"You should really be resting you know," Levi says as we walk side by side. He had just checked up on me and idiotically announced that he was going to go to the dungeons under the courthouse to wait till Eren woke up. I immediately sprung up from my cot in the infirmity at HQ and declared I was coming with him. He tried to wrestle me onto the bed again, saying that if I wasn't so "stupid" and "idiotic" I would be able to go. Well, actually I probably wouldn't be able to because only Commander Erwin and Levi were allowed to be near Eren, but I always follow Levi around everywhere so it should've been a no-brainer that I would be there too.
As I nearly skipped down the long and low-lit hallways, my side started to flare up with pain, but it wasn't as bad as before. The nurse gave me a few painkillers that I popped right in and some ice to stop the swelling. She also had to restitch the wound since I ripped them while helping Eren complete the mission to take back Trost.
"Stop skipping, you look ridiculous." I just rolled my eyes at the shorty and started to walk normally.
Out of nowhere as we rounded another corner, I let out a gasp, making Levi halt at my side and give me a somewhat irritated look.
"I need to get a book." The grouchy captain beside me rolls his eyes in annoyance.
"No way. I said you were grounded didn't I?"
"Wait, you were serious?" His deadpan expression tells me he was.
"B-But Levi! I'll...I'll die out of boredom if I don't read! Who knows how long that dumbass will sleep for! He's slept for almost a whole day before-"
"Shut it, kid. I don't care how bored you'll be; you're grounded and that's final." I let out a whine and collapse against a wall. Levi just lets out a huff, not even fazed by my actions, and drags me down the stairs to the dungeon. My feet plop down on each step as he basically wrenches my arm out of its socket.
"You're no fun short-stack," I mumble under my breath.
"What was that?"
I huff out a breath. "I said you're-"
"Ah, Levi, Soldier Y/, you're here," A deep voice says. Levi releases the arm he was dragging me by and I fall on my ass against the stone floor. I mentally flip him off inside my head as I get up and dust off my pants. Stupid little moody gremlin-
"Oi, salute your superior, brat." My mood changes completely when I realize that it was Commander Erwin's who spoke.
I give him my sharpest salute with a broad smile. I liked Commander Erwin; he was actually nice, unlike some people. Cough cough, my demon manchild superior.
"Hello, Commander!" I greet with a cheery smile.
"Kiss-ass," Levi mutters from behind me with a cough. My eye twitches with an overwhelming force to smack him upside the head, but I couldn't right now with Commander Erwin in front of us.
"Hello, Y/n, how's your injury doing?"
I shrug, "It's alright. Only had to get a few stitches." He nods. The commander was just wearing a regulatory uniform like everyone else but I saw something bulge out in his coat's pocket. Levi told me I had to stop being nosy but I brushed that to the back of my mind for right now.
"Commander Erwin, what's that?" I ask, pointing towards the rectangle-shaped outline on his clothing.
"Oh right, I knew you'd probably make Levi let you come down here," he brings the object out of his jacket, "so I thought I'd bring you this." He reveals a book in his hand- one I'd been screaming to Levi and Hanji about for the past couple of days.
The commander hands me the book and I snatch it out of his hands. "Thank you, commander!" He laughs as I cradle the book lovingly.
"You're welcome, Soldier. Levi mentioned how you've been wanting to read that book and I already had it so I thought I'd bring it down here for you." The world does not deserve this man.
I'm about to open the book, my face full of glee, but Levi jerks it out of my grip. My mood instantly turns agitated.
"Oi! What the hell-"
"You're still grounded." He says while clutching onto the book. He pulled it out of my reach when I got to grab it.
I lunge for the book again but he swings his arm away at the last second. From the corner of my eye I see Commander Erwin scoot a few feet away on the chair, he was sitting on minutes ago, probably not wanting to get involved with Levi and me. Even the guards standing down here moved a few feet away.
Deciding I had enough with this I let out an animalistic growl and charge at Levi. His eyes widen momentarily at my sudden actions as I full-on tackle him to the ground. My arms were around his and my body was half thrown across him as we landed with a thump against the hard ground.
Even though we're both still on the ground we don't stop fighting. He reached his arm out of my reach again while pushing away my snarling face away. I go to reach for the book again, but a new sense of determination filled within me so I decided to take things to the next level.
I made eye contact with Levi as I licked up the palm of my hand, making sure it got nice and slobbery and shoved it towards his face. He quickly drops the book and scurries away from me with a terrified and disgusted look.
I laugh maniacally while I hold the book to my chest and scoot up against the wall, feeling content that I could read again.
"You little demon child." I giggle even more at the repulsion in Levi's tone as he walks up to stand on the wall I was sitting against. He leans his body on it, arms crossed and a scowl on his mouth. Commander Erwin's deep chuckles echoed in the empty hallway after watching me and Levi's little dispute.
"She got you good Levi." He huffs out another laugh while Levi's lets out a tch. I could already imagine his sour expression on his face as my eyes skimmed over the words to the first page of the book. I definitely had to brag about getting ahold of this book to Armin later.
