The Pain Made Me Strong ~ Levi x Reader

Chapter 45

Y/n’s POV-

     After that night Levi and I decided it was best to let everyone know we were together. He is definitely one of the overprotective boyfriend types, so he wanted to make sure no one thought they could mess with me without him being first on the case, and I personally wanted my friends to know we were dating because I didn’t like keeping things from them. 

      We didn’t go out of our way to make it some big thing, we simply walked into the mess hall for breakfast that morning holding hands, I sat next to him and rested my head on his shoulder as we ate. From there we simply let the gossip spread itself. 

     All of the cadets were definitely quick to catch onto the change in our relationship. Some were a little disappointed that Levi was officially taken. The small number of cadets that had come from other training corps divisions who had just met Levi were obviously a bit more shocked than those who had seen our relationship grow over the last three years.

     I remember when the new cadets from different divisions first saw Levi as they joined, the girls all seemed to be in total awe of him, but still terrified. It was actually extremely funny to me to watch as everyone cowered down to this man I knew was soft on the inside. But everyone quickly got the idea that we were together after seeing us that morning. 

     Life in the Survey Corps grew to be normal and we all fell into routines in preparation for the expedition. I grew used to sleeping in Levi’s room since it was so close to mine, it was rare I would go nights sleeping in my own room. We would wake up, eat, train, eat, work on experiments with Hanji and Eren, train some more, then eat our final meal of the day before going to bed. 

     On days that Levi had more paperwork to do, I would work with Hanji on her studies of her experiments, go into town to get supplies, or hang out with my friends. Some days I would even take Eren out for extra training. Like the day that Petra and I had gotten into our argument, Levi often had me working with Eren specifically when we trained as a whole squad, so sometimes when Levi was busy I would try to help Eren brush up on his skills.

     Levi and I had been doing a lot of extra training for the two of us since we were the only two on the squad that knew the full plan for the expedition, we needed to be prepared to take on whatever the enemy was if they showed themselves. Neither of us planned on dying out there on this expedition so, as the top two soldiers in the Scouts, we needed to be at the top of our game.

     Apart from training, it was nice to watch as the whole squad grew so much closer over the month. We really seemed like a family, whether it be through training, meals, or night time meetings, we had all really come together. Even Petra and I, which was still so surprising after the way we originally interacted with each other. 

     All of the 104th cadets from the southern division had grown closer than ever in preparation for their first expedition, we were a family of our own and we were going to be there for each other through everything to come. It was hard to talk to them knowing they knew nothing of the underlying plan of the expedition, but they were strong, they could survive no matter how much I wished they could stay here.

     Hanji had done a great job with Eren, he was now so much more in control of his titan and definitely ready to fight on this expedition if it were needed, but the goal was for that not to be the case. Hopefully Eren doesn’t do something stupid and reckless. 

     Jean and I still struggled with the loss of Marco, some nights we would sit outside and just share memories and talk about what Marco would have wanted. Jean explained to me how he felt like Marco would have never forgiven him had he joined the Military Police after everything. He told me how much he wanted to know what actually happened to Marco.