Chapter Text
It wasn’t hard to figure out that Eren was fooling around with Captain Levi.
Jean considered himself one of the more intelligent members of the 104th cadet, but he was sure even Connie could tell what was going on between that suicidal maniac and the masochist of a Captain. The rage induced girl and their sadistic Captain were like a storm of murderous rage—it only made sense they were messing around with each other and no one else.
The soldier leaned into his open palm one droll afternoon at lunch. Eren was sitting towards the end of the table across from Mikasa and right next to Armin. Between them sat Sasha, Connie, Christa and Ymir. They were the usual suspects for mealtimes, though sometimes Reiner and Bertholdt stopped by on occasion.
“So,” Jean broke the silence, igniting a few curious stares his way. “Where’d Captain Levi head off to?”
After their rather dry lecture (taught by the Captain), he disappeared down the hall in what looked to be a hurry. Eren lingered in the spot where he was for a few moments more.
Armin answered him first. “He went to meet with Commander Erwin and Squad Leader Hanji, I believe.”
“They meet sometimes during lunch,” Eren added, unwavering. She wasn’t slicing into her food, Jean noticed. “It’s not that big of a deal.”
“Hm,” Jean noted. That was enough to have everyone turn back to their meals to continue eating, but Jean wasn’t quite done.
“You think Commander Erwin and Captain Levi are a thing?”
A series of annoyances as a response, save for Connie, who snorted loudly. Eren, in particular, had a murderous glare headed Jean’s way, which only deepened his own smirk. The girl simply tightened her own lips before pretending to readjust the half-bun in her hair.
Jean honestly thought she was cute looking, but once she opened her mouth, all that cuteness vanished like the colossal Titan.
“We shouldn’t be gossiping about stuff like that,” Armin scolded, shaking his head.
“Yeah,” Eren chided a bit too enthusiastically. “What are you, some kind of idiot, Jean?”
It’s a shame the girl wasn’t more polite and mild mannered like some of the other girls. Eren would’ve been a total catch otherwise. Jean actually made his move on her on one of the first days they started boot camp, but Eren began into a long spiel about titans and the walls. For someone like Jean, who wanted an easy life in the Military Police, that was an unattractive beginning to their relationship.
“Besides, there’s no way Captain Levi would go for someone like Commander Erwin . . .” Eren droned, her thick brows twisting upwards in worry.
“Is Captain Levi into men?” Christa asked.
“Guys,” Armin paled.
“No way!” Ymir snorted. “Trust me, I can tell.”
Sasha looked guilty. “Well, I dunno guys, they’ve been spending a lot of time together . . .”
Eren looked visibly frustrated at each passing word. Jean noticed she kept opening and closing her mouth like a fish gasping for the water.
Connie nodded while chewing. “Mhm! Captain Levi is a scary guy. No way anyone except for Commander Erwin could handle all that, y’know?”
“The man is 5’3”,” Jean kept his eyes trained on Eren. “No girl would be into a guy that short. He has to be seeing Commander Erwin on the low.”
Eren slammed her fist on the table, startling everyone. The dishes rattled and the cadets shot Eren a worried look.
“Everyone shut up,” Eren hissed, her voice dripping with anger. “Can’t I just eat my FUCKING bread in peace?!”
Jean smirked. Got her.
“Eren,” Mikasa began.
“What, you like short guys, Eren?” Connie asked dumbly.
The Titan shifter was red. “I—“
“Reiner isn’t short, is he?” Jean asked loudly, catching the attention of nearby tables. A few snickered. If he wasn’t relishing so much in Eren’s embarrassed face, he would scan around for Reiner.
“Those are fighting words, Jean,” Eren growled, standing up straight and tucking up her sleeves.
“Oh, you can bring it, Jaeger,” Jean stood, fire surging in his veins. He was alive, now. Breathing with fire and puffing his chest. It wasn’t his first rumble with Eren, and it sure wouldn’t be his last.
“Careful what you wish for,” Connie sang.
“Come at me, you suicidal blockhead!” Jean held his arms out.
“Fucker!” Eren cried, planting her foot on the table.
“Eren!”
“What the—“
CRASH!
The dishes spilled over the table in a chorus of breaking dishes and shouts of their comrades as Eren stomped over the table and made her way to Jean like an angry bull. Food spilled, but all Jean could see was a pair of angry turquoise eyes.
A swift fist to his chin. Eren punched him upwards, slamming his teeth into his skull and propelling him backwards. Pain exploded over his senses from the skull up. He fell backwards and onto the ground, where Eren chased him.
If their fellow soldiers called out to them, Jean couldn’t hear them. Eren was on him, her knees pinning Jean by the shoulders. She launched punch after punch across his face. He could hear his comrades surrounding him in a circle, jeering and hollering.
