Ackerman's Steppes / Levi x Reader

Chapter 8: My Personal Captain

You had many thoughts running through your mind. First of all, what just happened? Following that, why did he bring you those flowers, the same ones from your dream?

You still feel a bit shook from your hallucinations just before. You have heard of people experiencing such things after a trauma. Some go insane from losing their close ones to titans, some can't cope with their kids joining scouts. You stare at the ground. You don't want to admit, that perhaps, that day in the forest has somehow traumatized you. You can't be going out of your mind. You clench your fists and tell yourself to get your stuff together. Then, you realize that you squeezed your flowers too.

"Hey, what are you spacing out about?" Levi asks you annoyed. You keep looking at the ground.

"I am just confused about many things," you exhale deeply and stop glancing everywhere but at him. He looks beautiful, even if he is looking at you like you didn't exist. How much you would love to understand this man's emotions one day. You come back to reality and remember - you don't even know what you are doing with Levi alone at the stables. Why didn't he leave this town together with the scouts?

"You are filthy," he says nonchalantly. You look at your dress. It's not light anymore; It's covered in stains.

"It's because I hugged you. You are the filthy one," you get embarrassed of how stupid you look right now. He seems to get even more awkward. Hence, same goes for you, but you only jumped in his arms because you were hallucinating hundreds of dead men around you.

"Nevermind," he looks away. You are puzzled by the awkward tension between you two. It would be nice to know why is he here doing nothing, but just making you perplexed. He caught your frown you made just for a second because you were confused about this weird situation. "Do you have anything in mind?" he asks you a little bit curious.

"About what?" you look at him even more confused. He frowns.

"Where would you want to go or something?" he looks visibly uncomfortable. Your cheeks turn red. He glances at them concerned. He gave you flowers and now is asking where would you want to go. Is this a date? But why would he act so bizarre? He is covered in mud and blood. It's unsightly of him to go out like this with a woman he likes. He is a captain after all.

"Are you asking me to go out with you?" you ask him straightforwardly. You just can't understand what is he doing now. Being delusional wouldn't help, although you would love to act like this. You have never been out with anyone. Is this the way it's supposed to be?

"Obviously. Didn't I just ask you this?" he looks even more annoyed. You stare at him.

It can't be. Humanities strongest soldier has no reason to ask you on a date, especially when you look like that. You are covered in blood, filthy as he says, and you have a broken arm. Then, what are you even supposed to do on dates? You barely know him. You postulate, that he is too blunt to understand all of these things. You have no experience too. This is just confusing and awkward.

There is this thing, that people who only feel attracted to each other go out. You don't even know what you want with your life and he is asking you this out of nowhere. You think about your feelings for a moment and look at him. He is gorgeous, has nice hair. He is a little shorter than you, but you wouldn't mind. He is mysterious and always grumpy, but he has a soft side, you feel it. You are unsure, if you could fall in love with him, but your heart tells you to trust this man.

"Why are you staring?" he stops your chain of thoughts.

"I'm just surprised you asked me this out of nowhere," you answer him honestly, though you still can't believe it yourself.

"What's abnormal about it?" he looks at you questionably and you look at him with a smile on your face. "Before work stuff, I have a few hours. Those dead flowers can't make up for all the food you brought to me," he looks like he understood what you were thinking and just explained you everything comprehensibly because of it. You sigh with a smile. This man talks in such an equivocal way. You laugh inside because you think that he would be really clumsy in romance. Also, you feel a little sad, maybe you wished for it to be real. It's your own fault, he would never ask you such thing. Last of all, you shouldn't dream about love at this moment. You know that you should focus on your mind now.

He notices your sudden mood change and you note some kind of change in his eyes. He looks at you immensely softly.

You doubtfully admit that there might be something between you two, but both of you are too confused and fixated on your work.

-

You told him about a tea shop you know just around the corner. You knew that he would love to see it; you were right. Just when you said it, his eyes started sparkling.

You both acknowledged your state of clothes, but yours were way better than his. Yours were just a little stained, his was basically covered in dry blood like the first time you saw him. Somehow, he looks way more approachable then back those days. Hence, you offered to buy tea yourself, whilst he waited. He denied, and just went in himself. It's like you have a personal captain today.

There were people murmuring outside. You couldn't have a cup of tea without them asking if that man is Levi, who is that woman with him. Also, scouts came back today, so it was full. You felt uncomfortable. He bought it quickly.

You realized that you have nowhere to make it. Everything is a chaos today, but you are somewhat enjoying it. You forgot about your hand and that day in the forest for at least a bit.

He looked like he was enjoying it too. He was relaxed, something you probably haven't seen.

-

"I guess we can visit the hospital," you suggest. "There is a kettle, since I don't have one at barracks," you explain why you suggested it as you were walking down the street you usually avoid at night. His eyes suddenly widened and he looked at you with fear.

Then shots were fired into Levi; one near your feet. He dodged all of them, dropped tea on the ground and threw off his bloody cloak in a second.

"Shit! Grab onto me now," he shouted. You were petrified.

"My hand is broken, I can't," you desperately looked at him as he was running towards you. You heard metal squeezing and unusual gas sounds. A grapple hook flew just by your head into someone's houses corner. You noticed his ODM gear that he hid under his cloth all this time. Everything turned into slow-motion. He grabbed you by your waist with his one hand. Though he is tiny, he can hold you like nothing.

Your heart was beating fast and you had no clue what is going on. You were high in the air. The mechanism he uses kept pushing out its gas.

You are scared of heights. You gripped his neck with your healthy hand and buried your face into his chest. You couldn't help but think not about that your life is danger, but about Levi's hand on your waist. Pleasant shiver runs through your whole body. You closed your eyes as you heard more shots fired and men screaming. Levi simply groaned. You can't believe this is happening right now.

"I forgot about these MP shitheads, hold on tight," he squeezed your waist even tighter and started to fly through the air in rapid speed.

After a few seconds you were standing on a huge wall that keeps you safe from the outside. Your legs start to tremble. You feel dizzy and grab onto the ground, scared of losing your balance.

"I'll fix this. Sorry for dragging you into this, they won't get here" he smiles faintly, his eyes look tired. Instantly, he elegantly jumps off the wall using his gear.

-

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Next chapter: "All the Things You Said"