I had just finished the second chapter of the novel when I heard some muffled noises come from the cell across from me. Oh, I forgot Eren was down here.
I put the book down gently to the side and stood up. I ignore Levi's muttering to not get close as I walk over to the bars of the cell. I peer in and see Eren fidgeting in his sleep. Was he having a nightmare?
My hand goes to the dangling lock on the door, but I reach back when Levi calls out at me.
"What do you think you're doing, kid?" He peers at me, still leaning against the wall.
"Going to help my friend." I have to suppress the urge to say "duh" like it was obvious but I keep it in.
"No way." His face doesn't even hold the slightest bit of emotion as he speaks.
"And why not," I question. "It's not like he'll hurt me." The captain's eyes flicker in understanding. I always ranted about my friends to Levi whenever I had the chance and he would always listen, not like he had a choice though. I told him everything about them: I described their appearances, their likes and dislikes, and their attitudes and fighting styles- literally anything I could recall about them. Levi teased me after a while though when I spent a slightly longer time describing what Eren was like than the others.
"We don't know what he's-" Levi speaks again but I cut him off.
"But it's just Eren!" He ignores this.
"You couldn't even get in if you tried. I have the key dumbass," he states while smirking and patting his pocket.
"Oh, you mean this key," I say with a smirk while holding the metal key I snatched from him earlier while we were fighting.
His eyes widened as he searched his pockets looking for the key that I now possessed in my hand. Once he realized that I did in fact take the key right off of him he sprinted towards me but I was already on Eren's side of the cell. I took the key and locked the padlock hanging off the cell bars.
Once I secured my place inside the chamber I looked up to see Levi with a pissed-off expression and Commander Erwin with an amused one.
"She got you again, Levi. That's twice in one day," he says with a slight chuckle but suppresses it from Levi's deadly glare. He cleared his throat. "Don't you have the spare on you? Just use that to get her out."
Levi still sports a pissy look but he nods and reaches into his pocket to pull out the spare, only to find it not there.
I smirk at the shorty when his eyes shoot to my hand where I swung the spare key from its string around my fingers. Commander Erwin lets a bellowing laugh at this. It's a deep sound that comes all the way from his gut; it's so genuine, and it makes Levi look like he's about to explode, that I begin to slightly chuckle with him.
"Looking for this, Levi?" I say in a sickly sweet tone that makes his face turn a faint shade of red in anger. I keep the smirk on my face, blocking the slight fear that was running through me. He's going to murder me later.
Levi starts to walk towards me and I've never been so grateful for those metal bars for keeping him from ripping my fucking head off.
"How did you even-"
I cut him off, might as well enjoy seeing him mad while I safe from where I was. "Why would you keep both the main key and the spare key on you, Captain? That doesn't seem very smart of you."
Commander Erwin speaks up for him. "He said no one would be stupid enough to try to take it from him, and if they did he'd kill them in a second." Commander Erwin's face is beet red from concealing more laughter that's trying to escape his mouth.
It was a good thing Levi was so mad that he didn't even think to use my book as leverage to bring me out because if he did I'd leave in a heartbeat. Forget Eren, I would save my baby without hesitation if it came down to it.
After a few moments of my victorious smiling Levi's face grows serious. "Okay, Y/n, you've had your fun. Time to get out now."
"No, I think I'm fine right here." I slowly back up so I'm right by the side of the bed Eren was sleeping on. I momentarily frown at the handcuffs around his wrists. Titan boy was still sleeping, but he wasn't fidgeting as much anymore.
"Y/n back away from him, it's not safe!" Levi's hands are gripped around the cell's bars. His knuckles grow white from how hard he's strangling them.
"Levi, chill. He's just sleeping." I wave my hand over Eren's closed eyes. "See, it's fine!"
He still looks pissy, but less concerned- so I decide to toy with him for just a little longer.
"Y/n get your face away from him!" I ignored him and continued to inch my face closer to his. I turn my head so it's parallel to the ground and I'm staring right at Levi. I could tell his brotherly instinct was kicking in from my short distance away from the teenage boy, and the fact that he was sort of a titan.
"What? Afraid he's gonna turn into a titan and bite my-" I let out a shriek when Eren flies forward, his eyes wide open and breathing shaky. I hear struggling from my other side of the bars and look find Levi trying to shimmy his way through. I don't know how but I choke down the chuckle threatening to come out of me.
"Y/n? Where am I? What's happening-"
"Eren! You're awake! It's about goddamn time too," I say while slapping his shoulder. He still looks confused as shit so I turn towards Commander Erwin and Levi, signaling they could tell Eren what was going on.
"Scoot over," I say while nudging his shoulder.
Eren makes room for me on his tiny bed and I plop down beside him. We sit so that he's still facing the commander and Levi, giving them his full attention, while I face my body towards him. Grabbing his hands, I pulled them over into my lap so I could try to pick the locks with my hairpin. I ignored the two soldiers on the other side of the chamber's bars while they spoke to Eren and just concentrated on my task at hand.
