he had done. He started coughing due to the few particles of dust in the air while I swatted my hand to clear my vision.

"No wonder the corporal's pissed off, that's what you call clean?" I pointed at the mess.

"ack- you're not gonna start too?!" he wheezed, earning a chuckle from me. "and-*cough*- w-what the hell does 'simpin' even means?"

I opened the window. "trust me, you don't wanna know, but imma make this man mine" and exclaimed with fire in my eyes. Eren paled.

"please don't."

"watch me, Jaeger!"

He groaned-it was definitely a whine-which made me cackle as I finally took pity on him.

'showing off won't hurt hm? Plus I was planning to tell him and the others anyway.'

I snapped my fingers instantly making the room pristine clean without a speck of dirt which baffled the teen when he saw the books back at their places. He dropped the rag he was using in shock.

"What the- wh-wh-what happened?!" he started frantically looking around. NO TRACE, NO NOTHING! THE WINDOWS, THE BED, THE WALLS, THE GROUND, EVEN THE CEILING WAS SPOTLESS!!

it was at this moment that Eren knew how dirty the room was and finally understood the corporal's pissed-off mood after inspec- HOW THE HELL DID IT CLEAN ITSELF IN THE FIRST PLACE.

"Here! Job's done!" I chirped. The teen kept looking everywhere before finally processing my words and immediately whipped his head toward me in disbelief.

"D-d-d-did you-.. H-how did...what the fuck."

"No swearing, Eren."

"But you always swear! I- that's not- what the hell, how did you do that?! Are you a witch?!"

"Shh! Not so loud child! I ain't no witch and just used my powers to do this, nothing crazy."

"Powers..? D-do you mean...I can do this too..?" he scrutinized his hands in wonder as the thought of having powers filled his mind before his hope crumbled at my next words.

"calm down Jamal, you can just shift into a titan, that's all you're capable of...for now."

"who the hell is Ja-what do you mean for now? How come you can do it? What aren't you telling me Colith?" He frowned as he shot questions after questions.

'Shiet'

"Err I'll tell you more when Mikasa and Armin get here," I exclaimed rapidly which just to fueled his curiosity.

"but-"

"No buts, baby! Let's go cleeean...and I remember that I already cleaned everything... Let's just...walk around and wait for the Corporal's next orders~." I chuckled nervously and grabbed his hand before dragging his confused ass around.

The boy obviously still had a shit ton of questions for me but choose to remain silent.

'who is she really...?'

His mind spiraled on me as questions after questions filled his head whilst deep down, he couldn't find it in himself to doubt me. At first, all that mattered to him was revenge against the titans to the point where his obsession almost worried his friends, that is until I entered the chat and decided to turn their lives upside down. And he sure as hell knew that Armin and Mikasa agreed. The fact that I treated them like the children they were stunned him. The boy was convinced that I would, at some point, get tired of them but was overly surprised, as weeks passed, by the lack of...negatives attitude from me. I never considered them a nuisance and heck, even drowned them in insane amounts of gifts and clothes they never thought they'd have in their lives.

Waking up in a cozy bed whilst the smell of a warm breakfast greets his nostrils was something he never thought he'd relive so soon, especially not after the fall. Even though I hid things from them, especially concerning my origins 'cause he would've never imagined me living outside the walls, scratch that, to have POWERS- he couldn't find it in himself to resent me for not telling. Maybe I had reasons not to say anything, who knows? And it looks like he'd get the truth as soon as Armin and Mikasa get here.

Sure I was weird and tended to sprout weird references out of nowhere he'd never heard before...still, the chaotic stability—if he can call it that—I managed to create during the first two years following the fall did them great and he could feel it. He had never seen Armin this excited to share his wild theories on the outside world with someone else than him that he missed the knowing gleams in my eyes whenever I corrected the blonde's far-fetched assumptions as if I experienced it first han—Ah, now that he thought about it, I looked like I knew more which was an obvious giveaway of me seeing the real deal.

Despite my zany attitude sometimes, Eren couldn't deny the fact that he never felt this safe in my presence to the point where he inadvertently mistook me for his mom one morning, though he was too embarrassed and stubborn to talk about it. Maybe that's the reason that kept him from jumping to absurd conclusions to the other at the trial.

Eren's hand tightened around mine which pushed me to look down at him in question.

"You said...that you'll tell us more, right...?" I slowly nod, not knowing where he's getting at. He heaves out a sigh and carries on. "...okay I'll wait then, just know that we trust you Colith, even if..you're visibly hiding some things from us...you're still family." a small smile was written on his lips as he spoke, stopping me in my tracks. He bumped into me with a grunt.

'this child I swear...this is not the moment to feel emotional, fuck.' fat tears rolled down my cheeks as I glomped the teen between my boobs which made him muffle a yelp of surprise.

"I love you so much!! I'll never let you down baby! You're so precious." I heard him wheeze but despite my hold, didn't struggle.

"n-not so tight-"

"WHAA...THE MESS HALL'S SPOTLESS, WHAT THE HECK?! Oluo's yell of disbelief broke my heartfelt moment which made Eren sweat drop when he saw my mood shift into a deadpan.