Every Single One (Eren X Reader)

016

H/N sniffled as snorted as they scoffed down the hay in their feeding barrel. It was incredibly hard to hold it to their face because of how much they shoved it around, though I did what I could, knowing their food was scarce and limited because of the current conditions. It did help that I was in a fantastic mood, being excited to likely see my friends once they joined the Scouting Legion. I was a little disappointed at the fact that I might never see Jean or Marco again, as they'd wanted to join the Military Police the last time I saw them. I prayed Eren's speech had at least rubbed off them a little, though I doubted it had.

"Hey, Eren, Y/N," Eld called. Eren and I looked up from our horses to see him sitting next to Gunther on a platform in front of the castle, "Are there any kids in your class who are requesting to join us?"

"Yes, sir," Eren said quickly. He hesitated and looked back at his horse, a frown forming on his face, "Well, there were... I don't know about now." I thought back to the horrific sights at the battle of Trost. He was right. A lot of those who I'm sure were skeptical about joining the Scouts were likely to never join because of what all had happened. I myself saw some horrible things, like my friends being devoured before my eyes, and I know others saw worse. A lot of them didn't even join the military with the same final goal of killing all the titans, so that wasn't a big help, either.

"Attention!" a voice called. I saw Eld and Gunther jump up and salute, so Eren and I dropped our buckets quickly and followed suit. A black horse galloped into the plaza and I noticed Captain Levi riding atop it.

"Get ready!" he ordered as Eren darted towards him, "We're going out on patrol," I stayed put as Eren scrambled next to Eld and Gunther close to the Captain.

"Good Morning, Captain Levi!" Eren saluted again, stopping abruptly beside the black steed. He had a look of determination and respect plastered across his face. Levi's back was to my head, so I couldn't see his expression, though there was no way he was smiling.

"Listen, Eren," he said, sounding slightly annoyed. This wasn't a surprise, as he always sounded slightly ticked-off whenever someone spoke to him, especially Eren, "Never fall two horse-lengths behind me," he warned, "Remember that the only reason you're not locked up is because I'm watching you."

"Not exactly," I thought, "He wasn't 'locked up' two days ago and that's because I didn't feel like locking my innocent friend in a jail cell."

"Yes sir!" Eren said, nodding.

"Where's Y/N?" Levi asked before Eren nodded in my direction. He turned to face me and I fixed my posture, making sure to keep my salute tight and uniform, "You know what your job is."

I did in fact know what my job was. Not that I liked it, but it wasn't like I had much of a choice. It was my responsibility to keep an eye on Eren personally. The Captain had explained this to me yesterday, saying that though it was his place to take care of Eren as a titan, it would be my job to watch him as Eren and make sure he wasn't acting strange. He said to watch out for any changes in Eren's normal behavior and to alert him if I thought Eren was close to pulling any sort of stunt that could have a negative effect. I trusted Eren a lot, so I felt guilty taking on this responsibility, but it was true that he could sometimes be irrational, so I knew it was a necessary task.

"Yes, sir," I replied, feeling Eren's suspicious gaze on me. I didn't meet his eyes, but they were quickly averted to Levi who suddenly charged out of the plaza on his horse.

"Let's go!" he said. I rushed over to my horse, throwing on their bridle and taking their reins in my hand. Eren met me at the stables, still looking a little nervous, but stayed silent at first. I lead H/N into the plaza and waited for Eren.