It Started With Cadet Training (Reader/Levi/Erwin/Hange/Mike)

Keep Your Word

You wake up in the morning to a quiet sob. You're aware it's late into the day, somewhere near twelve or one in the afternoon. This is easily noticed by the absence of the others around you. You don't normally sleep in, but you figure they let you due to how early you'd been up for the past week.

What was surprising to you was the muffled crying you heard. Slowly, you sat up in the bed, rubbing your eyes as they adjusted to the light. It took a moment before you noticed Erwin standing at the dresser, staring down at it with a shirt around his torso. You could tell it was unbuttoned from how it hung off him loosely.

"Erwin?" you ask, your voice still laden with sleep.

He goes completely rigid, the noise stopping as he keeps his back to you.

"You should be resting," you comment, pulling back the covers and walking over to where he was standing.

"I have paperwork to do," he protests quietly, his voice a tattered whisper.

"Do you want to do the paperwork together?" you propose, knowing that no matter how hard you tried, you'd never drag him away from the paperwork until it was done.

"Why? I can do things for myself," he states bitterly, avoiding your gaze as you move to stand in front of him.

"You don't have to play the part of the hero for me. I took care of Mike when he lost his leg, I'll take care of you as well," you remind him, reaching out carefully and taking the sides of his shirt, starting to button it together.

"You shouldn't have to. I should be able to take care of myself," he repeats, attempting to bat your hands away. His attempts are weak and slow, lagged by sleep.

"Give yourself the time to heal and you will. But for now -" you stand on the tips of your toes, pressing a kiss to his tear-streaked cheek - "Let me help you. Please?"

Erwin lets out a sigh, the pain evident upon his face as he finally meets your gaze. You can see the tears swimming at the edges of his eyes, the stained tracks down his cheeks. He lifts a hand - his remaining hand - to rest on your cheek.

"How can you bear to look at me? I'm supposed to be the commander, yet here I am, keeping you cooped with me as I feel sorry for myself. You don't deserve this."

"Because I still remember the young kid standing next to me in the showers with the world's biggest smile, introducing himself despite the fact I never responded. You were there for me whenever I needed you to be, so let me be here for you. Because you deserve this."

He opens his mouth to protest as you turn your head, kissing the palm of his hand. The fight dies in his throat as he leans closer, allowing you to finish buttoning up his shirt.

The two of you spend the rest of the day in his office. You sit quietly on his lap, helping him go through his paperwork, and reminding him to take breaks every once and a while. The sound of a door opening snags your attention away from the paper in front of you, the sound of footsteps across the floor as three heads look over the edge of the desk across from you.

"Reiner, Annie, Bertolt, what brings you three here?" you ask quietly as Erwin sets down the paperwork on the desk.

"Nibi and dada need you," Annie states, her voice urgent despite her young age.

"Both of us, or just me?"

"Both of you," Reiner says.

"Well papa, are you okay with leaving your paperwork for a little while?" you tease, leaning your head back onto Erwin's shoulder.