“You stupid bastard!” Eren screamed in his face, her hair flying loose from her bun.
Pain blistered across his skin and he squeezed his eyes shut. He grabbed out wildly for Eren’s arms or hands—anything to stop her devastating hits from landing on Jean.
“Eren!” A voice called, but Jean could hardly recognize it.
Next thing he knew, Eren was being pulled off of him. Jean wasn’t the kind of guy to waste any opportunities, so he punched her right back, sending dark brown hair flying upwards. A chorus of ‘oohs’ and laughters and screams filled the air at his move. He felt arms on him, scratching at the skin of his arms and chest holding him back.
“I’LL KILL YOU!” Eren screamed, her voice resonating throughout the hall. She shook against the nameless soldiers holding her back, her body flailing like a flag in a violent tornado.
Jean pulled himself forward and released himself from the grip of his comrades. He readied another fist and flung himself at Eren, prepared to eat another punch before his ankle was swept out from beneath him. He hit the ground at full speed, feeling the air leave his lungs.
He wriggled himself around and searched blindly for his attacker, thinking Sasha or Connie were trying to be funny.
Dead silence.
Jean blinked and realized the cold pair of black eyes of their Captain was staring right at him, wearing a look so deadly that Jean couldn’t breathe for the second time.
Jean swallowed.
“S-Sir—“
The flurry of a well aimed kick from Levi’s boot was the last thing Jean saw before he was knocked out.
-
“Heh, this set up is kinda lousy, isn’t it?” Squad Leader Hanji grinned sheepishly. They used a pen to scratch at a spot behind their neck, which was a slightly disgusting habit that made Jean’s eye twitch. It also didn’t help that Hanji adorned a canvas apron splattered in blood.
Jean stifled a groan, and he wasn’t sure if it came from a place of annoyance or pain.
He leaned on his chair, tucking his throbbing cheek into the palm of his hand and grimacing. He wasn’t sure what was more painful, getting kicked by Captain Levi or having Squad Leader Hanji fill out a report over the whole thing.
“I’m not really one for dishing out punishments, if you could tell,” Hanji continued, pursing their lips. “But! There were no other captains available, so I guess I just gotta smack ya on the bum, huh? But that would be weird. I wouldn’t do that. Even if you asked.”
A crackle of an awkward laugh followed shortly thereafter, making Jean grimace. He’s never been afforded a lot of alone time with the eccentric squad leader, and he could see why. Waking up in their office was not welcome.
“On the good news, Levi is the one dealing with Eren right now and whew I would not want to be in that room,” Hanji interrupted themselves with a snicker.
“Wait,” Jean sat up, as if a new air entered his lungs. “Levi is the filling out the report with Eren?”
“Yep! He dragged her off to his office looking super-duper pissed. That little munchkin sure has a spit to him, don’t he? Lots of people wouldn’t expect that from him. Being a short little man and all. But you experienced that first hand, right? Heh heh . . .”
“Uh-huh,” Jean nodded vacantly, the gears turning in his head.
“You have teeth?” Hanji asked blankly. They shook their head right away. “Wait, of course ya do! I meant; do you have all of your teeth? I just want to make sure Levi didn’t kick em all out. He’s done that before. You ever notice the number of soldiers around here with missing teeth?”
“Yes. Now back to the report—“
“Report! Report. I still have to do that! Heh. Right. Right, right, right. Soooo . . . Mind telling me what triggered all of this with Eren?” Hanji asked, slapping around their desk for a pen and paper. “A fight? A lover’s quarrel?”
“No,” Jean grumbled. He was wondering if the whole effort was worthless. After all, he wasn’t any closer to deducing whether or not Eren and Levi were messing around with one another and an ass kicking wasn’t a risk he thought he’d be taking.
He shouldn’t be the only one getting their ass kicked. Jean needed to think quickly.
“I guess you could say I was doing an experiment,” He shrugged, leaning back in his seat and cocking his head forth. It was hard to conceal his smirk as he saw Hanji’s eyes light up.
“An . . . experiment?” Hanji raised their brows.
“Yeah. It doesn’t matter, though. I didn’t get the conclusion I wanted.”
Hanji practically jumped back into the conversation. “Oh, tell me about it! I was pulled from an experiment for this! I don’t care cadets have a good knock out session. It’s good for your teenage bodies, if you ask me! Luckily, Moblit is there to finish the notes for me, but man, I totally get the frustration. You don’t have a Moblit to finish up this experiment of yours, though, huh? Poo.”
“No,” Jean nodded. “I’m all on my lonesome out here with no answers. It would be nice to have someone to . . . bounce ideas off of, you know?”
