Bratty thief stole my heart

Chapter 26: Libraries and lessons

Eren's Pov:

I woke up to the sound of rain splashing against the windows and when I opened my eyes the whole room was dark despite it already being midmorning, the clouds and the heavy rain outside were blocking all the sunlight. I groaned, we had planned to spend the day outside in Levi's garden again, but with that weather it was impossible.

Turning around I saw that Levi was already awake, like always. He was reading, but when he noticed that I wasn't sleeping any longer he put the book aside and smiled at me.

"Bonjour mon chéri"

"I'll just assume that you said good morning because I have no fucking idea what you just said or what kind of language that was", I laughed and Levi rolled his eyes.

"To your information you imbecile brat, that was french and you were right, it means good morning", he smirked. "Darling"

I almost choked on a laugher when I heard that and it took me a while to calm down from the shock.

"Did you really call me 'Darling' in french?", I asked in disbelieve.

"Perhaps", Levi said with this stupid sassy smile that made me want it to kiss it off his face. Instead I observed it closer, looking for any signs of fatigue.

"Did you sleep well?", I wanted to know. Levi had told me that he was suffering from insomnia and even though it had got better since he was no longer sleeping alone, he still didn't get enough sleep some nights.

"Yes, don't worry, I just woke up like half an hour ago", Levi assured me and I smiled, because no matter how early he was up, he always let me sleep until I woke up by myself. I wouldn't mind getting up earlier if it was to be with Levi, but I appreciated it that he always waited for me.

"So, what do we do today? We can't go outside because of the damn rain and I don't want to stay here in bed forever", I asked the raven who thoughtfully put a hand on his chin.

"Honestly I don't know what we could do, there are not so much opportunities", he replied and I pouted, but suddenly an idea popped up in my head.

"Then tell me more about you. If we have to lie around all day you can just as well share some of your stories with me", I suggested. I saw Levi knitting his eyebrows at the idea, I knew that he didn't like it when I brought up his past, but after he told me the story of his garden yesterday I was curious to find out more about him. I had shared a lot of my memories with him, so I found it only fair to learn more about his past self.

"Come on, it doesn't have to be anything important or special, just any memory of your childhood. Even you must have done something funny when you were young."

Levi groaned, but then he straightened his back and leaned against the headboard, probably searching for a suitable memory.

"Alright brat, you want a story, here you get one", he sighed and I grinned, making myself comfortable. "So, when I was ten years old I had this stupid idea that I wanted to join the survey corps to fight the titans and save this world. I wanted to be a brave soldier who fought for the glory of humanity, I thought being part of the survey corps that let the walls behind to explore the world outside was the best thing on earth. Being a stupid little kid I only saw the glorious side of becoming a soldier, little did I know how terrifying and brutal the life as a part of the scouting legion actually was. Of course my parents told me that as the prince I couldn't join the scouts, I had other duties as the heir of the royal family. But my idea had already become a real obsession and one day I sneaked out into the city without even knowing where the headquarter of the survey corps was. Of course I got lost and I probably wouldn't have found my way back if it hadn't been for a nice woman that helped me out. She didn't knew I was the prince, but what she told me while walking me back changed my view on the whole matter. She had lost her both her sons who had fought in the scouting legion, they weren't even able to bring their corpses so she could give them a proper funeral. She said that she wished they would stop going outside the walls so no more people would have to lose their lifes and when I asked her if she didn't want the titans to be defeated. She told me 'What does it matter if we are freed of the titans if you're not alive to see it.'
That day I decided that joining the survey corps was not my way of fighting the titans. Out there I would just be another soldier that would probably get eaten in minutes. Instead I would become the king and make sure that the walls wouldn't be closed and support the scouts with my power where ever I could."