The Turquoise Cure (Eren X Reader)

Chapter 20: The 57th Expedition Outside the Walls Begins

~ the next morning from chapter 19 ~

    "Eren? Eren? EREN???"

    Petra's shrill voice cut through the peaceful morning silence that had ensured your and Eren's restful and much needed slumber. You jolted awake, Eren right after you, jumping so high that you were launched out of the bed. You bit your tongue to keep from yelling, which would indicate that you had been in Eren's room for the night. Even though the two of you hadn't done anything scandalous (😳), you still feared that your new comrades may think lesser of the two of you. 

    "Uh, Eren? Is everything okay in there?" Petra called out. She must have heard me fall. You looked to Eren for any indication of what to do, but his wide eyes and bemused smile proved that he was as vacant of ideas for your escape as you were. You mouthed soundlessly, "Answer her!"

    "Oh, hey, Petra," Eren said in a partly fake but partly real sleepy voice. "There's a problem! Please let me in," Petra pleaded, sounding frantic. You scrambled under the bed pushing your body so close to the floor that you felt squashed like a dead bug. The bed was so low to the floor that there was no way you would be detected. After you were concealed, Eren opened the door for Petra, still shirtless to let her inside. "What's the problem?" he asked, eyes as wide with innocence as ever. "It's (Y/N)," Petra responded. "She's not in her dorm, and she wasn't in the sitting room or out by the horses in the stables. We've been looking for her all over the castle!" This is bad. They've been looking for me for hours probably; I am so stupid! Eren took a long break between Petra's frantic concerns before he spoke. "Have you checked, uh, out by the edges of the tree line? She sometimes likes to take walks down there in the morning too." "No," Petra responded, "but there was just one place I wanted to look..." If it had been you by the door instead of Eren, you were confident that you could have caught Petra before he dropped to the floor and was staring straight at you, dead into your eyes. You laid completely still, hesitating to speak and worrying that you'd just make the situation worse. Shocking to you, she began to laugh. "Oh thank god I told the guys that you were just taking a morning walk, I mean seriously, though, under the bed?" She couldn't resist laughing. Suddenly, you started to laugh to. As you crawled out from underneath the bed, Eren was still standing embarrassed by the door, rubbing his temples with his fingers. "PLEASE DON'T TELL CAPTAIN LEVI!" he shouted as he grabbed Petra's shoulders from behind. "No problems, kiddo," she said, still breathing heavily from her heavy laughter. "But seriously, I don't care."

    After sneaking back to your room to get properly dressed, you made your way to the dining room for a quick breakfast. To your surprise, just as you had begun to poke your spoon into the oatmeal, there was a knock at the door. Commander Erwin strode through the door, his tall frame taking up every inch from the floor to the ceiling. "Well," Levi said sardonically as he offered Erwin a glass of water, "to what do we owe the pleasure?" You had to give Erwin this credit: he held a very straight face. You liked to think of yourself as a serious warrior, but at the end of the day, you liked sharing a laugh on the floor of Eren's dungeon room while Petra cackled and Eren panicked. 

    Breakfast was practically forgotten when the commander explained his comings. He had described an expedition outside the walls by the end of the month, which was coming up quickly. The thought of going outside the walls was exhilarating, and glancing beside you at Eren, the gleam in his bulbous eyes confirmed that he agreed. The surprise of the expedition, however, was that the new Survey Corps. recruits would be accompanying the expedition, something usually unheard of so soon into their inauguration, and also so fresh as the attack on Trost had been to many. When there was a pause in Erwin's speech, you and Eren were posed a question. "Do you two know if many of the cadets from your training will be interested in joining the Survey Corps.?" Eren looked from you back to the commander. "There should be a few." The commander merely nodded for input. "It's probably for the best," Levi interjected, "the fewer that join, the fewer kids I have to watch die early." A silence so thick and heavy hung over the room. The commander nodded curtly, thanked Levi for the water, and promptly left.