Save Me (Levi x OC)

Chapter 27

I stood loosely, completely relaxed, as Levi got prepared and stood in a somewhat tense stance, studying me with narrowed eyes as if he was trying to find my weak spot. When he finally brought his arm to make the first move, I saw it coming from a mile away and expertly side stepped, and although his momentum should've been enough to send him flying, Levi was able to catch himself. More aware of his position now, he advanced once more, this time trying to distract me with a jab to the neck and a simultaneous sweep to knock me off my feet. His movements, however, were somewhat stiff and the sudden buildup of tension in his right arm and left leg were a dead giveaway of what he was planning to do next.

I moved my head to the right away from his incoming jab, his hand passing just above my shoulder instead of hitting my neck, and I pushed myself off the ground in a slight jump to give me the momentum to not only dodge his sweep but to also crash into his body with my shoulder. Levi hadn't expected me to read his movements, so my impact came as a shock to him and sent him stumbling, and in his brief moment of weakness I brought my leg to the back of his knees, knocking him onto the ground.

I half-expected Levi to jump up and keep fighting, but maybe his ankle was bothering him, because he almost didn't resist as I placed my knee onto the small of his back, my other leg by his side to support half of my weight. Although he tried to slip out from the position, I grabbed his wrists with one hand and pinned them to his back before leaning down, a strand of hair falling from my ponytail as I smirked beside his ear.

"Round one goes to me," I whispered playfully before letting go of his wrists and standing up, stretching my hand out to help him up, but he ignored it, giving me a soft glare from the ground before jumping to his feet and rubbing his wrists, but I couldn't tell whether the move was subconscious or if I made him nervous. 

"Let's go for the second round," he growled at me, but despite the fact that he was frowning at me, I could tell he wasn't really angry or frustrated. He was teasing me, the same way I was teasing him. "That was just a warm-up."

"If you say so," I shot back, and we each got into our own 'ready' position - Levi with his back slightly bent, right shoulder curved to face me, left hand near his face to block any incoming hits and right hand loosely in front of him, and me just standing, relaxed but alert. I'd learned long ago that the easiest way to read your opponent was to see the tension in their body. Most people couldn't relax their muscles when fighting, so the tension would be easy to spot, and I could at least tell what they'd move next. Over the years, I'd learned to predict my opponents movements depending on how and where their muscles would tense, and by now, it came almost as an instinct. Although this was pretty useless against the titans, this technique made me fairly strong when it came to hand-to-hand combat. 

Levi was aware of my strategy and had tried copying it before, but it had taken me years of practice to master being relaxed while fighting, and although most of the time anything to do with combat was easy for him, there were times when he'd still slip up and accidentally let me read his moves. We now stood only two meters away, neither one wanting to make the first move. I took a step to my right just as Levi did the same, and for several moments, we just circled each other. Then, out of nowhere, Levi lunged forward so fast that I barely had time to react. Good, he's staying relaxed. That was much harder to read than his previous attacks. 

I retaliated, jabbing my hand out to his neck as I sidestepped, and we moved in a dance of dodges and blocks, attacking and defending, neither one of us willing to give in. We moved like a well-oiled machine, with me dodging his every attack and him blocking mine. My usual strategy was to keep dodging until I saw an opening, or until my opponent was exhausted, but with Levi, both were unlikely, so I had to try out something new. As he lunged, his fist nearly passing by my head as I leaned away from him, I pushed forward, swinging my arm to his neck in an attempt to weaken him. This time, however, he saw it coming, and grabbed my arm just before it came into contact with his neck. He twisted my arm into an awkward position, forcing me to kneel as he pinned it behind my back.

With one knee on the ground, I tried to fight him off, but his grip on my wrist was too strong, and he pulled me up and brought me into a headlock, his mouth millimeters away from my ear. "And that's round two," he whispered, a dangerous tone in his voice that almost made me shiver, and he suddenly let me go. Free from his restraints, I briefly glanced around to find the cadets all staring at us, some with awe and some with fear. I gave them an awkward wave before turning my attention back to Captain Levi. 

"Well then we'll just have to settle this with one more round," I smirked back before bursting into action. He hadn't expected me to make the first move, considering how I'd played on defense for the two previous rounds, so I at least had the element of surprise on my side. His fist flew up in defense, aiming for my left shoulder, but I simply turned my body slightly, and his attack harmlessly flew by. With momentum on my side, I danced around him, his punches all missing, as I waited for the perfect attack to come, and there it was.

I could tell that Levi was getting frustrated, and his advances got sloppier and more predictable by the second, and when the right punch finally came, I caught his fist with my left hand, grabbing his arm as close to the shoulder as I could manage with my right hand. Making sure that my feet were in a stable position, I ducked down, bending my head low and curving my back. Levi's eyes widened as he realized what I'd planned to do next, but he was too late. With the help of the momentum from his lunge forward, I pulled his arm, putting as much speed and strength into the simple move as I could muster. 

My efforts paid off, and Levi flew over my head, rolling over my back and slamming into the ground with a satisfying thud. I whirled around, and without giving him time to react, I jabbed the side of my hand against his neck and pressed my thumb into his ribs - it wasn't much, but the two spots were excellent pressure points, and they gave me a few extra seconds to collect myself. With Levi immobile on the ground, I made a grand scene of placing my knee onto his back, completely aware of my small audience of the four gaping cadets. 

This time, I didn't bother securing his arms simply because I knew there wasn't anything he'd be able to do. I leaned down once again, my hair falling into my eyes and brushing against his ear. "You fight well for someone who spends all day just staring at papers and getting sick from overworking themselves," I whispered to him, smiling innocently even though he couldn't see my face, "but maybe you need to train a little more against me." 

I took my knee off of his back, and this time when I gave him my hand, he accepted it, pulling himself up, but when he tried to pull it away, I kept my grip firm. 

"I believe the third round goes to me," I smirked, "unless you'd like a rematch." With a wink and a teasing grin, I turned my back to him, ceremoniously strutting to where the young scouts stood in awe.