A couple of days passed until Erwin was finally due back from some work in town. Everyone was eager for his arrival, it always seemed less stressful when he was around. He was a serious person, sometimes distant, but he was always helpful. Often joked around with everyone when off duty, too. So it wasn't a surprise when people appeared happier.

Also today was one of the rare occasions the weather was pleasurable. Not just the normal sunshine, but clear skies and a fresh breeze. Replacing the typically dull atmosphere with a much warmer, lazier one. Making most of the team come up with excuses to push training back another hour.

Rivaille walked out into the courtyard, waiting for Erwin to arrive. He was pleased knowing he was back, but the idea of him coming in between Rivaille's plans for Eren annoyed him. It was selfish really, and even after Hanji confirmed it wasn't Erwin he still felt unsure. Regardless, he would be out here to greet his friend and-

Wait. Was that Erwin, with Eren?

He blocked out the sun with his hand, staring at the males. They stood in the shade of the building, out of earshot to anyone who passed by. It looked as if Eren was doing most of the talking, as per usual, making hand gestures to support whatever he was saying. Erwin stood there, listening intently, staring at the boy.

The Corporal scoffed at started walking towards them, picking up pace. It must have been obvious, seeing as they both immediately looked in his direction. Before he reached them Erwin turned to Eren, ruffled his hair - which made Rivaille somewhat pissed off - and sent him away.

"Ah Rivaille!" Erwin called out, visibly annoyed at his previous discussion being cut short.

"Sorry to interrupt your conversation with the brat." he nodded his head in the direction Eren ran off in, sarcasm dripping off every word.

"No worries." he chuckled lightly, "Wasn't anything too serious."

"So it was serious?"

"Depends on how you view it. I can sort it myself, don't worry about it."

"It must be serious if he went to you, commander, instead of any of us."

"Rivaille. It doesn't concern you." Erwin's tone changed, showing how frustrated he was getting. "However we will need to discuss his progress soon, routine check up."

"Tch, very well. Anyway, its good to have you back."

"It's good to be back."

The two walked onwards, reviewing Erwin's duties in town. Rivaille decided not to bring up Eren again until the meeting. He could always find out what it was about later, but he felt disappointed that the brat opted to go to Erwin instead of him. He pushed it to the back of his mind and continued on as normal.

~x~

Rivaille was taking his time on the way to Erwin's office, regardless of the fact he was already running a few minutes late.

"Corporal!" Eren stumbled up towards him, saluting.

"Eren - at ease. I was just looking for you."

"What, seriously? I was looking for you too, actually. I-"

"Erwin wants to speak with us. Hanji too. It's best we don't keep them waiting too long, come." Rivaille lied. No one mentioned Eren having to be there, but it was about him so surely no one would oppose him joining in.

"Sir, please I need to tell you something."

"Tch, can't it wait?"

"W-well yes but..." Eren blushed and looked away, trying his best to avoid eye contact.

"Then tell me later." he argued, leading them towards the study.

"Yes sir."

Rivaille entered the study, closely followed by Eren. The room was fairly big and was well lit due to large windows placed along the back wall. An old wooden desk sat in the middle, battle plans pushed aside to make elbow space. Bookcases lined the walls, filled with old and new books. Most of them had been left from the last time the castle was in use, so it was pointless transporting them out seeing as they were back. A couple of mis-matched chairs were placed in front of the desk.

Hanji grinned as they entered, leaning back in one of the chairs. Erwin greeted them and motioned for them to sit, taking his place in the seat behind the desk.

"Hanji has filled me in on some areas, as far as I know in the short time we've been here Eren has improved."

Rivaille scoffed and crossed his legs. "Thanks to the others he's an average with basic maneuvering skill, but with the more advanced techniques the brat will get eaten in no time if he attempts them."

"Maybe you should give him some private lessons." Hanji butted in, winking slyly.

"I'm sure that can be arranged. Can't it, Rivaille?"

Everyone turned to him, even Eren who looked genuinely intrigued.

"Tch, I don't have time for that."