After a short minute, my neck began to hurt so I just placed it on Eren's shoulder, using it as a headrest. I feel him tense up but then after a second he relaxes with a soft, barely audible sigh and places his head atop of mine- but he quickly straightens up, moving the heavy weight off of my head. I roll my eyes with a low grumble. Levi probably gave him one of his famous death glares.
While the two soldiers were talking to Eren, I picked up that they wanted him to be placed under Levi's watch from now on- which I was more than okay with. Believe it or not, it's not all too fun being the only teenager around adults all day, even if some were only in their twenties.
A few more minutes had passed by and Commander Erwin and Levi got ready to leave, but I didn't move from Eren's side.
"Y/n, I take it you're staying?" Levi asks. He didn't seem very mad anymore but I wasn't taking any chances to leave this temporary haven.
"Yup," I say while smiling. He just lets out a tch, but then he smirks deviously at me.
"You better enjoy it while it lasts."
My eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "Enjoy what?"
"Being alive," he says darkly. When our eyes connected I swear I saw my impending doom in his steel-grey eyes. A small shiver went up to my spine. Yup, he was going to murder me.
Commander Erwin began to scold Levi as they both left, their footsteps echoing in the dungeon hallways. All who were left down here were me, Eren, and the two guards posted outside the cell.
"I don't think you're going to be able to-" The boy beside me was cut off by the clink of one of his manacles unlatching and falling off his wrist.
"You were saying..." I grin up at him. He grins back while looking down at his now free wrist.
"How'd you do that?" He asked excitedly. It was cute: his teal eyes were wide in a thrill and his lips peaked up at each corner. I place my head back onto his shoulder as I blush to myself.
"I don't know, I just stuck this in the hole and moved it around," I said while shrugging.
Eren snorts from beside me.
I pick my head up and smack him on the shoulder. "God, you're such a boy."
He just laughs at my annoyance and lets me go back to picking the other lock. It was silent for a few moments; the only sound that echoed in the chamber was the clinking of my hairpin against the lock and Eren's breathing light from next to me.
"How's your side?" Eren asks, breaking the silence.
"It still hurts," I mumble, deciding to be honest. I hear him sign from beside me. He's probably suppressing the urge to say "I told you so" but he doesn't say anything.
Clink.
The other manacle on Eren's other wrist snaps off and falls softly onto the bed. I smirk in satisfaction at my work, mentally patting myself on the back.
"Thank you."
I just hummed in reply and kept my head on Eren's shoulder. My eyes began to slowly close; the exhaustion from today began to catch up with me.
"Hey, Y/n..." I opened my eyes and peered up at Eren, tilting my head so I could see him clearly. He looked slightly nervous and a light blush settled onto his cheeks.
"Yeah?" He took a breath and looked me in the eyes.
"U-Uh, nevermind," he says while rubbing the back of his neck. I would've pestered him to tell me what was really wrong but I really didn't want to go into any deep talks when there were two guards posted right outside of the door.
His attempt to ask me a question forgotten, I hold my arm in front of his chest and push his back so its lands on the cot.
"What're you-"
"Shh. I want to sleep," I say with a yawn and snuggle against his shoulder. I smirked when I felt his breathing hitch from the contact.
After a few moments, I felt a soft, even breath fanning my cheek. I turn my head to see Eren's face titled right next to mine. I take a few seconds to study his gentle features. And to think he could've really been dead only a few hours ago. That thought brought me to tears.
My eyes watered as I pushed my face closer into the thin fabric of Eren's shirt. Tiny sobs that I couldn't contain escaped my lips.
"Y/n?" Oh shit, he was awake now.
I don't answer him, I just nestle into his shoulder even more and continue to cry softly. This is so embarrassing.
"Y/n, look at me." His voice was pained. I shook my head. He let out an exhale as he turned his body so it was facing me. "Open your eyes y/n," he says softly while cupping one of my cheeks and brushing away my tears.
I reluctantly open them, and I have to smother another sob as his blue eyes stare intently into mine.
"Why are you crying?"
"I-I thought I lost you today." A headache started to form at my temples from trying to keep my blubbering sobs in. "I thought y-you were dead, that I'd n-never see you again," I whimper trying not to cry.
Eren instantly grabs onto my body and brings it to his chest. "Don't worry. I'm here," he says while rubbing my back. I let out another choked sob against his chest. "It's okay, let it all out."
My arms wrap around his middle, making us move even closer to one another, and I let out all the emotions I kept so hidden today. The boy's soft patting on my head eventually soothed me into a peaceful sleep as we stayed huddled close together for the rest of the night.
𝐚/𝐧
𝐛𝐲𝐞 𝐢 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫
𝐀𝐋𝐒𝐎 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐍𝐊 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝟐𝐊 𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐃𝐒 𝐎𝐌𝐆𝐅𝐃𝐆𝐀𝐊𝐉𝐇𝐒 𝐈𝐋𝐘 𝐀𝐋𝐋