...Cleaning...
You and Eren rode with the rest of the Levi Squad to their formal Headquarters.
One of the guys, Oruo, who spoke like his tongue was too big of a size for his mouth, just finished explaining that the Scouts abandoned this HQ because it was too impractical.
"Now, don't get too cocky, kids," he said. "I don't care if you're a titan, and I for sure don't care if you've killed over thirty titans on your first day. I just can't wrap my head around the fact that Captain Levi needs to spend his time babysitting both of your premature asses."
"Ah, I see now," you said, a smug smirk forming. "Come on, there's no need for a man in his fourties to get jealous of two teenagers taking away your darling Captain's attention away. Not our fault we're so awesome."
"Who're you calling 'in his fourties'? I'm not even in my goddamn twenties yet!"
You did a double take, mouth parting in pure shock. "What? You're lying!"
"You better watch your mouth, you tiny little-" He bit on his tongue and blood spurted out.
You guided your horse out of the way. "Gross! That's what you get for being insecure and lying about your age. Don't be ashamed about being middle-aged. Look on the bright side! Just count yourself lucky that your flesh must be so disgusting that the titans don't even want you yet, right?"
He tried arguing back but all that came out of his mouth was blood and blabbering. Once you all arrived at the castle, there weren't many introductions, other than the fact that Levi forced a broom into your hand and told you all to get to work.
You and Eren split the top floor into halves to be in charge of. You mopped the floors, scrubbed the furniture, swept the cobwebs, and dusted the chandeliers. You were a fairly clean person who couldn't stand dirty places because you simply hated ugly things. You finished around the same time as Eren so both of you left to search for Levi.
"We're done with the upstairs, sir," he said. "And uh, if I may ask, Captain, where will I be expected to sleep?"
"The cellar."
He groaned. "But sir, again?"
"Your abilities aren't even under your own control yet. It's the safest option. That way, we can monitor you and make sure you don't pull your titan move in your sleep."
"That's valid." You pointed to yourself. "What about me, sir?"
He waved his hand carelessly. "I don't care. Sleep wherever you want. There are a lot of rooms here."
You grinned. "You hear that, Eren? I get a bed and you don't."
"Don't rub it off me," he grumbled.
"I'll check your work," said Levi. "If it's anything short of spotless, you're both redoing it."
"Oh, in that case, when you go up the stairs, left side's Eren's and right side's mine," you told him and he nodded, turning the corner.
"Don't mind him," said Petra, the only other girl on the team, coming into the room. "Just off of first impressions, he may seem a little mean, not like the hero everyone paints him to be, but you'll get used to him."
"I just didn't expect him to be so serious," said Eren. "He doesn't really seem like the type of guy to follow orders so strictly."
"You know what I hear?" asked Petra, lowering her voice, readying to spill some gossip. "Apparently, he was pretty famous in the Underground City as a roller for the Black Market. And then I heard that Commander Erwin offered him some teasets or something, so he agreed to join the Scouts."
You let out a laugh. "Teasets? He abandoned such a cool lifestyle for tea?"
"Well, tea is expensive."
"What's going on." Levi walked in and Petra pretended to hum a song while she mopped the floor. He scowled at Eren. "The left side is atrocious. Back upstairs. Now."
"Yes, sir." Eren hurried out the door.
"What about the right side?" you asked.
"Not bad." And then he left. You whipped your head back to Petra with a smug little smile.
"Wow, you must've cleaned really well if he didn't ask you to redo it," she said. "He tells everyone to redo things, so we've all just learned by now to clean everywhere twice."
"Why's he so clean for? From what I hear, soldiers usually don't even bathe themselves." But you would never be caught dead unbathed.
"Who knows?" She shrugged. "Y/n, right? I'm Petra. It's nice to finally have another girl on the team. The men can get pretty irritating after a long time."
"Yeah, they're just so stupid sometimes. And it's not like they can even help it. Their brains are just wired way weaker than ours," you said, wiggling your fingers around your head.
She laughed. "You're strong and you're funny? Must be nice. I only have ten titan kills under my belt. Guess I have a lot to learn from you."
"Oh no, I'm not all that," you said, beating down the feeling of arrogance that was surging up way too high. "I kill because I like the thrill of it. Not because I want to contribute to humanity or whatever. Being a Scout just adds honor to it. Gives me an excuse to let it out of my system."
"Hmm, maybe that's what you think, but what's important is that the titans get killed before they can take more lives. So from that angle, you're basically a hero."
