Deviate | Levi Ackerman x OC

Ch. 42

Despite that disastrous side quest, we fell into a pleasant bout of normalcy after it was all said and done. Hange brought the book I'd given them to Erwin, who thanked me for acquiring it but fortunately didn't dig any deeper into it. We had been instructed to bend the rules a little to further our cause, sure, but I was in no rush to share specifics of how that came to be with the Commander of all people.

My headspace was improving significantly as the days went by. Hange and I got into the more unpleasant specifics of my gate crash one night after dinner while stargazing in the courtyard. Their reaction was similar to Levi's, maybe a bit more outwardly seething if that was possible; while I appreciated their support, the acceptance of their 'talk less, listen more' role meant more than anything here. Having the two of them clued in helped me to feel most at peace with it all, like I could truly begin moving forward from it as well. We resumed training with his squad as usual, already preparing again for the next expedition outside the walls. Although it wasn't through working with them directly, I was seeing Hange a bit more regularly these days, too. If there was a 'perfect' daily life, I'd say this was as close as it got around here.

My relationship with Levi was flourishing even with that unfortunate hiccup we had to navigate through; if anything, I'd venture to say it even brought us closer. We continued onto the next phase of my training, shifting the primary focus to the paper pushing and more boring back end of things. As the days went by and I began to feel more and more like my pre-mission self again, I forced myself not to overthink so much and really appreciate what we shared. I fixated less on the dreaded 'What will they think?' and took every moment in as it came – especially as I knew my inevitable return back home was looming somewhere in the not-so-distant future. We hadn't broached the subject of 'going public' again since that infamous head-to-head but I realized I've since very much changed my tune. This man helped pluck me from what might as well have been the depths of my own personal hell and never wavered – I'd sing his praises from any given rooftop if I had the chance. But until it came up again, Hange and Erwin being in the know seemed to be going well enough.

After one particularly long afternoon of drills, drills, and more drills and the corresponding paperwork, I made my way downstairs with my laundry once we wrapped up with dinner. Levi had gotten on me on more than one occasion about unpacking my bags but it took a couple days to actually work up to that, throwing the rest of my wash routine off a little bit. I hadn't realized how empty it was down here on weekdays, or at least at this hour. The sun was beginning to set in the West, my daylight to work with waning. Grabbing my basket of damp clothes, I walked until I found a relatively hidden corner to hang them all up.

The first one I grasped when reaching into the basket of course had to be that dreaded corset. As if I couldn't hate that waste of space human enough for everything else that transpired that night, I was extra annoyed that he ruined this otherwise really cute (albeit entirely over the top) article of clothing I couldn't wait to give back to Hange and never see again. I ran my fingers over the lacing and the ribbons tied into bows on the shoulders, lingering a little longer than I expected to. It felt like a final goodbye in a way; sure, it wouldn't be official until I handed it off, but in a weird way, it felt like I was formally closing that door more and more.

"Here," Levi's hand reached out from behind me, taking a hold of the top as I dropped it, admittedly a little startled. He'd left after dinner to meet with Erwin and I didn't expect to see him again until much closer to bedtime.
"I can do it," I insisted.
"Yeah, but I can help. And probably do it better."
"Only probably?"
"I'm being nice."
I rolled my eyes and stepped aside, reaching down to pick up the next article of clothing from the basket. We repeated this process one by one, enjoying the sight as the sun went down. I had run out of clothespins and ran inside to retrieve some so we could finish up. When I rejoined him, Levi was shaking out the last couple items to go on the line. I walked up behind him, reaching out to hand him pins. He grabbed them from me, mumbling a quiet thanks and completing his process. Something about this – the stillness, the sunset, the joy in this otherwise mundane task – made me wish desperately that I could freeze time and space. Right now, we were doing something as run-of-the-mill as laundry, but we were safe and together and in this realm, that's damn near as good as it got. Before I could stop myself, I stepped forward, wrapping my arms around him and holding his back to my chest. I felt him freeze under the surprise movement but he soon relaxed.