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Eren hated being on kitchen duty just before their weekly supplies trip to town. He hated having nothing to work with, having no ingredients to use, and no room or freedom to cook anything substantial. Usually though… usually it wasn't quite this bad.
He looked at the sad remnants of food left in the storage. Flour. Sugar. Emergency supply crackers. A few eggs. The last bottle of milk. Stale bread.
Eren sighed deeply; just what was he supposed to do with this? There weren't even any vegetables to throw into a pot and call soup, not enough eggs to make them scrambled or anything, nothing to make a spread from to put on the stale bread. There was really only one thing to make came to mind and Eren… Eren really really didn't want to make that. It was sweet, considered a simple dessert and definitely not a full meal with all the nutrients a soldier needed. Not to mention he hated sweets, hated food that didn't properly fill his stomach and just made him thirsty.
Judging by the lack of supplies, however, he couldn’t do anything else, could he?
The titan shifter bit back a groan and glanced at the clock, calculating the time in his head. He had about an hour before the squad came down here for breakfast while the food he was about to make would take maybe 20 minutes to prepare so he might as well just clean the kitchen in the meantime. Connie had been on kitchen duty yesterday after all; Eren better make sure the place was damn spotless before the Captain comes in and finds stray potato peels under the counter or cracker crumbs behind the cupboard.
And so, Eren expertly tied a handkerchief around his head to keep his growing hair out of his eyes and got to work. With the practice living with the tiny, strict clean freak of a superior gave him, he guessed scrubbing the tiny kitchen shouldn't take more than half an hour. Then he could actually start cooking.
"Eren," the captain addressed him in his usual flat voice void of any emotion. "What is this?"
Eren was almost afraid to look at him. That question alone was enough to make everyone around the table gasp, the rest of the squad worried that Eren had unknowingly completely fucked up and Eren was worried right along with them. He did know his choice of breakfast was very… lacklustre but he also knew he didn't have much choice and he was ready to defend himself against his superior. Even if it meant he would be on stable duty for the rest of the year.
But when his eyes finally settled on Levi, Eren couldn't help but blink. It would be hard to tell if one didn't know Levi well but there was a look of genuine confusion on his face as he studied his plate, the crease between his eyebrows just a tiny bit deeper than usual, his head cocked to the side cutely, like a cat assessing if a foreign object was a threat or not. Did Levi… honestly not know what the food in front of him was?
"They're called crêpes," Eren finally said, a small smile finding its way to his lips as he sat down in his usual seat next to Levi. "Just a simple, sweet meal. It would definitely be better with fruit on the side but yeah, we didn’t have anything. Usually, they're served as a desert but we're low on supplies and this was the only thing I could really make."
Eren watched Levi's reaction carefully. Judging by how quiet everyone was, they all assumed Eren was being cheeky by answering with the obvious like that and they were only waiting for Levi to retaliate but Eren didn't care what they thought. He only cared if Levi was satisfied.
A few seconds of silence passed before Levi nodded ever so slightly and picked up his cutlery. Eren held his breath, praying to the now-useless walls that Levi wouldn't be disappointed.
Soon, it became apparent there was no need for Eren to worry. As soon as Levi took his first bite, the intimidating man continued eating his sweet crêpes with a small spark in his eyes, like a little kid who got a whole cake for their birthday. He wordlessly devoured his entire plate before asking if there were seconds and by that point, Eren had trouble keeping his laughter in. Levi, as scary as could be, was just so damn cute sometimes and it was fucking hard for Eren not to just lean over and hug him with a stupid grin on his face.
But he knew Levi would smack him if he did so in front of the squad, and he also knew it would earn him disgusted glares and eye rolls from the said squad. Eren almost didn't care but he held back.
That’s why it felt like a blessing and torture when Levi wandered into the kitchen while Eren was cleaning up. Except for Mikasa and Jean who went to get ready for the long overdue supplies trip to town, the others were all in the mess hall, putting the room back in order after breakfast, and giving Eren and Levi some privacy. Eren pretended to be busy washing the dishes while he watched Levi from the corner of his eyes as the other men walked around the room, obviously looking for something.
Eren couldn’t help but giggle. Levi was just too adorable. “There aren’t any leftovers,” he said, a wide smile on his face when he turned to look at Levi directly.
The look on Levi’s face was priceless; like he got caught with his hand in the cookie jar. “I wasn’t looking for any,” he said defiantly.
Eren’s grin only widened as he dried his hands, walking to the door to close it discreetly. Levi glared at him for that, obviously realizing what Eren was planning to do, but it wasn’t like that had ever stopped Eren. As soon as the door was shut, Eren whipped around, quickly crossing the distance that separated him from his captain before enveloping him in tight hug, firmly pressing his lips to his superior’s only a split second later. The kiss was chaste and only lasted a moment, but Eren tried to convey all his feelings with it anyway. He poured all the love and affection he felt for the man into the brief contact, his fists grabbing onto Levi’s clothes as if he never wanted to let go. And Eren really didn’t ever want to let go, wanted to keep Levi close to him, wanted to touch him, see him, talk to him, kiss him, always. No matter how long they have and will be together, it would never be enough.
So he kissed Levi again, softly and lovingly, and as defensive as Levi looked before, he melted right into it, relaxing in Eren's arms and sighing contentedly when they broke apart, resting his head on Eren's shoulder while his arms circled around his lover's waist automatically.
Eren pressed a small kiss to Levi's temple, inhaling the scent of his shampoo before a gentle smile appeared on his lips. "I'm really happy you liked the food," he whispered, his nose still buried in Levi's soft hair.
Levi was quiet for a long while, so long that Eren had thought he wouldn't say anything at all. But then he spoke up quietly, barely above whisper, "We didn't have anything like that in the underground. And you know what military food is like."
A wave of protectiveness washed over Eren, like it always did whenever Levi mentioned his life before Erwin dragged him to the surface. There wasn't anything Eren wished for more than to be able to take away all the pain Levi had suffered down there but he knew it was impossible. He could only listen and tighten his arms around Levi, a silent promise of his full and unwavering support. He had long since decided that he would protect this man, protect him until the last moment.
And he would do anything to make him happy.
"I'll make them again," Eren said firmly, prompting Levi to let out a chuckle.
"You obviously don't like them. You don't have to," Levi said, his tone light with amusement.
Eren shook his head. "I will make them again. So much that you will be sick of them."
Levi pulled away from him then, a small scowl on his face as he softly knocked Eren on his head with his knuckles. "Shitty brat," he muttered, his voice soft and… happy.
Levi was happy and that was all the mattered to Eren. And so he decided. He would make the goddamn crêpes three times a day if he had to.
And Eren wasn’t the type to go back on his word, much to the chagrin of the rest of squad Levi.
Only once did someone dare question why Eren was always making crêpes for either breakfast or dinner every time he was on kitchen duty after that. Armin came to Eren that time, asking why he insisted on making them all the time since he himself hated sweets. Eren didn’t reply, only smiled to himself and continued pouring batter onto the pan before changing the subject.
But later, when they watched as Captain Levi carefully ate all the crêpes that the titan shifter made, with Eren sitting next to him wearing the softest look on his face… they all understood. No one challenged the new tradition after that.
Which didn’t mean they didn’t come to dread the times of Eren’s kitchen duty. There was only that much sugar they could take – both the literal sugar in the crêpes they were constantly fed, and the metaphorical sugar from the two idiots so deeply in love that they paid no regard for the poor souls who had to watch them.