Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

FIVE YEARS BEFORE
THE FALL OF WALL MARIA

“That speed,” a young woman gapes at the sight as she grapples against a building from shock. “Incredible.”

Those were her first thoughts upon seeing the three individuals from the underground city of the capital. She had been here before, only once. And even then, she knew how weak the people are in here compared to the ones who live above where the air is fresher, the grass is greener, and the sun is warm against their skin.

However, right now, she can say that she has never seen a scout maneuver with their gear the same way these people can.

“What are you doing, little red!” Miche calls out while the gas of their gear pushes them through the spaces between buildings. “Get the girl!”

She rolls her eyes. Was it so wrong for her to admire these people only for a second?

Eve adjusts her hood and pulls her trigger, going after the only girl from the trio. She looked so carefree, and would look over her shoulder to say something taunting towards Eve. It amuses her, and she would occasionally let out a chuckle from all the things she would say in order to seem intimidating.

“Too slow, mister!”

Eve forms a smirk, easily maneuvering herself to the front of the girl by going underneath her, startling her for a moment just as Eve pushes herself upwards to grab her. The two of them go tumbling down the street, and Eve watches the girl roll down the street, groaning in the process. Eve lands on her feet, walking towards the girl.

“Did you have to grab me like that, pervert?” The girl sits on her rear, pushing herself backwards away from Eve.

Eve lowers her hood, adjust herself so her long red hair would spill over her shoulders. Her expression is intense as she observes the girl on the ground, her knee scraped.

The girl widens her eyes. “Whoa. I… sorry. I thought you were—”

“What’s your name?”

The girls says nothing and it makes Eve squat down to view her injured knee. She continues to say nothing even as Eve reaches over to inspect the wound. The girl winces in pain, and Eve gently hushes her.

“Oh, let me see… oh, it isn’t so bad,” Eve softly coos, reaching for her pack. It makes the girl tense a bit, but relaxes upon seeing a bandage and some cotton.

Eve cleans the wound quickly and wraps her knee with the bandage. She can feel the young girl staring at her with apprehension. After a while, the girl relaxes, and Eve helps her up.

“What—why did you—”

“Don’t talk.” Eve cuffs her. The girl pouts, but strangely, she doesn’t fight back. Seeing her captor tend to her wound must have made her compliant, and it makes Eve smile in amusement.

Eve finds the other scout who had the tall boy in cuffs, and they find Miche and the captain, who both handled the shortest one of the trio. It seems that this man is their leader. The captain had him pinned to the wall, and when the thief saw how his friends were captured, he surrenders.

They line them up and Eve stands next to Miche, viewing the three thieves on their knees.

“I have questions for you three. Where did you obtain your ODM gear?” The captain, Erwin, asks them… but was met with silence. “You’re all skilled at using them. Who was it that taught you how?” Eve watches as Erwin takes a few steps towards the one with black hair. “I take it you’re their leader? Just how much military training do you have?”

No response as always. Although, no verbal response, because the leader of the group raises his head and sends Erwin a murderous glare. At the corner of Eve’s eyes, she sees Miche grab the back of the leader’s head and slam his face into the mud in front of him. It makes his other companions exclaim in anger.

“I’ll ask again. Who taught you to use the ODM gear?”

“None of us were trained, okay! We taught ourselves!”

Erwin argues that it’s impossible, but they argue back that living in the underground city changes the definition of impossible. And the girl yells at Erwin to let their leader go, whom she calls Levi. Erwin doesn’t budge, and stares Levi down, who is viewing him from one side of his face as Miche holds him down.

Eve’s eyes falter, but she stares ahead. “Miche. Pull him up.”

He doesn’t move, but it looks like he’s pressing down even more.

“Miche.”

“I don’t take orders from you, little red.”

Her eye twitches. It’s one thing to talk to her like that among themselves, but it was another in front of captives and other scouts. She doesn’t hold herself back from saying, “Erwin.”

“That’s enough, Miche.”

Instantly, Miche pulls the man back up, and the side of his face is soaking with dirty water from the ground. Eve breathes, and goes back to staring ahead of herself.

The captain kneels on the mud in front of Levi. “I’m Captain Erwin Smith of the Scouts. What’s your name?”