"Oh come on now, you were the one who said only you could do it."

"Yeah! You have to take care of what's yours, like I am." Hanji said as a matter-of-factly.

"Uhm, Squad Leader I'm not-"

"You can't possibly be comparing him to those couple of shitty titans you have?!"

"Hey they have names! It's only natural you spend some personal time with the kid, so he's comfortable before throwing him in the deep end."

Rivaille glared at her, half tempted to throw her out the window.

"That's totally agreeable. How do you expect him to take it all in if you haven't prepared him first."

After nearly choking and bursting into a coughing fit, Eren slid down in his chair trying to reduce his presence. Not that it mattered anyway, they were already talking as if he wasn't in the room.

"See! He's so excited he's choking already."

Or so he thought.

"Hanji I-"

"Now. Regarding his titan form?"

Hanji clasped her hands together. "Still as magnificent as ever."

"The brat transformed because of a spoon. That's hardly magnificent." Rivaille rolled his eyes. As humorous as it was he still couldn't believe it was over something so pathetic.

Her face turned serious for a moment, which made her seem scarier than normal."We've figured out the cause. So if he shifts in the future without us knowing, he will more than likely have ill intentions."

"IF that happens, I will be there ready."

Rivaille just wanted to leave already. This so called meeting wasn't going how he hoped. Although he wasn't picking up on anything abnormal between Eren and Erwin, so that was a good sign.

"I'm sure it won't come down to that, now will it, Eren?"

"No si-"

"Of course not, Eren's a good boy. I have the reports of his progress downstairs so you'll have to come with me." Immediately she shot up, grabbing Erwin's arm across the table. "It won't take long."

"You say that every time, Hanji." he rolled his eyes and allowed himself to be dragged towards the door. "I'll see you two at dinner."

He smirked and left, their absence filling the room with silence. This time it was awkward, seeing as both of them caught onto what was being suggested. He expected it from Hanji, but certainly not Erwin. He huffed, turning to face Eren who was now closely inspecting the books around the room.

The Corporal watched as he absent-mindedly stroked the spine of a book, picked it out to inspect the inside before moving onto the next one. It was quite relaxing, watching the same movements over again. Plus he got a nice view of his ass.

After a couple of minutes Eren stood back and scanned through all the titles, his face filled with frustration.

"What? You looking for something specific?" Rivaille got up and stood next to him.

"Kinda... That one with all the different tales."

"Didn't have you down as someone who likes fairy-tales, Yeager."

Eren turned to him, face flushed red.

"N-no, I um..." he hesitated, god he looks cute flustered. "When I was younger my friend's granddad owned it, he occasionally read them to us. I just thought it would be nice to read it again with them when they joined us here... Sir."

Rivaille inwardly smiled at the mental image, pushing aside the butterflies in his stomach.

"You read it often?"

"Yeah we uh, we stole it once and hid it somewhere in town so we could read it whenever we pleased." he paused, grinning while holding back a laugh. "We got so worried about getting wrong for stealing it that we planned on running away. Turns out he knew we had it all along." Eren chuckled nervously, avoiding eye contact.

Rivaille hummed in response. Bending down he reached over and took a book from the bottle shelf, grimacing as dust covered his palm. Wasn't this all supposed to be clean? He blew off whatever he could before turning to give it to Eren.

"This is it, I believe. Keep it. Its unlikely anyone will search for it looking at the amount of filth on it."

"T-Thank you, sir."

Eren accepted it happily, flicking through the first couple of pages.

"The one where she nearly gets eaten is my favourite." It was his turn to look away now. Especially since the reader typically wanted the girl to be eaten, when they lived in a world where that was the last thing someone wanted.

"I didn't have you down as someone who likes fairy-tales, Corporal."

"Tch I grew up with them too, brat." He punched him - lightly - on the shoulder, earning a melodramatic surprised face.

He smirked, turning towards the door. "We should leave, I have better things to do."

