Levi x Reader || One Shots And Short Stories

Affinity

Author's note: to avoid unnecessary criticism (and ridiculous effort on my part), I will refer to Hanji as a woman, although I'm well aware that Isayama has been very clear that Hanji has no identified gender. Although, he did say, in so many words that it's open for interpretation.

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The Survey Corps.

How you managed to find yourself still alive after four years of mostly fruitless expeditions, facing Titan after Titan, was only what you considered to be a miracle. You could admit that you weren't one of the most skilled of soldiers, but you always found ways to improve your skills. Your Titan kill count only was at 9, but you were more of an assisting soldier than the one to actually make the final strike. More often than not, you found yourself ordered as the "distraction" or "bait" because although you were amazing at using you 3DMG, your blade strikes could use a bit of work.

"Sloppy and weak," as you have been told time and time again by several of the commanding officers you've had over the years. That being said, everyone knew that playing "bait" was incredibly dangerous. Normal titans were already hard enough to evade and maneuver around, but abnormal titans, those with speed or the ability to jump, were far more difficult to take down. Because of that, you have lost more comrades in arms than you would care to remember. In that sense, you were fairly valuable to the corps with your lightning fast reflex time and agility, although you never felt as such when someone would chide you about your blade strikes.

Levi Ackerman was one particular person who would constantly remind you of your poor displays of swordsmanship, and he would never do so politely. You felt that was rightly justified though and always took those comments in stride. If anything, you wished you could somehow learn from him so that he would no longer view you as half useless in combat.

Despite that, Levi found merit in your skill with the 3DMG and promoted you to his Special Operations squad a little over five months ago. How you managed to "impress" Levi was beyond you, but you were determined to prove your place amongst the others.

Very few people knew of your unrequited admiration for humanity's strongest soldier and none of them understood why you held such feelings for a man with the emotional range of a toothpick. Honestly, you weren't quite sure yourself, but you just felt like there was a lot more to Levi Ackerman than he has ever shown anyone.

Hanji knew.

And that was unfortunate because the day she found out you harbored feelings for Levi, she has been causing problems for you about it ever since. Many times she has blatantly made a show in front of Levi, parading you around and talking loudly about all sorts of nonsense that you choose not to recall. It was just too embarrassing to remember the way Levi would just stare at the both of you with a mixture of annoyance and disinterest.

You figured Hanji was just excited that someone could feel that way about Levi. "That shortie hasn't smiled since the day we met!!" The thought seemed appalling to you; never smiled even once? How could you ever manage to get him to like you back then?

Well, you didn't actually. You knew that your feelings would always be met against a steel wall and there is no way Levi would ever allow someone into them. Too much effort on his part, especially since you could be dead tomorrow.

That was the harsh reality of the Survey Corps. Not only were you giving up your heart and body for the fate of humanity, but you also sacrificed the possibility of falling in love, courting, and marriage. It simply had no place in a branch like the Survey Corps. Not when there was so much uncertainty surrounding your life.

But that would not stop you from always caring at Levi and his welfare. Now that you were in his squad, there were a lot more opportunities for interaction with him and you always did your best to keep a gentle smile on your face. You were sure he found that annoying but there had to be someone in his life that would smile for him. It just so happens that you appointed yourself for that.