Eve almost thought he won’t answer, but she was proven wrong when he speaks quietly. “Levi…”

“Levi. I’d like to offer you a deal.”

“What kind of deal?”

“We’ll overlook your various crimes. And you’ll lend us your strength and skills. As members of the Scout Regiment.”

“And if we refuse?”

Erwin explains that they’ll be given to the MPs, where they won’t be treated as kindly as they would be in the Survey Corps. What surprises Eve even more is how the leader of the gang agrees, and Eve wasn’t alone in being surprised. The other two members seemed shocked.

That’s how Eve finds herself in a carriage with the captives, or should she say, the new members of the Survey Corps. The sky is dark with no stars tonight, and Eve sits next to the girl. In front of her is the tall blonde, and in front of Isabel is their leader.

When she lifts her head from the notebook she’s writing on, she is instantly met with the icy glare that their leader is sending her. Eve narrows her eyes slightly. She should have expected them to dislike her.

“Isn’t it hard to write in a moving vehicle?” The girl asks her curiously.

Eve looks at the girl instead, who had wide eyes of interest and pigtails to emphasize her youth. Eve smiles gently. “It takes great skill and control to hold a pen in a moving vehicle, and still manage to write straight.”

The girl looks intrigued, and her eyes fill with childlike wonder, but before she asks another question, the blonde one cuts in. “Why are we hanging out with you and not the other strong guys in your group? Aren’t they better suited to be guards for people like us?”

“Furlan! That’s so sexist!”

“I’m not being sexist, Isabel. I’m just saying, someone as small as her, can’t really guard the lot of us.”

“Oh, yeah? Well, Levi is small, too. And he’s stronger than us!”

“Enough. Be quiet, the two of you. Fucking making my head hurt more than it already is.”

Eve raises her brows. In the span of a few seconds, she managed to witness the trio’s personalities. Eve now knows what kind of person each of them are. “So. Furlan,” she points at the tallest. “Isabel,” pointing to the girl. “And Levi,” she points to the leader. “Good to finally know your names.”

“Can… we know your name?” Isabel smiles at her.

Eve gives her an amused look. “I’m Yvonne. Everyone calls me Eve. Nice to meet you all.”

“Eve, huh?” Furlan raises a brow. “Do we get a last name?”

“Do you need my last name?”

“Furlan, if you make a joke about changing her last name, I will actually puke here.”

“I wasn’t going to do that,” he grumbles.

“You totally were! I could feel it!”

While the two of them bicker, Eve meets the eyes of Levi. An amused smile hints at her face, while the permanent scowl remains on his.

“So, if they chose you to guard us, you’re probably the strongest of them all, right?” Furlan questions after finishing arguing with Isabel.

“No.” Eve closes her notebook. “I’m here to figure out each of you.”

“Figure out? The hell does that mean?”

Eve stares at them, as if contemplating. “I’m the section commander of the Survey Corps. And it was me who suggested to our captain that we take you in.”

It was Levi’s turn to appear surprised. “You outrank the captain.”

“Indeed, I do.” Eve looks pleased that Levi is familiar with the chain of command.

“So, how come that other guy said he doesn’t take orders from you? He follows that blonde guy.” Furlan asks in confusion, while Levi keeps his eyes on Eve.

There is a gentle smile on her face. A smile that Levi doesn’t fucking trust, not for a second. “Erwin is Miche’s squad leader. Technically, he has to follow Erwin. He wasn’t wrong.”

And the way she talks, too. She sounds so… posh. Her accent, it only belongs to the nobles from above.

“As section commander, it’s well within my rights to inspect every unusual thing we come across.” Eve eyes each of them. “Before you’re all adjusted to your quarters, all of you are expected to undergo medical examinations. And I expect you all to comply.”

In her soft voice, the level of authority can be sensed, which is extremely unsettling in a way. Even when Eve smiles, Isabel feels a bit anxious.

“After that, I’m supposed to show you around. I’ll have your measurements, and your uniforms will be ready by tomorrow at dusk.” Eve opens her notebook again, reaching into her jacket to retrieve a pocketwatch. “And we’ll be at HQ by tomorrow morning. I suggest you all doze off if you can.”

