Capable of Loving You

Chapter 7: Cleaning Day

A/N: My favorite chapter to write so far lol :D

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As winter approached in Rose, the temperature steadily decreased and so did Sophia's icy behavior towards Levi. He in turn also started ordering and sassing her again. Things almost returned to normal between them, or as normal as they should be between a superior and subordinate.

There was still the problem with Erwin though. He continued acting overly friendly towards Sophia even though it had been over two months since the rejection. Sophia wondered if there was something more than pity that Erwin felt towards her. If so, she had to put a stop to it immediately. Erwin would no doubt make any woman happy, but Sophia's heart still belonged Levi, even if he didn't reciprocate the feelings. But she was afraid of bringing it up in front of the Commander in case she was wrong. Then, she would just make a fool of herself and make everything unnecessarily awkward between, if it wasn't already to some degree. Maybe I'm just overthinking things, she internally rationalized.

After all, they always interacted out in the open in front of everyone. Obviously that caused much gossip amongst her group of friends but Erwin had never once asked her to come to his room after hours. Even now, they sat next to each other in the mess hall discussing plans for an expedition. Usually it was Armin who was always with Erwin in these situations but he was on patrol duty. Erwin had approached her during her break time asking for her feedback since Mike had mentioned to him what a big help she was. Erwin said he liked all of Mike's ideas especially the ones she had slightly modified. He asked for her input on some of his own, and Sophia couldn't refuse the Commander, especially not when he asked so nicely.

Levi glowered at them, especially Eyebrows, his black tea cold and forgotten. For some reason, he didn't like it when they sat too close, when their fingers touched, when Erwin whispered something in Sophia's ear, when he was the cause of her smiling face.

"They look cute together don't they?" the most annoying voice in the world said next to his ear. Hanji sat next to Levi with a plate of snacks and proceeded to talk with her mouth full, "I'm glad you rejected Sophia. She looks much better with Erwin. I was really surprised she chose you in the first place. He's a much better fit for her. He's tall and handsome and built like a wall." If Levi's look could kill, Hanji would be dead a hundred times over, if not more.

"I swear, Shitty Glasses, if you don't stop talking with your mouth full of food, I will skin you alive and personally feed you to Sonny and Bean," Levi threatened.

Hanji's expression turned into one of mock-hurt, "That's mean of you, Levi."

He got up from the table. There was no point in sticking around here any longer; he'd lost his appetite and didn't want to listen to the shit Hanji was spewing from her nasty mouth. I'm killing brain cells just by breathing the same air as this fucking nutcase, Levi thought angrily.

"Tch. Whatever. I'm leaving. I'd rather not watch them flirt so blatantly," Levi said disgusted and started walking towards the exit.

"Levi, wait!" Hanji yelled after him, trying to mask her triumphant grin.

Sophia's concentration broke when she heard his name. Her eyes immediately gravitated towards his short figure as he turned to look at her briefly before leaving. The whole thing happened so fast that Sophia wondered if she imagined the hurt expression on her Captain's face.

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"Ok you little shits," Levi's monotone voice carried all around the training ground, "Today you're not going to be training but cleaning the headquarters inside out. Winter is fast approaching and I want every nook and cranny spotless, do you dirty fucks understand?"