Attack on Titan (SnK) One shots Xreader! [requests open]

5. Marco - Your Highness

A/N

Okay, so the timeline is a liiitle bit off in this chapter because captain Levi never trained Marco, but I liked it better this way so please forgive me! Also, thanks for reading! Hope you'll enjoy this one about our precious little Angel! :)

Drops of sweat dripped from my forehead down my face. My back, forehead, hands, everything was all sweaty. Captain Levi watched from a safe distance to not get too close to his filthy soldiers but even from this distance, his shouts were as loud as if he stood right beside you, tattering into our ears like roaring thunder. I forced myself to run faster but my legs did not want to. Everything ached. Every muscle in my body protested, every inch of my skin burnt in the summer sun that mercilessly looked down upon my comrades that shared the same ill fate. My lungs pathetically gasped for breath as I tried to run faster. But I couldn't. The captain now started shouting my name, saying I needed to go faster or risk being eaten. Maybe it was better to be eaten than to run this pitifully. I cursed under my breath at the embarrassment when suddenly a hand was placed on my sweaty back and pushed me forward a little. "Come on, you can do this," panted a sweet voice. Marco, looking just as exhausted as I did, ran beside me and encouraged me with his angelic smile. I looked shocked at him, then rolled my eyes. "Leave me alone," I muttered too softly for him to hear.

Because captain Levi was feeling slightly generous today, we were allowed a break. All soldiers immediately fell to the ground and tried to catch their breath. I drank a whole bottle of blissfully cold water and watched the others do the same. Marco smiled at me from afar before offering a panting and cursing Jean some of his water. After my heart did not seem to beat out of my chest anymore and my twitching legs calmed down, I rose to my feet and made my way closer to the other soldiers.

"Oi Marco, quite some determination you have for your king. If he ever sees a titan, you could take him on your back and run off." Marco smiled innocently at me. "I would! Maybe I will need to train a bit more before I am able to do that, though. Maybe captain Levi will make us wear weights whilst running soon enough. It will be tough, but it might be helpful in such situations."

I looked at the genuinely happy man in surprise. What was wrong with this person. Whatever I did, whatever I said, he never seemed to get angry. It was completely opposite with Jean who would need only half a word to start fighting. But Marco... I was utterly unable to provoke him. He would take my teasing as genuine not ill-intended criticism and use it as precious advice. He would always answer kindly and flash me one of those bright smiles of his. To think this person, this creature that was so kind and radiant, was a human being like me was too unreal to accept. One time, when a flustered Marco had taken off his shirt to wrap it around a comrade's wounded leg, I had watched his back to see whether there were no wings growing out of it.

Jean had stuck close to Marco but eventually went away to annoy Eren. I was left alone with Marco and trembled nervously under his merciful glance. I leaned back against a thick tree to look a little more confident. "It's really stupid to waste more men protecting the king. They die for a king who doesn't even care for them." I watched the ground and buried the tip of my shoes in the earth.

"He doesn't need to care for me. He doesn't even need to know my name. But I shall protect him."

His determination was as absolute as always. "Pfff." I said and rolled my eyes. The idea of Marco dying for some bloke without him even knowing his name sickened me. This human, this unearthly wonderfully human shouldn't die for such a wicked villainous man. The view of Marco fighting a titan in vain flashed in front of my eyes. Horrified, I quickly looked away.

My chain of thoughts was broken by his voice. Marco was searching for my eyes and asked for attention. He said my name. It was such a wonderful sound, the way it rolled effortlessly off his lips, that all disturbing thoughts were gone as if they had never been there.