“If you’re section commander, then why the fuck are you here with us instead of doing something important?” Levi bluntly asks, face unchanging.

“Oh, I volunteered.” Eve’s annoying smile is retained. “I was the one that suggested this should happen. I should see it through.”

“That right? Well, then. You got us.”

“It’s not that easy, Mr. Levi—”

“Mr. Levi?” he repeats under his breath.

“We do have you,” she agrees. “But we don’t have your hearts yet.”

“Our hearts?” Levi raises his brows. What is this, a fucking fairytale?

“Yes, your hearts. I aim for you three to believe in our cause. The cause of humanity. My goal here is to provide a space for you three. To exercise your abilities, and use them to help mankind.” Eve informs. “Who knows? Maybe in the future, one of you could be standing next to me as equals in rank.”

“Or one of us could outrank you.”

The corners of her eyes crinkle to form a wider smile. “I like confidence a lot. It’s very promising.”

“I’m not trying to impress you.”

“And yet here I am, impressed.” Eve lets out a mocking sigh. “In all seriousness. Should any of you need something, don’t be afraid to approach me. I will help in any way I can.”

Isabel finds comfort in that. “Why are you so kind to us?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” Levi barely takes his eyes off her. “We’re her science experiment to impress her commander. If we fail, she fails.”

“On the contrary, I only suggested this.” Eve is even more amused by Levi, which somehow pisses him off even more. “Erwin took it up. And you definitely don’t want to fail Erwin. It’ll be the last thing you will ever do.”

Isabel looks put off by that, but tries not to let it show on her face. Furlan eyes Eve, to assess if she’ll get in the way of their mission or not. While Levi narrows his icy eyes at her, and she only gives them a warm smile.

“Lighten up, you three. You’re going to like it in the Survey Corps. I think anywhere other than the underground city would be good for you.”

“Even if there are titans?” Isabel asks, sounding concerned.

“Anywhere is better than the underground city. Despite the titans.”

Isabel seems to agree with her, and Furlan says nothing except to lean against the carriage wall to sleep a little. Isabel does the same while Eve goes back to writing. Levi stays awake, not trusting anyone enough to sleep in a moving carriage. He settles on watching her instead. Glaring, in her opinion, while she scribbles on the pages.

After about four hours of that, she finally looks up to sigh. “What is it, Levi? You know, if you have a problem, you can tell me.”

“I don’t.”

“Then why are you looking at me like that? You look at me like I pissed in your tea.”

“I don’t buy it. This whole… nice girl act.” Levi’s whole body is tense, as if he was ready to grab his comrades and jump off the carriage at any moment.

“It’s not an act, Levi. I genuinely want to help you all.” Eve closes her notebook. “When I first heard from the MPs about you three, I wanted to recruit you all. The three of you intrigued me. I think you all can be useful to the cause, and I’m willing to risk things in order to have you all live above the city you grew up in. In other words, Levi, while you won’t be my responsibility when you get to the corps, I would still feel partially responsible for all of your wellbeings. I have faith that all four of us can work as a team. Maybe not in the beginning, but we’ll work on it.”

“What makes you think I’ll ever trust the likes of you?”

“You think I care if you trust me?” Eve snorts, and Levi is slightly confused. “All I want from you is your will to live. You love these two, don’t you?” She gestures casually to the two sleeping individuals in the carriage. Levi says nothing, and his silence was already an answer. “If you love them, that means you think they deserve better than the place you lived in. You don’t have to trust me, but I can trust that you care about these two people enough to at least be civil with me.”

Levi stares at her for a few more moments before finally looking away. He says nothing, and Eve likes to believe that her words got to him.

Morning comes, and Eve observes Levi’s impassive face once the sun begins to peek from afar. For a brief moment, she saw the way he was stunned. Only for half a second, and the expression is gone. Then, he kicks at Isabel’s legs, and nudges Furlan awake, to which they both groan at. Eve even hears Isabel call him brother while whining from the sleep. It all vanishes once they open their eyes.

Isabel excitedly looks out the window, half her body jutting out so she could have a good look. “Oh, is that the sun?! It’s beautiful!”

Eve silently smirks. “You have barely seen it. Just wait.”

