Raspberries

After living without a mother and father figure for quite a while, Eren has become familiar with no longer using the words "mom" and "dad" as a part of his vocabulary. In fact, referring to others as "sir" or "squad leader" have become the norm for him. But everyone's opt to make a mistake once in their lives. A simple slip of the tongue happens to the best of people, and on a night after a particularly rigorous cleaning session, it happened to Eren.

Busy soldiers were hungry soldiers, and after a full day of dusting and sweeping, Eren swore that he could have eaten an entire horse. Luckily for him, their meal plan for the evening consisted of a meaty stew, steamed potatoes, and a slice of bread; not exactly a horse, but it would definitely suffice.

Once everything had been set on the table and everyone had gathered around to receive their portions, Corporal Levi announced, "I'm actually impressed today. Instead of the subpar job that you always do, I'd say that we've reached a level of mediocrity. Good job."

Although it wasn't the greatest compliment the Corporal's squad could have received, they all figured that it was better than nothing, and that it was definitely better than having to redo their chores all over again.

After everyone was seated and had begun to eat, it wasn't the least bit shocking that Corporal Levi had more to say about their cleaning job. They'd done a mediocre job, not a fantastic one, so of course he would have to provide some input. Turning his attention toward the far end of the table, he started with Auruo. "You were in charge of removing the weeds from the cobblestones, correct?"

Auruo hadn't expected to be called on first, so with a cheek full of bread, he answered, "Mm! Yesh, shir!" It was a miracle he hadn't bitten his tongue while trying to say that.

The Corporal hadn't found his fellow soldier's mouth full of food the least bit appealing, but chose not to comment on it. It wasn't like he really had to, though; his disgust had been plastered all over his face. "I noticed that you missed a few dandelions. Remove those as well, next time."

Auruo's eyes went wide. He swallowed. "Dandelions are weeds, sir?" That was news to him. He'd always thought that they were little yellow flowers, kind of like a buttercup.

"Yes, they are weeds," Corporal Levi replied. "And like I said, I want them removed."

"Understo-kack!" Well, it had to have happened at some point.

On that note, the Corporal moved onto his next subordinates: Gunther and Erd. "You two were a pair and were in charge of cleaning the windows, am I right?"

Erd answered first, by saying, "That's right, sir! How did we do?"

"You did alright, however, you forgot to clean the windows on the watch tower."

Upon hearing Corporal Levi's comment, both Erd and Gunther looked at each other accusingly. "Erd, I thought you said that you were going to clean them!"

"I never said that!" Erd retorted. "You're the one who said that you'd take care of them!"

An unsettling aura loomed over the dining table as Gunther and Erd continued to bicker about who said what, but that didn't hinder the Corporal from moving on to his next soldier: Petra. "You were able to do a lot of laundry today, Petra. I'm very impressed."

"Thank you, sir!" Petra said cheerfully, as she put down her spoon. Receiving compliments like that from her Corporal always caused her to smile.

"Next time, try using cold water when you're washing shirts or anything that's made of thin material. I've been finding that some of my clothes aren't fitting properly lately."

Petra took Corporal Levi's advice to heart and nodded her head. "I'll remember that, sir."

Lastly, Corporal Levi's gaze shifted over to Eren, who was practically bursting with excitement to hear what his Corporal had to say about his cleaning job. The young soldier had worked so hard, sweeping the floors and dusting the window sills, that he was positive he would be blowing dust out of his nose for weeks. That had to amount to some praise, right?

"Eren," Corporal Levi stated, and for whatever reason, his voice had changed its tune. When speaking with the newest member of his squadron, he tended to sound a lot more relaxed, almost fatherly. "Seeing as you still have dust stuck to your hair, I can tell that you really tried your best today."

Suddenly self-conscious about his appearance, Eren began to nervously laugh and swat at his hair. Was there really still dust in there? Was it really a smart idea to play with his dusty hair while there was food present? Nonetheless, he responded honestly, "Well, yeah. I did as much as I could to try and impress you..."

For the past week or so, Eren had been getting the short end of the stick. Some days their Corporal would be impressed with Erd's cleaning job; somedays it would be Gunther and Auruo, and somedays it would be Petra, but there had never yet been a day where Corporal Levi had told Eren that he had actually made a worthy impression. He always had a comment, a critique, or worst of all, an order to redo the entire thing. Today had been the day that Eren had hoped for better, and when his Corporal opened his mouth to speak, he held his breath and listened to every single word.

"Well, you've succeeded, Eren," he said. "I have nothing to say about your task other than that it was a job well done. Keep up the good work."

For a second, Eren had forgotten that he was still holding his breath. The fact that he had ended up gasping with joy was a good thing for more reasons than one, one of those reasons being that his chest had started to compress from its lack of oxygen. "Wait, really?!" Eren asked, wanting to make sure that he had heard his superior properly. "I did a good job?!"

With a curt nod, Corporal Levi finally took to eating his meal. Before bringing a spoonful of stew to his mouth, however, he'd managed to add, "You did. I'm proud of you."

I'm proud of you.

Eren hadn't heard those words in quite some time. Not very many people were proud of him these days, but knowing that his Corporal was had brought a whole new sense of purpose to him. He wanted to hear those words again. He wanted to have them spoken to him over and over again. Eren would continue to strive just like he had today, and he would continue to make Corporal Levi proud of him.

Just after the Corporal had taken the first sip of his stew, Eren had sputtered something so ridiculous that could have caused him to choke. With a bright smile and a cheerful tone, the young soldier happily said, "Thank you, Dad!"

There had been idle chatter amongst the other members of the squad, not to mention the fact the Gunther and Erd were still quarreling, but the moment that such a phrase had left Eren's lips, everything fell silent. Even with such a dramatic drop in sound, it had taken Eren more than a couple of seconds to realize his error, and boy, did it hit him hard.

With apologies lingering on his tongue, his face went redder than a raspberry. He couldn't comprehend how something so stupid could have possibly come out of his mouth, but it was far too late to take it back. The others were already murmuring their concerns, wondering if they'd actually heard their fellow squad member correctly.

This couldn't be happening. This could not be happening to him. He couldn't take it. A moment so inspiring had gone sour at the drop of a single word. Out of sheer embarrassment, Eren stood up from the table and fled from the dining hall.

Little did he know that, while in his absence, the Corporal had accepted his little remark with an open-minded attitude. With a sip from his tea cup and another spoonful of his stew, the room fell silent once again, as he casually muttered, "Not bad."

Hello there! Chappy here! :D

Wow, gosh. It's been ages since I've posted a drabble. Honestly, I have to apologize for that. Writing chapter updates every week for "Feathers and Follies" has really had me busy, so writing drabbles on the side just kinda didn't happen. Again, I really apologize for that. orz

But guess what! This week is Ereri Week, and I'm planning on posting a new drabble everyday for the rest of this week! Isn't that exciting? :D

Today is Day 1, and the prompt is "Embarrassment". I think you can all guess what Eren was embarrassed about. (;

Anywho, I'm going to stop rambling now! I hope you enjoyed this little drabble, and as always, thank you for taking the time to read! (:

- Chappy