"Sir wait... I need to tell you something,"

He hesitated before holding the door open. In all honesty he wanted to know what he had to say, but the phrase 'I need to tell you something' was one he tended to avoid. Nothing good ever came from that sentence. If so it was always for the other person, and mostly meant they were leaving. He had heard too many goodbyes his lifetime, which is the reason why he never allowed himself to get close to anyone. But it was too late for that. It was only a matter of time before the boy finally declared his love for someone else. He didn't want to hear it. Plus they had wasted enough time already, and he really had to deal with the neglected paperwork sat on his desk

"Like I said before, later. I have paperwork to do."

"I could always come and help, sir? It would get done quicker."

"...Alright. I have some things to sort out first, so come to my office in a couple of hours."

Rivaille walked out, letting the door shut behind him. This really wasn't what he planned. He was hoping to avoid, but he ended up making plans with him. Rivaille frowned to himself. They didn't make plans, the brat offered to help. He decided upon waiting awhile before going to find Hanji, giving her enough time to talk Erwin's ear off.

A good hour passed before Rivaille managed to track her down. He was beginning the think she was avoiding him, but it's normally the other way around. Still, she knew more about this situation than he did. From the lack of affection towards Erwin from Eren earlier, he was more convinced it wasn't him and he was just letting jealousy get in the way. Which is rare from him. Normally he manages to suppress his emotions and not let them cloud his judgement, but when it involved Eren... All of that was out the window.

When Rivaille found her she was gliding through the corridors, complaining to Erd about how she should be able to slide around in her socks if she wished. This wasn't the first time she had done this. It was rare to go a week or so without a loud bang being heard from somewhere, followed by Hanji limping around complaining. Someone would have to convince her to stop before the new recruits arrived.

"Oi, Hanji. Quit acting childish and come help me."

"What is it?" she asked, bouncing along happily beside him. She practically knew what this was about anyway.

Once alone in the corridors he replied. "Let's just cut to the chase, who is it?"

"I can't tell you. But I'm sure if you watch him close enough you'll guess it." She patted him on the shoulder for some sort of comfort. Watch him? That's exactly what he's been doing. Unable to admit that, he settled for a simple "I don't have time.".

Hanji stopped and crossed her arms, attempting to look deep in thought.

"Well, he does tend to stare at this person a lot. An awful lot, actually, especially during meals." She continued, not giving him a chance to reply. "He tends to be more flustered around them too, which is adorable in itself. But you better act quick, he seems a lot more on edge today."

"On edge?"

Hanji nodded. "Didn't anything happen after the meeting?"

"No, nothing happened."

"Shame... Oh well! Maybe he'll grow a pair." She muttered to herself. "You know, for someone who 'doesn't have time' you don't seem to be doing much."

"Tch, I'm being more productive than you."

She snickered at him and started sliding off in the opposite direction. Rivaille sighed and retreated to his office, deciding it would be best not to pry further only to end up being teased. Though he still had some time before the brat would show his face.

Rivaille was running out of options. He could continue running around like a blind fool, or confront the boy. And by confronting him he means telling him about his own feelings. Which was something he would rather not do.

The Corporal felt foolish. Even Hanji managed to figure it out. Normally he was good at deciphering things, yet with this he couldn't. It couldn't have been him. Rivaille almost laughed at that. The chances of that being true were highly unlikely, in his mind.

However now that he thought about it more, it all fit. The long stares during lunch, the over-reacting when getting hurt. All the times he blushed and stumbled on his words... Rivaille figured he was like that with everyone. Oh god. What if it was him.

A couple of knocks at the door startled him. Looking up and grabbing the nearest pen, he called the boy in.

A/N: Okay please excuse all errors, I haven't slept in like a day and I really wanted to just upload this

I'm currently working on some other stories too which should be done soon, and school is starting but believe it or not that'll mean I will be uploading a lot more often. Plus I'm getting back into the flow of writing =w=

I may just go for it and attempt some smut for the next chapter? I say attempt because i've never wrote any before... first time for everything right?^^ I will see how it goes but yeah I may have to bump up the rating. Thank you all for the follows and everything! Apologies for taking forever too.