Isabel hangs on to every second that passes, just watching as the sky transitions from dark blue to a mesmerizing orange hue. Then, the lovely bright sun appears above the walls, blinding as people said it would. Isabel shields her eyes and she squeals.

“Sit down, Isabel.” Levi scolds, glancing at Eve briefly. He didn’t want the woman to think that they’re getting comfortable within just hours. Though, he has to admit even to himself, the sunrise is pretty.

Isabel complies wordlessly, too busy admiring the sunrise to even bark back at Levi. Eve wonders just how young this girl is, and if it even feels right to recruit her to such a dangerous military unit.

They arrive at HQ, and the soldiers get to work with unpacking everything. Eve leads the new recruits to her lab, where her second-in-command is working intensely and with concentration.

It breaks once they see Eve enter with new people behind her. “Section Commander! You’re back!” They enthusiastically greet, immediately dropping whatever they’re working on, and approaching the group. “So, the mission is a success!” They roar with laughter, patting Eve on the back as if she wasn’t their superior, and instead, their friend. They giddily go to the new recruits, inspecting them from head to toe without shame.

“Everyone, this is Cadet Hange Zoë, my second. They’re part of my team, and we work together on the weapons and research division of the regiment. Hange, this is Levi, Isabel and Furlan. They’re our new recruits.” Eve smiles at them proudly, and it fills Isabel with confidence, Furlan as well. Levi remains stoic as ever, but the way Hange is stepping into his personal space might break his patience.

“Oh, I can’t believe you managed to convince the commander to do this.” Hange laughs. “You three are in luck! Moblit just finished setting up everything for your medical examination, so we can go right ahead!”

“Ooh, not so fast, Hange,” Eve gives an apologetic smile. “They had a long day yesterday. I figured they should rest first before we get into all the serious things. I just brought them here for their measurements, and I needed to speak to you first. In confidence.”

“Uh… okay.”

They call for Moblit, and he takes the trio’s measurements while Hange pulls Eve to one corner.

“What’s going on?”

“I have a bad feeling, Hange.”

“Well, that’s natural, you know? They used to murder MPs, and I heard that they even run a whole gang in that city—”

“No, I know, I know. It’s just… things were way too easy lately. They keep going along with everything we say. I need your help in monitoring them. I want you to keep a close eye on Furlan, the tall one.”

“What about the other two?”

“I’ll handle them.” Eve nods, lowering her head. “Adding to that, I’ve been meaning to ask you to talk to Erwin…”

“Oh, here we go again. Vonnie, I know things are complicated between you two, but come on! Stop waiting already!” They hiss.

Eve palms her forehead. “Just please talk to him for me. Please? Give it back to him.”

“Vonnie…”

“I’ll make you breakfast every day!” Eve whines. “Please, I don’t want to have this conversation with him. Please.”

“Ugh. Fine. But if things go awkward, you’re going to buy me as many cakes as I want.” Hange gives her a pointed look, and Eve grins. “I mean it!”

“Fine! Fine. As many cakes as you want.”

“Good.”

Eve watches as Levi approaches the bunk beds, touching the wood underneath as crackles of dust falls to the ground. His two friends observe him cautiously, and Eve clears her throat.

“Women and men sleep in different buildings,” she announces, and Isabel pales. “It’s okay, our building is way better than theirs.” Eve reassures playfully, sending her a wink. Isabel’s lips twitch into a smirk as she relaxes. “So, before I take Isabel to her own quarters, is there anything else you guys would require? I’ll provide if I can.”

“I need cleaning supplies. Lots of it.”

An odd request. “Write a list and I’ll have Moblit give it to you by the end of the day, along with your uniforms.”

“Don’t need a list. Just memorize it. Detergent, soap, shampoo, scrubs, brooms, fabric conditioner, bleach—”

“Hey, whoa, whoa, slow down. I can’t memorize all of that in one go.” Eve chuckles instead of being annoyed, taking out her notebook and pen. “Say all that again.”

Levi pauses, staring as she prepares herself to write. Is she not even worried that he’ll use these cleaning supplies to poison cadets?

Then, he repeats everything he just said and added a few more while she writes. When she finishes, she tucks her notebook back in her pocket.

