#aot levi

Summary: A rainy day in Marley, a steaming cup of tea, and self-reflection thrust onto a man long tired, weary, and longing. Notes: As a precursor to this – I drew inspiration from the song Vincent by Don McLean to write this. You don’t have to listen to it to enjoy, but I highly recommend it as it ties in nicely. AO3: @junimodreams Word Count: 1.6k Warnings: Angst 😊, post rumbling canon compliant, major character death discussion, grief/mourning

Rain taps the glass rhythmically in Levi’s small upstairs apartment. Gray slate skies peek through the panes of glass; writhing waves crash the shoreline in the distance, barely glimpsed over the line of new buildings in Marley. It’s late in the way that rainy days get late – far too early with the darkness creeping in before one realizes it.

The curtains shift marginally when he sits down in the chair near the window. Neat, high-backed, leather that groans when he makes contact with it. Well-loved and worn in from countless nights of use. The nights are longer, even now.

The side table is equally loved. Steaming tea, fragrant, disperses in the air, and the worn blue book Armin mailed him sits beside it. It’s not his typical read. Not really. Something deep, poetic, and a little more saccharine than he cares to indulge in, but the nights are long, and Armin mailed it to him with a note in the front that made him feel a little less old and world-weary.

His joints ache as he adjusts, nose wrinkling in dismay. He’s felt increasingly like an old man these days. Old scars fading from jagged pink to grayed and translucent-looking, finding silver patches in his hair he knows weren’t there years ago, and all the aches that felt like collateral back then have started to feel life-altering now. Part of him has wondered if an upstairs apartment was a good idea. His knee’s not done for, but it won’t last forever, either.

A sip of tea that rolls on his tongue, new and somehow still familiar, and then he picks up the book. He’s read bits and pieces in the evenings for the last several weeks. Today felt like the right day to dig in again. The rain makes his bones ache, and paying customers track in clumpy, sandy mud to the tea shop below on rainy days. Closing early and sitting with a book and a new blend of tea to test made sense.

The book cracks open easily enough, pages whispering alongside the pelt of rain on the glass. He picks up where he left off. A lot of it feels like optimistic garbage. It makes him wonder if Armin’s concerned about him. He doesn’t see him often these days. None of them, really. Letters, occasionally. The thought is pushed aside just as quickly as it comes. It’s odd to think about Armin being worried. The man reminds him more of Erwin every year, and it makes him uncomfortable in that same way pressing a bruise does. An old injury that still hurts if you brush it too hard.

His eyes scan the page methodically, rain on glass like a metronome for a mind long used to lightning speed and fire. Time slips through the small sitting room like sand through his fingers, and the light dims further, cloudy gray afternoon dipping into evening.

“Regret for the things we did can be tempered by time; it is regret for the things we did not do that is inconsolable.”  [Sidney Harris]

Levi blinks at the line. He adjusts in the chair, back hitting leather, before he reads it again. Something weighty settles into his chest like a stone dropped in water. The ripple lasts longer than he’d like.

"If you begin to regret, you'll dull your future decisions and let others make your choices for you. All that's left for you then is to die."

levi is a sexual object to these braindead fangirls & nothing more. his personality doesn't matter which is why they change it to whatever they want even if it's against his canon character completely.

do what the rest of us do; block and ignore them, then concentrate on finding other fans who feel the same as you do. as much as they hate it, we are out there. :)

do you have any thoughts or ideas on this take?? i'd love to read them <3

Hi! How are you? Hope you're doing great. Me? Just trying to remember how this works, haha!

I completely agree with you, the cadet/Captain dynamic is super common. Civilians are a bit less frequent, but at the end of the day, the power dynamic usually ends up feeling the same.

Regarding Levi paired with another squad leader, I usually have one specific issue with that trope: the concept of "being a Captain."

In SnK's military, the title of "Captain" (Heichō) isn't just a standard rank you get promoted to. It's an exceptional title given to soldiers who didn't go through traditional cadet training. We exclusively see this title used for Levi and Kenny, both of whom joined the ranks outside standard military channels.

So my main issue with this trope is that either:

The Reader should actually just be a regular Squad Leader like Hange (since they underwent formal military training), or

It becomes a copy-paste of Levi's backstory (someone insanely good with ODM gear whom Erwin personally recruited).

And that brings me to my number one rule when writing AoT fanfiction: nobody is stronger than Levi, because nobody is stronger than an Ackerman.

Whenever a fic says "She had strength similar to Levi," my answer is: no, she didn't! No normal human comes close to Levi's skill—not even Mikasa is quite at his level yet. Isayama said it himself: he had to nerf Levi with a thunder spear because a fully healthy Levi would have made defeating Eren too easy. NOBODY in the story matches Levi's raw capabilities.

That leads to another point: Erwin didn't recruit Farlan and Isabel out of the goodness of his heart: he needed Levi, and using them was the only way to get him. For the military to make an exception, bypass standard training, and grant someone high authority, that person has to be insanely good, Ackerman-level good. Because of that, I just can't see another random character being given the "Captain" title the way Levi was.

Now, as for the Reader being a Squad Leader (Buntaichō). I actually love that idea! But it depends heavily on why they're a squad leader. Usually, writers fall into the same trap: "She's really good with ODM gear, so she's a squad leader." But pure ODM skill isn't what gets you promoted to command. You're far more likely to become a squad leader for tactical, logistical, or specialized reasons.

To give a few examples:

All members of Levi's original squad were elite ODM users, but none were squad leaders.

Nanaba was incredible with ODM gear, yet she wasn't a squad leader.

Erwin was explicitly mentioned to be average at ODM gear in his early days, yet he became Commander because of his mind.

Squad leaders lead specific types of units: a medical squad, a research squad (like Hange's), etc. Levi leads what is essentially the Scout Regiment's SWAT team. A special operations unit built for extreme situations. He commands that squad because he's the ultimate weapon, not just because he's good at flying around.

I ADORE the trope of a Squad Leader S/O who is on the same official rank level as Levi (or even higher in the chain of command), as long as the reason makes tactical sense! For example, in my fic HG, the reader is technically higher in command than Levi. Ijust need to keep writing it!