You raised an eyebrow, nodding, getting her point. "I like you, Petra. From now on, we're friends. We'll get each other through all the bullshit the men will put us through."
"Alright!" She held up a hand and you clapped it.
. * . *
At dinner, which consisted of practically nothing besides only tea, they spoke of a mission that would take place in a month, which would involve Eren. The moment they brought him up, just by their faces, it was clear that none of them trusted him one bit.
Someone banged against the door from the outside and Petra went to open it. "Good evening, Levi Squad! How is living in the castle working for you all?" Hange walked over and rested her hands on both the backs of you and Eren's chairs. "So here's the thing, Eren. I'm in charge of conducting titan research and since you're here, I'll be needing your help from now on."
"Help you? How?"
"Join me on a quest of scientific discovery, of course!" She plastered on this deranged smile that felt weirdly welcoming to you. Then she turned to you. "And of course, Y/n's always welcome to tag along as not only your girlfriend but also your moral support."
Eren spat out his tea onto the ground. "What?!" You both screamed at the same time. "I'm not his girlfriend!" "She's not my girlfriend!"
"No?" Hange peered under the table. "Well aren't the two of you sitting awfully close?"
"That's because the table's too small to fit us all," Eren quickly defended.
"Could've just told us sooner." You scooted your seat away from him towards the corner of the table. In the Training Corps, and here too now? You directed your scowl to everyone else. "What do you think you're all looking at?" Some averted their eyes but the others stayed staring shamelessly.
"Oops. Sorry for the misunderstanding. Anyhow, Levi! What've you got planned for the both of them tomorrow?"
"Clearing out the weeds."
"Great!" She put her hands on you and Eren's shoulders. "Tomorrow will be the grandest day of your young lives."
"What're we doing?" you asked. "Will it be fun?"
Her eyes glimmered under the torchlight. "Fun will be an understatement, young lady."
"So, uh, what are we going to do?" asked Eren. "Do you run experiments or something?"
"Idiots, shut up," muttered Oruo.
Hange smiled, flashing all her teeth. "What's this? Is it curiosity and interest I sense?" Suddenly, the rest of the team including Levi all got up from their seats. They left without a word. "Since my new friends are so eager to learn, let me start off from the very beginning."
For the entire rest of the night, she poured out everything she learned about titans. From her experiments, to their natural lifestyles, and she even included in there a little side story about some cannibals. She introduced her new titans Sawney and Bean, and when you expressed your interest, she practically hugged you and promised you'd get to meet them.
By morning, all three of you had dark circles, having had no sleep. Eren's head had been resting on your shoulder since two hours ago but you were perfectly wide awake, taking in everything Hange was talking about. Sleep was never your best friend anyway.
Someone suddenly barged in and Eren jolted up, his head hitting your cheek. "Ow!" You shoved him away, who was too drowsy to realize what just happened.
"Section Commander Hange, please come quickly!"
"Moblit? What's this about?"
"The test subjects! They're dead! Both of them killed!"
Hange jumped up and wailed in horror, tongue out, hands shaking in the air and all.
You sulked. "Aw damn, I really wanted to meet them too."
"I know, darling!" She grabbed both your shoulders and you could see tears welling up in her eyes. "They would've loved meeting you too! We will avenge them by finding out who did this!"
All of you got onto your horses and got to the experimental sight in no time. All that was left of Sawney and Bean were their decaying skeletons. Hange had basically been sobbing the whole ride there and hadn't stopped since. Her shirt was already wet, stained with tears.
Suddenly, you felt a hand on your shoulder. "What do you two think you see?" Erwin had his head popped in-between you and Eren. "Who do you think the enemy is?"
Chills ran down your back. "Hah, you?"
He turned to you with an intrigued look, a thick eyebrow raised.
"That was a bad joke. What's up, sir?"
"No, I should be the one sorry. That was an odd question to ask of you two." He took his hands off and headed out of the site just like that.
"What the hell was that about?" asked Eren.
"I don't know," you said. "But I really want his advice on how to scare people. I even got goosebumps, look." You lifted up your sleeve for him to see.
He scoffed. "He was not that scary."
You took a step back and scoffed as well. "Aren't you one to talk, always getting scared by me back then."
"I was ten!"
"So you're saying the next time I scare you, you won't scream?" He said nothing. You nodded. "Yeah, yeah, that's what I thought."