“What are you planning to clean, the entire headquarters?” Eve snorts, but her tone holds no ill intention.

“I’d consider it, seeing how filthy this place is.”

Eve raises her brows, amused, while Isabel looks like she’s panicking. “H-He doesn’t mean that in a bad way!”

“How is calling this shithole filthy, a good way?”

Eve only lets out a chuckle, shaking her head. “Oh, you three crack me up. Come on, Isabel. Let’s get you comfortable in your own quarters.”

Isabel waves at Furlan and Levi as they leave, and Eve can feel Levi’s gaze burn through her head. What a strange man. From all the recruits that Eve managed to bring to the regiment, not one of them has ever requested for cleaning supplies. Most would ask for food, clothes, of even a pair of shoes. Not detergent and a broom (and a few million other things). Such a demanding person of his stature. Eve just wants to pinch his cheeks.

Eve takes Isabel to one of the spare quarters, explaining that she will have a roommate, like the rest of them. Isabel seems comfortable with her roommate, and so Eve lets her rest. Of course, these roommates were all tasked to watch them and make sure none of them would ever think of harming any of the scouts.

While the trio rests, Eve goes to the training grounds where the other cadets were. They all seemed to be more vigorous in training once they see Eve, even saluting her when she walks by. She passes the list to Moblit, excusing him from training temporarily and he immediately gathers what’s needed.

From one corner of her eye, she can see the commander and the other squad leaders exiting the building, probably just ending their recent meeting about the new recruits. One of them doesn’t look too pleased by it, as Eve expected.

Commander Sadies approaches Eve, and she raises her brows in questioning. “What?”

“It looks like the three are staying.”

Eve looks unimpressed. “They’re already here, and all of you are still arguing whether or not they’re staying? Seems a bit stupid.”

Sadies sends her a brief glare before walking away to probably torment the other recruits. Eve suppresses a small smirk, knowing that she annoyed him to some extent. Eve adores Sadies, and annoying him is her way of saying that.

As she looks to her left, she sees Miche talking to Erwin. He somehow sensed eyes on him, since he immediately looks in Eve’s direction, and their gazes meet. Eve tries not to let her stomach flip as she slowly looks away, closing her eyes to wince once her face is out of sight.

God, this is going to be a long week.

At the end of the day, Eve goes to the men’s quarters, with Hange right behind her. Cadets would stop to salute her on the way, and she would nod in acknowledgment—even though it annoys her a bit. They’re all acting like she’s Sadies.

Eve reaches the door and knocks, listening to the footsteps behind it as it swings open to reveal the short leader and his usual grouchy face. Eve doesn’t let him speak as she nods at Hange, who gives him the basket they were carrying. “Cleaning supplies, as promised, and some for hygiene as well. And your uniforms.”

Levi takes it, glancing briefly at the contents. “These are shit.”

Eve is unfazed. “I don’t shit money. Work with what you have.”

Levi puts the basket by the door. “Anything else?”

“Watch the attitude, shorty,” Hange looks at him with a glare. “She’s your superior. Act like it.”

“It’s fine, Hange.” Eve chuckles, unbothered as she leans down to gather the other basket. “I’ll go to Isabel on my own. And you three can meet us in the cafeteria for dinner. I’m sure you’re all hungry.”

Hange pouts, but nods at her as she leaves. They turn to Levi, giving him an amused yet disproving look. “You know, you should try to be nice to her. She stuck her neck out to get you a position here.”

“No shit. You need people like us more than we need you.” Levi turns back into his room. “Oi. Wake up.“

Furlan groans. “Go away, Levi.”

“Get up. She’s here. Or… he. Fuck, I don’t know. I don’t care.” Levi rubs his forehead, glancing back at Hange, who is about to burst into laughter. Levi forcefully grabs his friend’s shoulder, shaking him. “Furlan.”

“I’m up! I’m up. Fuck.” Furlan swats Levi’s hand away as he sits up, looking at the person at the doorway. “Who are you?”

Hange couldn’t hold it anymore, and they laugh loudly. “I’m Hange Zoë, part of Yvonne Squad. We met literally this morning.”

“Oh, right.”

“Seems like you’re completely out of it the entire day, cadet.”

