Can't Get Along (Levi X Reader)

2. Drastic Measures

Reader POV

"The two of you are going to jeopardize the plan for the next expedition if you don't figure out how to get along and stop these pointless fights." Erwin groaned at Levi and me who sat across the desk from him in his office. He looked down at his desk, resting his elbows on the wooden surface and rubbing his temples. Levi's rude and cold personality really grated on my nerves and my attitude problem really grated on his. We didn't mesh well together and it often resulted in loud verbal arguments or even the occasional physical fight, I usually lost. Shouldn't be surprising since he was Humanity's Strongest after all. A lot of it stemmed from the fact that I had recently been promoted from being a senior cadet to being a Squad Leader and Levi had a difficult time treating me as an equal. He still tried to treat me like some green cadet and I didn't like that. I had earned this position in the Scouts and he had no right to treat me as anything less than a Squad Leader just as he was.

I crossed my arms and looked away from the two men, still upset about the verbal argument that Levi and I had been in before Erwin caught us and dragged us back to his office for this current conversation. I didn't want to be here and neither did Levi, but I knew Erwin had a point. As much as I didn't want to believe him. Levi remained silent, just staring blankly at Erwin, a typical Levi scowl on his features. "The expedition will take place in two weeks. Until then, I am sending the two of you to a nearby cabin to work this childish problem out. Hanji and Mike will be supervising to report back to me about any progress that you two make in building at least some kind of workable relationship with each other. I'm not asking you to become best friends or anything. I just want you two to stop this nonsense and be able to get along when you're in the same room or space." Erwin continued, looking up at my utterly shocked reaction and Levi's annoyed one.

When neither of us responded still, Erwin spoke once more. "If there are no questions, you're both dismissed. I expect you to pack up your clothes and any other essentials and leave HQ before dinner." Levi silently got up from his chair and stormed out of the office, earning a sigh from Erwin. I looked at my Commander and frowned, arms still crossed. "Permission to speak freely, sir?" I asked, staying in my seat. "Yes, what is it?" "I think this idea of yours is, quite frankly, bullshit. I hate that asshole. I'll try my best to get along with him but only because you've asked me to. And I trust you because you're the Commander." Erwin listened to my angered voice patiently, holding my (e/c) gaze with his icy blue one. I broke the eye contact first and stood from my chair to walk over to the door, leaving without waiting for Erwin to respond.

~~~~

I arrived at the cabin with Mike before Levi could get there, probably Hanji's fault. I would have come with Hanji instead but she was taking too long with some lame experiment on Eren. That poor boy. So I came with the quiet and quirky Mike instead. He was a lot like Levi in some aspects but he was much more friendly when he did speak up and it was rather easy to hold conversations with him. He and Mikasa were probably the only people who knew that I cared about cleanliness just as much as Levi did. I wasn't quite as open about it when in front of others because I thought I was weird because of it but in private I would make sure everything in my room was perfectly clean. If I was given cleaning duty I would make sure things I cleaned were perfectly so.

"Levi's going to flip when he sees this dirty place." Mike jested with a light snort of air out of his nose. I hummed in agreement, walking into the cabin with him. I went to one of the two small bedrooms in this quaint cabin and set my lone bag of possessions on the bed, kicking up a small cloud of dust that slowly began to settle a moment later. I frowned. "Thanks for seeing me here safely, Mike. I'm gonna clean this place up a bit, it's seriously gross. And I'm not sure I want to deal with a pissed off Levi before this stupid thing has even begun." I laughed shortly, no real humor in my tone and Mike nodded, walking his bag of food items over to the storage area in the kitchen. "I guess I'll start there, huh? Can't have our food in a dirty storage space." We both chuckled a little at that and I got out some old cleaning supplies from the broom closet and got right to work.

A couple hours of intense cleaning later, the front door opened to reveal an annoyed Levi but he looked around in slight confusion when he saw this old cabin was completely spotless and I was nowhere to be seen. He walked around, exploring each room to see them all perfectly cleaned. The kitchen was clean and there was a pot of water boiling some potatoes on the fire-powered stove. He walked through the sitting room and then into the short hall to check the bedrooms. One was neatly organized and he spotted my Scout jacket and cape hanging on the post at the foot of the bed. He then checked the open door of the bathroom and the other bedroom to see them clean as well. He set his two bags of possessions on the bed in the unclaimed room and walked back to the kitchen.

By the time he reappeared in the kitchen, I was standing at the stove checking on the potatoes and then moving back to the counter to cut up some carrots that I had just washed off and peeled. I set my knife down and turned my head to look at the doorway of the kitchen when I heard footsteps. "Oh, hey... I hope vegetable stew is alright with you." I said with forced politeness in my voice. I needed to try my hardest to get along with this man. I told Erwin that I would and I couldn't go back on my word now. "Tch, yeah, whatever. Did you clean this place all by yourself?" He asked, leaning against the doorway. "Yeah, I did. Believe it or not, I actually like cleaning. And I'm good at it." I said, returning my focus to the carrots as I picked my knife up again to chop them into slices for the stew.

Levi didn't respond other than a short hum, crossing his arms and watching me continue to cook for us. I could feel his piercing gaze on my back. It was a little intimidating but for now, things seemed to be going well. Levi hadn't sounded pissed off, in fact, he'd sounded slightly impressed that I'd cleaned this place so well before he showed up. I could only hope that the rest of the two weeks here alone with him would go as smoothly. Probably not, but this was a decent start. After all, that was the longest conversation I'd held with Levi without either of us insulting the other or getting into a fight... So yeah, I had high hopes.