#squad levi

“oh, boohoo!” oluo said, suddenly. “we faced man-eating creatures and you’re worried about a little ol’ headache?” oluo bozado has a reputation for trying to copy their dear captain levi, such as his rough speech and confident attitude, which caused him to be at slight odds with petra. but you know what they say: imitating is the best form of flattery. despite knowing this, it didn’t make his comment any less humiliating.

you decided now to bite your tongue. for now.

“that’s enough.” levi bowed his head. your undivided attention snapped toward the captain and watched as he, slowly, stood up which caused the wooden legs of the object to slightly scrape against the ground, the noise echoing in the rather empty place. “y/n,” his cold and unreadable fell on you. you tensed. “i suggest you go to bed. i’ll make some tea for you in the meantime.”

the room was so quiet that you could hear a pin drop if it did. the only sound that accompanied the main hall was the heels of levi’s boots clicking against the ground which only grew quieter when he left the table before he opened the door with a loud crrrk and then left to prepare your tea.

“what was that all about?” eren mumbled under his breath, looking around innocently once there was no sight of the captain.

“i think it’s pretty damn obvious what it was.” gunther smirked mischievously before suddenly pressing his weight against you, resting his side and head on you, in dramatic fashion. “looks like y/n’s got themself a little admirer. better watch out, petra. you got some major competition.” the blond joked.

“you jerk!” petra scowled once her devotion to the captain was brought up.

because of gunther’s little comment, a small spat broke out between him and petra. he tried to reassure it that he didn’t mean anything by it by raising his hands whilst petra continued to take it personally. while this was happening, you couldn’t help but wonder if there was some truth in the whole ‘levi having a soft spot for you’.

but there was one thing you knew for sure: the raised voices of petra and gunther sure as hell weren’t helping out your headache. if anything, it just caused it to worsen. making you seethe and wince at the pain. “hey, uh, guys?” you spoke up. “i think i’m going to head to bed. i’ll see you all tomorrow, yeah?”

“oh…goodnight then, y/n!”

“sleep well.”

“cya.” oluo dismissed your goodbye. again: he tries too hard to be like captain levi.

“see you later!” petra shouted, trying to be louder than the rest of the boys.

“yeah…get better soon.” eren said.

letting out a small huff, you hurried out of the dining hall and made a beeline toward the barracks. once inside your room, you stripped off your day clothes and slipped into your more comfortable night ones. sinking onto your bed, you sighed in relief as the tension slowly ebbed away.

but before you could find any solace, a knock at the door startled them.

"come in," you called, your voice a little groggy from the pounding headache. the door creaked open, and there stood levi, his usual stoic demeanor intact. he held a steaming cup of tea in his hand, and without a word, he approached and handed it to you, being cautious not to spill a drop. “oh…thank you.”

you accepted the tea but hesitated to drink it. gunther's earlier comment about levi still lingered in their mind, casting doubt on the situation and your relationship as a whole with the captain. it’s no doubt that you had grown to have feelings for the man, but you always thought that you were good at hiding it…

levi noticed your reluctance and broke the silence, his voice crisp and unreadable, "what’s the matter? you don't want it or something?"

quickly shaking your head, you took a few tentative sips of the tea to please him. it was soothing, the warmth spreading through Your body and providing a momentary respite from your headache. after seeing that you at least had something to help your headache, levi, almost begrudgingly, turned to leave the room.

but just as he reached the door, you couldn't bear the uncertainty any longer. “captain?” you called out his name, stopping him in his tracks, but he didn't turn around to fully face you. he simply wanted to hear if you had any departing words before he too turns in for the night. you, however, had other plans since you decided to confront the unspoken question that had been hanging in the air. "what do you think of me?" you asked, your voice trembling ever so slightly.

the captain, at first, didn’t do a thing. just stood there. was he trying to think of the right words? what if the thought of your relationship hadn’t crossed his mind? after a moment of silence, levi shifted his body, turning to face you. his expression, as always, remained inscrutable.

you felt almost stupid for asking such a thing. “you know what? just forget i said anything…” you trailed off, looking away bashfully.