“Aren’t you a cadet, too?” Furlan goes to the basket to take his uniform, passing Levi his. Then, Furlan changes in front of Hange without shame. “Shouldn’t we be equals?”

“You’re new recruits. The freshest blood there is. I’ve been here since my graduation from the cadet corps. If anything, I’m more superior.”

“I can say that I’m better at you with killing titans, and I haven’t even seen a titan in my life!”

“Oh, yeah? Is that a challenge?” Hange steps forward, in Furlan’s personal space.

“You’re fucking on, half-boy.”

“Cut the pissing contest.”

Furlan and Hange turn to look at Levi, who miraculously is now wearing his uniform. He must have changed while Furlan and Hange were bickering, and he crosses his arms while scowling.

“Yeah, well, she started it.”

Levi holds his hand up. “You fucking idiot. Don’t go around calling people half-boys. Do you hear how stupid you fucking sound? It pisses me off.”

“But Levi, look at—”

“I don’t give a crap what they look like. We’re meeting Isabel at the cafeteria. Get dressed already, move it.” Levi moves past Hange and Furlan.

“Hey, wait! Do you even know where the cafeteria is?!” Hange gapes at Levi, who just walks away.

When they arrive at the cafeteria, Furlan sits with Hange and Levi after they were given a plate with food. It’s not much, but it’s way better than the shit they eat back in the underground city.

As they wait for Isabel and Eve, Furlan grows curious. “So, what’s the deal with the section commander?”

“Don’t worry about her. She’s a great person. Her only two rules when you come to her office are, one; keep yourself clean. And two; never drink anything she drinks.”

“Oddly specific rule,” Furlan raises a brow. “Is she single?” He smirks, wanting to annoy Hange.

Somehow, other cadets overhear the question, and they laugh. Assuming Furlan and Levi were just the normal new recruits they receive, the group of men and women turn to them.

“Better stay away from Eve, or you’ll have the captain to deal with.” They all snicker among each other.

“What does that mean?”

“I mean, she’s the captain’s girl. They’re together.” One of the women says, and the others coo to tease the lovebirds, who were not even present in the room.

Levi quirks a brow. That rascal and the eyebrows are fucking? Didn’t see that coming.

Hange frowns. “Shh! Be quiet, you guys! The captain could be around at any minute.”

They don’t listen to Hange, since as Furlan observes, all of them are equals here. One of the cadets lean over to Furlan, as if to tell him a secret. “If you’re going to flirt with Eve, don’t bother. She’s taken, you know. You don’t want to mess with the captain’s girl.”

They say the title in an endearing yet mocking way somehow. Strange. Levi sees Isabel and Eve walk in, and Isabel has a bright grin on her face.

“Big bro! Look!” She turns around, showing off the symbol of the wings on her jacket. “Pretty cool, right?” She sits with Levi as Eve goes to the front to get them some food. Levi follows her with his gaze.

“How’s your knee?” Furlan points with his fork.

“Miss Eve took care of it for me!”

“She should. She’s the one that put it there.” Levi bluntly says, and Isabel nudges his shoulder.

“Oh, quit it, Levi. It’s pretty nice to be here.”

“Eat up, you three. You slept the whole day, you must be starving. Medical examinations are after dinner. Hange, you take Furlan and Isabel. I’ll deal with this one.” Eve smiles at Levi, who grips his cup tighter.

“So, you’re section commander and a doctor?” Isabel’s eyes shine with admiration.

“Scientist, actually. Technically, I mostly handle paperwork.” Eve corrects. “Hange assists me sometimes with medical related work. But they’re more into the study of titans,” Eve smirks knowingly. “You could say they’re an expert.”

“The study of titans?” Furlan frowns. “Why the hell would you want to study that? I heard they look ugly as hell.”

Hange snickers. “Studying them would help us kill them quicker.”

“Hange’s working on a proposal of capturing titans for research,” Eve says, her tone is proud. “While I don’t think the commander will green light it in the near future, it’s a start.”

“You agree with them?” Isabel gapes. “Capturing titans?”

“Well, we need to know more about them. Hange’s the best person for that.” Eve smiles at the way Hange is flushed from the compliment. “Anyway, after the exams, Moblit will take you your horses for tomorrow’s training. So you’d know which is yours.”

