Deviate | Levi Ackerman x OC

Ch. 13

Levi's squad was already getting into it when we joined them in the agreed upon courtyard. Eld and Gunther were very loosely sparring together, trying to get a feel for how the other moved and preferred to strike. Petra and Oluo, on the other hand, seemed to be a bit more at odds and were bickering in hushed tones as we walked up.
"Captain Levi," Oluo asked smugly, breaking away from her and the tense conversation they'd been having. "Can I train with you?"
Levi raised an eyebrow as Petra glared at him, biting back what I can only imagine were some choice words. "And why would you do that?"
"Respectfully, Sir, you're the best of the best. I want to know that I can go up against the best of them."
"I can assure you you can't. And no, you'll be demonstrating your skills against your teammates for now."
Oluo side glanced at her again, then caught my eye as I observed them all before returning to Levi. "I'm just... not sure we're all on the same ability level."
Petra's mouth fell open and I held a hand up as inconspicuously as possible to encourage her to keep it together. Levi, however, was not going to hold his tongue as well as she did. "Each of you are here because your abilities exceed those of most of your peers. Don't ever for a second question the capabilities of the people around you here and now. Because if there was ever a shadow of a doubt about any of them," he continued, stone-faced stark in contrast to Oluo's anxious expression across from him, "should the same be said about you?"
"N-No, Captain!" Oluo choked out, his exaggerated sense of self seeming to deflate slightly at the scolding he received. Petra smirked at him and winked at me and I couldn't help but grin back.
"Great. Let's begin then."
Eld and Gunther immediately got to work, jumping into action without a second thought or pause. They both held their ground well, showing their talents in close range as well as those that had been recorded in their files. Oluo was a little slower to begin but it seemed his antics only amped Petra up as she saw the smallest window to land a solid blow to his midsection and had him doubled over, stumbling backwards. His expression was a mix of shock and awe and he appeared more eager now as they continued on. Despite their notable height difference, the two showed solid strengths in their engagement – not that anyone around here would be quick to count someone out for their height.

"I would've been happy to work with Petra," I commented as we made our way around the dueling duos.
Levi scoffed at the idea. "Didn't take you for one to uphold misogyny."
The way this man irked me to the depths of my soul sometimes, I thought, taking a breath and fixing my composure before continuing. "Obviously that wasn't the case, but on the flip side, she shouldn't suffer for his ignorance."
"No, but giving into that nonsense would be placating it and that has no place here," he explained. "These soldiers, each of them are here because they're already miles above the rest. That should be more than good enough for the more fragile egos."
"Ah, right. No need to pick themselves apart when they'll all only ever be second to you."
"You're catching on," Levi stopped walking around the pairs and promptly turned to face me straight on. I raised an eyebrow as his eyes locked onto mine.
"What are you–"
"I told you not to get comfortable with the idea of sitting back and doing nothing," he used two fingers to motion for me to come forward. "Let's go."
My mouth fell slightly agape and an awkward laughter came from my throat. "You're joking."
"I don't joke. Now."
His disparaging tone ignited a fire in my chest. It'd be one thing if he was at least consistently unpleasant, but the constant altering between somewhat tolerable to snarky and back again was becoming too much. I knew I didn't stand a real chance against him, but the opportunity to show him I wasn't going to take his shit lying down was awfully inviting. He didn't seem like he was going to let this go, so I finally accepted the inevitable and stepped toward him with my hands up defensively.
Neither of us seemed to want to make the first move. Levi's face wore its signature scowl but his eyes scanned mine, attempting to gauge what I might do next. I knew we couldn't do this silent dance forever, so I brought forth the inevitable and extended my right hand forward, aiming to strike his chest.
Unsurprisingly, Levi avoided my hand with ease, attempting to counterattack with my own maneuver back at me. I somehow successfully ducked out of the way of his powerful strike and honed my focus again. We continued this way for the longest minutes of my life, neither one wanting to let the other find a way. With my dominant hand, I appeared to jab toward his shoulder but when he once again dodged it, I redirected to successfully land a shot to his abdomen.
He didn't budge or stumble in the slightest at my blow, which I was now hyper aware still lingered on his midsection. In fact, it took him a second to react in any way; he seemed in shock that I managed to get anything through on him at all.
Then, as quickly as the moment came, it went; in a flash, Levi's hand thwacked my chest and I felt him kick out my planted foot from under me. I crashed onto the ground flat on my back, effectively knocking the air right out of me in one fell swoop. I opened my eyes in an effort to play off my wincing in pain to see him standing over me, brushing off whatever dust he might've gotten on his clothing while looking down at me. I tried to take a breath but hissed quietly at the aches I now very much felt.
He extended a hand to me, which I reluctantly accepted after a moment. "That was terrible."
"Hey, I've seen worse," I argued as I got back on my feet again. "We can't all be Humanity's Strongest."
He huffed under his breath and began to stalk off again.
"What? No round two?" I asked, immediately regretting it in case he took me up on the joke offer. After brushing myself off, too, we rejoined the others who fortunately were too immersed in their own sparring to see me get laid out less than gracefully.