Deviate | Levi Ackerman x OC

Ch. 12

I could see the warm morning sun from behind my barely conscious eyes. The air around me was still. Not sure if it was the fatigue of dabbling between realities or the increased physical training I was undergoing these days, but I had almost exclusively been getting dreamless, deep sleep at night. My eyelids felt heavy but I had to see if I'd willed myself back home – maybe the sprinkling of sheer embarrassment gave me that last little push I'd been missing. I stretched my arms up around my head and with a dramatic yawn, I opened my eyes.

Alas, the effort was thwarted. By what? I still didn't know. I started considering the possibility that maybe this was it; could I really just not go back? I groaned and sat up – this topic was too heavy to tackle first thing in the morning. I got to my feet and went into the bathroom to shower and prepare for my day. I had no concrete way to tell time outside of meal periods and that one wake up call courtesy of Hange, but my body seemed to align with the flow of the day naturally by now.
I brushed through my hair and pulled it into a neat ponytail. Putting the finishing touches on my uniform, I gave myself a final check in the mirror. Despite having been here for a few weeks now, it still didn't feel real seeing the reflection back at me, harnesses taught across various parts of my body and the wings of freedom adorned on my jacket. I exhaled deeply and promptly went on my way.

I wasn't hungry for breakfast so I passed on the opportunity to walk down to the mess hall. Instinctively I headed for Hange's office but had to remind myself that that wasn't my post to report to anymore. All of the dread from the night before suddenly reappeared with a vengeance. I felt a sharp twist in my stomach.
"Ugh," I grumbled to myself, stopping in front of Levi's door and knocking. "Here we go."
"Enter," he invited from inside.
I went in and shut the door behind me, forcing myself to walk as nonchalantly as possible. My plan was to act like I didn't completely humiliate myself in front of this man who already was not my biggest fan less than 12 hours ago and I was determined to see it through. I stood at attention and greeted him when I reached the front of his desk. "Good morning, Sir."
"Good... morning," Levi trailed off, writing something down on the documents in front of him before looking up at me. "Sir?"
The last bit caught me off guard. "Uh... formality, I guess? Sorry, force of habit."
"Right," he cleared his throat. "I'm finalizing the paperwork to solidify the members of the Special Operations Squad. If you can deliver these to Erwin, we can get started as early as this afternoon."
"Excellent, I can absolutely do that."
Levi marked down a few more things before organizing the papers he'd been working on into a neat stack, extending them to me. His gaze shifted quickly from the documents to meet mine.
As hyper aware of our hand placements as ever now, I grabbed it from the complete opposite point possible to avoid a repeat of the evening before and gave a soft smile. "Thank you. I will be right back and we can get things going."
He didn't say anything immediately and I embarked on my small detour. When I had almost reached the entry, Levi remarked so quietly I almost hadn't heard him, "You're much more agreeable today."
"It's still early. Give it time," I responded without missing a beat or turning around.

I breathed a little sigh of relief when I made it to the main corridor. As far as I could tell, Levi either didn't realize what had happened last night or was going to do me a rare favor and not hyper fixate on it like I unfortunately had. After how much that slip up had terrorized me since, I more than welcomed resuming our normal banter. Erwin was elated to receive the paperwork Levi had sent.
"How's it going so far over there?" he asked me as he flipped through them.
"So far so good," I confirmed for him with a slight grin. "Certainly different from what I'd grown used to, but already learning quite a bit."
"Outstanding. I know it's a big change from what you were doing with Squad Leader Hange and I appreciate you giving it a go."
"Absolutely, Sir. Again, I appreciate being given the opportunity at all."
He reviewed everything through to the final page in that stack and assured me that he would have those soldiers informed and sent to Levi's office promptly. I thanked him and turned to leave.
"And Attie," Erwin again added as I neared the door, "There's a reason I paired the two of you together. Remember that when times get..."
"Challenging?" I suggested, turning to look at him with a knowing expression.
He nodded, seeming relieved that I picked up on what he was getting at. I thanked him again and departed.