“Knowing you, it was more than just a little snack. You were probably going to clear out the entire pantry if the Captain hadn’t stopped you,” Jean scoffs. The tips of his ears turn red when hears Mikasa’s laughter mingling with everyone else’s.  

“I guess that’s one way to clean it," Armin muses. He sits in a chair rubbing the muscles in his arm. Every few minutes he switches to the other arm. He had been given the task of dusting the library and had somehow miraculously resisted the urge to pull out every book and flip through their pages.  

“At least the senior members are nice,” Historia says. She’s also sitting on the floor leaning against Mikasa. “Gunther helped me with dusting the shelves when he noticed I couldn’t reach the ones on the top.”  

“I don’t know about nice. Eld told me if I left any streak marks on the window that the Captain would chop off my limbs and feed them to Titans on our next expedition,” Jean says with a shudder.  

“He was just teasing you. Captain Levi would never do that. It’d be too messy to have to haul around your disembodied limbs,” Eren says earnestly, and Jean scowls at him.  

“Auruo talks too much,” Mikasa says. “He kept telling me I was doing everything wrong and tried to do everything for me.”  

“Petra is nice,” Armin says. He curls up in the armchair, his legs pulled up underneath him and his arms wrapped around his legs. He rests his chin on his knees. He closes his eyes, feeling the warmth of the fireplace on his skin as the flames flicker in the hearth. “She kept giving me pointers. I barely got scolded by the Captain when he came by to inspect our work.”  

Connie waves off Armin’s words with a dismissive hand. “No, the Captain just likes small, cute people. If you and Petra were working in the same room, of course he’d go easy on the both of you.”  

“He’s not nice to me,” Historia sniffs. “He kept telling me I missed the cobwebs in the corner. At least Gunther was nice enough to take the blame and say it was his fault for not teaching me how to clean properly.” 

“Maybe you’re just not cute enough,” Mikasa suggests, and she smirks when Historia whips her head around to give Mikasa a scandalized look for even suggesting such a thing.  

“It’s not that bad. The Captain is just really difficult to please,” Eren says. He reaches up to tug at a lock of his hair nervously. He knows it’s not his job to make his friends’ time in the Special Operations Squad enjoyable — it’s not like they can leave if they want to — but he does want to make this as painless for them as possible.  

“What’s that guy’s deal anyway? I don’t think I’ve seen him smile once,” Jean says with a scowl. Like Historia, he had also been scolded by the Captain for his poor cleaning skills and was made to redo all his work on cleaning the windows. He had been one of the last to be relieved of his duties for the night and he’s still sour about it.  

They aren’t thoughts that Eren hadn’t had himself regarding the Captain, but it makes Eren antsy to hear it from the mouths of his peers. Eren stammers, “It’s not so bad. He just values cleanliness. You guys will get used to it soon enough.” 

“I guess his height isn’t the only thing about him that’s short,” Connie snickers. “He’s got a short fuse, too.” 

“It’s not like you’re very tall yourself, so who are you to talk about height?” Sasha grins, poking a pouting Connie in the thigh.  

“Maybe he’s just old and grumpy,” Mikasa says, which elicits some grins and surprised giggles from her peers who aren’t used to her badmouthing their superiors. Then again, she’s never been fond of the Captain to begin with.  

Historia sits up straight, a strange expression on her face. It’s oddly stern, brow furrowed slightly, and her mouth is set in a thin line. In a deep voice that’s clearly meant to be a mockery of the Captain’s, Historia says, “Ackerman, if you don’t get the dust underneath the rug, you’ll be cleaning the stable tomorrow as well.”  

“You guys,” Eren begins. His gaze flickers towards the hallway nervously as his friends burst into laughter around him. It’s no use warning them because his words are being drowned out by their laughter.  

“Pretty good, but his expression is more pinched,” Connie says, abandoning his task of rubbing Sasha’s shoulders so that he can give his own impression of the Captain. His grin disappears as his expression sobers before being replaced by one that looks just like the Captain’s. Like Historia, he also mimic’s the Captain’s low tone as he says, “You little shits better clean every speck of dust in this castle or else I’ll feed you to the Titans.”  