Hanji blinked owlishly. “Oh? An idea bouncer? I could do that! You know, Jean, I’m a scientist myself. You could always approach me with your ideas! I love bouncing!”
“Hm, maybe . . .” Jean teased, rubbing the underside of his chin.
“Like now?” Hanji offered, drumming their fingers on the desk. “Tell me? Tell me now?”
Jean feigned hesitance. “Maybe . . . I just don’t want to get in trouble for fighting with Eren, so if I scratch my back then I can take a dig at yours?”
Hanji’s eyes narrowed before they curled their lips into a tight smirk. “I see. You’re a sharp one, Jean. Now tell me more.”
-
“Ouch,” Eren hissed under her breath, glancing up through her lashes to glare at Levi above her.
“You have the least delicate hands of any woman I’ve ever met,” Levi noted, dabbing at the scrapped knuckles with care. The scent of the cleansing alcohol filled the air with something biting and sterile.
Levi looked handsome.
He looked to be in some kind of melody like this; cleaning and dressing Eren’s wounds with gloves and a mask. He had his brows furrowed, focused and deep in thought. Eren didn’t mind the pain if this is what her eyes ought to feast upon.
“I don’t think you’ve met a lot of women who can turn into giant monsters, either,” Eren retorted.
Levi scoffed at her, playfulness edging the furrow of his eyes ever so slightly. Eren smiled at this, knowing his affections for her were the only thing preventing creeps of insecurity from clouding her thoughts.
After the fight, Levi dragged her by the arm. The chaos was so loud and so much that Eren could hardly make out what was happening until she was thrown into his office and told to sit down.
“Do I even want to ask about what caused this?” Levi asked, reaching for a set of gauze. His tone was cautious, but Eren still felt all the guilt run through her veins.
Eren tucked her lips into her mouth and avoided eye contact. Many responses bubbles behind her lips, some of them angry, some of them bitter, sad, jealous or hurt, but she kept her lips sealed. Walls forbid she confront Levi here and now on why he’s been ignoring her.
“Just some stupid fight,” Eren answered, glaring towards the floor. Levi hesitated a moment, but sighed and decidedly accepted Eren’s vague response.
Eren felt childish, but so be it. What did she do to deserve that kind of treatment from Levi, anyway? To have such an intimate experience in his office only to be ignored within the next weeks to come! It was like things have never happened between the two, and for awhile, Eren wondered if that was the case. Perhaps Levi slipping his hand into the confines of her underwear after she discovered his handwritten book was a well-thought out daydream of hers.
“It’s been a long time since you had a fight like this,” Levi continued, his voice patronizing in a way that grated Eren’s nerves. He said this while wrapping her hands carefully. “It sure doesn’t sound like just some fight.”
Eren lit up. “Don’t talk to me that way, Captain. I’m not some child you can talk to. If I tell you it’s just a fight then it’s just that. If I tell you we fought over the color of the sky then it’s just that.”
Levi appeared unaffected by the outburst. Eren held her eye contact, firm and unrelenting like the walls themselves.
“You’re bleeding.”
Eren blinked and looked down at the blots of cherry red that poked through her gauze. She swallowed at the sight, not realizing that her wounds were that severe.
“Oh,” Eren croaked.
“I’m sorry,” Levi relented. “I . . . I felt the need to pry because he punched you, Eren. I can’t explain how angry the sight made me feel.”
“So?” Eren scoffed, her voice suspended in disbelief. “Didn’t you kick my teeth out first? What a joke.”
Levi glared. “Stop. That was to protect you. We’ve been over this. Here, let me get you a fresh set of bandages—“
“And how do you know Jean didn’t punch me to protect me?” Eren launched herself from the chair and away from Levi. She crossed her arms and flexed her jaw.
“What are you saying, that Kirschtein has the hots for you?” Levi asked, his voice rising in anger.
Eren felt her insides bubble at Levi’s display of jealousy. Maybe she ought to push this forward, just to prove a point to no one in particular. What did she have to lose?
“It could’ve been a lover’s quarrel, for all you know,” Eren shrugged.
“It better not have.”
“Oh?” Eren cocked a brow. “And why is that?”
“Because I’ll have to add that to the report,” Levi explained so coldly that Eren felt herself suck in a breath.
As if out of a trance, Eren was back in Captain Levi’s office, where the man walked briskly behind his desk to sit. The daylight crept on his back, reflecting on the dancing particles of air and illuminating the paper on his desk. The air felt stiff, like it’d been an office all along.
Levi picked up a pen. “Well? Was this a lovers quarrel or not?”
Eren clenched her fists.
“No,” Eren spat out. “I think we’re done here.”
In a storm, she turned and left his office, making sure to slam the door behind her. The sound was loud enough to drown out the surprised yell of her Captain, but not of the sniffle of an oncoming cry.