“That’s not -” Eren begins, but Armin interrupts him. 

“The Captain’s vocabulary is vulgar, but he doesn’t throw curses around so frivolously,” Armin says.  

“You should try it then,” Sasha grins. 

“Try it, try it!” Connie chants while the rest of their friends goad Armin on.  

“Ah, I really shouldn’t,” Armin begins. 

“Yeah, you really shouldn’t,” Eren  chimes, but his timid warning is drowned out by his friends’ cheers when Armin assumes his own imitation of the Captain’s typical stern expression.  

Armin tilts his head ever so slightly so that he’s looking down at his friends from the bridge of his nose. “Pipe down, brats, or I’ll have you scraping shit from the stables all day tomorrow.” 

Everyone bursts into laughter after Armin’s impression — even Eren can’t help cracking a smile — until a voice suddenly says, “That’s not how Captain Levi sounds like at all.”  

The startled friends turn their heads towards the doorframe where the senior members of Squad Levi are standing  with amused expressions on their faces.  

Auruo strolls forward, arms outstretched in a shrug. “Mocking our captain, I see. A pathetic attempt to capture any of his aura. It’s laughably bad. It’s a good thing the Captain wasn’t here to see how awful it was.”  

“Yeah, it’s not enough to copy his expression. You need to copy his entire demeanor,” Eld says with a lopsided grin. He  gestures for Petra to enter the room. “Come on, Petra. Show these kids how it’s done.”  

“I don’t know,” Petra begins, her voice trailing off uncertainly even as the corners of her mouth curve upward in a helpless smile. She coughs when she notices all the eyes on her and then says, “Alright, just once then.”  

Petra gestures for Eld and Gunther to stand in front of her. She whispers a few things to them and seems to get something from Gunther. The younger members of the Special Operations Squad crane their necks to see what’s happening, but it’s impossible to see what Petra’s up to when Eld and Gunther are in the way. Eventually, Petra clears her throat and Eld and Gunther part for her to walk through. There’s a handkerchief tucked into the front of her collar that’s made to look like the Captain’s cravat.  

The new squad members watch, eyes widening, as Petra walks across the floor, her boots clomping against the hardwood. Her gait is exactly the same as the Captain’s — the same powerful, confident stride — and she stops only once she approaches the empty armchair across from Armin. When she sits down, her right ankle rests on her left knee and her body is twisted slightly so that her arm rests across the back of the armchair. The disinterested gaze in her amber eyes and the slight frown on her lips is unmistakably the same as the Captain’s. Her brows lower disapprovingly as she gazes down at the amazed teenagers.  

“What are you brats staring at?” Petra says and even her tone sounds like the Captain. She doesn’t even crack a smile when she speaks. “Do you have to take a shit or something?”  

“That’s exactly like him!” Sasha says in amazement.  

“It’s like he’s sitting in front of us right now,” Connie gasps as Petra’s companions laugh behind them.  

“Well, he’s standing behind you right now,” another voice says, one that belongs to their real captain.  

“C-captain!” Gunther stammers. “We were just ...” 

“- showing the new recruits -” Eld continues before looking at Auruo to finish making up an excuse. 

“- how to do a good impression of you!” Auruo blurts and everyone glares at him. He throws up his hands. “You guys try to think of something on the spot!”  

The Captain seems unimpressed. “Why are you all still sitting there gawking? It’s late. Everyone is getting up early tomorrow for an extra round of training.”  

There’s a little grumbling and mumbling, but everyone gets up and shuffles out of the room. Before Petra leaves, the Captain says, “And, Ral?”  

“Y-yes, Captain?” Petra stammers, freezing just before she’s able to escape through the door. She swears underneath her breath, cursing her luck, and the Captain smirks. 

“I’d never wear my cravat that sloppily,” Levi says, reaching out to fix it.  He reaches out slowly, his fingertips brushing against Petra’s neck as he tucks the cravat in properly. His smirk grows when he sees the hitch in her breath, and he takes his time fluffing out the handkerchief so that it looks like a presentable make-shift cravat. He smooths out a corner, his eyes flickering up at Petra’s face as his hand finally leaves her handkerchief. “Dismissed.”