“We get our own horses?” Isabel lights up, and Eve is amused by how the young girl likes the life above, and she nods, to which Isabel holds back a squeal of excitement.

For someone recruited into the most dangerous military unit, she seems very happy to be here.

After dinner, Hange and Eve lead the recruits back to the lab.

Eve grabs a lab coat. “Levi, you come with me.”

He looks at Furlan, who urges him on with a nod. Levi uncrosses his arms before following Eve to another room. It seems to be her office, going by the scent of the room, it’s similar to hers. Levi closes the door behind himself and Eve puts on some gloves.

Eve tells him to sit, and he does with a sigh while looking around the moderately decorated room. He can see how dusty the room is, though.

The examination is fairly normal, apart from the occasional prod of a hand on his body, which he kind of dislikes. At least she’s wearing gloves, so Levi knows she’s clean. When she measures his height and weight, she doesn’t have any hint of judgement on her face.

“What’s that?” He finds himself asking.

“This is a syringe. It’ll help me draw blood from you.” Eve cleans his arm with a wet cotton, which makes his skin feel cool. “I need to check if you’re sick.”

“I’m not.”

“Yeah, well, most illnesses in the blood aren’t obvious.” Eve patiently tells him. “They can stay undetected for a long time. And seeing that you’re from the underground city—”

“We’re infested with diseases, is that what you’re saying?” Levi snaps.

“What I’m saying is the underground city is prone with many diseases, and since most citizens go years without the sun and fresh air, it’s only right for me to assume that most are vulnerable to illness, especially after the sudden exposure to the sun.” Eve clinically tells him. “That, and I need to know if your bodies will be okay, since it’s your first time here, right? The air is different, the atmosphere is different. It could be a shock for your bodies. You’ll probably end up nauseous once you get too much sunlight, since you’re not used to it yet. I’m here to make sure that doesn’t happen.”

Levi blinks, taking in the professional tone she’s using. He watches as she raises the syringe, and looks at him. Levi has a suspicious look on his face.

“Relax, okay? I’m just taking some of your blood. Using this needle. It’s going to sting a little, but it’s basically just a pinch. I guarantee you, you’ve felt worse pain than a syringe.” Without warning, she plunges the needle into his arm, and it doesn’t really hurt.

Get stabbed a few hundred times, and a syringe would be like a gentle poke.

Levi watches the way she pulls it back, and it fills with his red blood. Not really something he hasn’t seen before, but it’s odd to see his blood be inside a little tube instead of on someone else’s skin, or a floor.

Before she pulls it out, she covers his skin with cotton. “All done. Look at this precious blob,” she snickers while dangling the syringe in front of him, and he just blankly stares. “I wonder if it runs in the blood, your skills with the ODM. You should get a girlfriend here within Wall Rose. Pass down your genes.”

It was like she was made to make Levi uncomfortable.

“Do you ever stop talking?”

“Nope. Alright, next step. Go to that room.” Eve hands him a cup. “Pee in that.”

Levi immediately throws the cup towards her, unsure if it’s clean right after her words. “The fuck? What do you mean piss in it?”

“I mean, pee in it.” She pauses between words to emphasize it. Observing the way Levi scrunches his nose in disgust. “Have you never had a medical exam before?”

“What do you think?”

A smile grows on her face, but not in a condescending or mocking. It seems to be a genuine one, as far as Levi can tell. “I’m happy to show you all of how this works. But I’m sure that I’ll bore you to death.”

“No kidding.”

“I need a urinalysis. I made sure that Hange made you all drink a lot of water during dinner earlier.”

Levi clenches his jaw. This examination is beyond humiliating, but Eve treats it very professionally. So, he huffs and looks for the bathroom. A minute later, Levi hands her the cup, and immediately asks for some sanitizers. Eve hands him a bottle that looks to be half-empty. It probably belongs to her personally. And it smells nice.

Focus, Levi. Goddammit. You’re not here to fucking ask the section commander where she got the sanitizer. Levi tells himself.

“Alright, you’re all set. I’ll have your results by tomorrow. Do you want a lolli?” She gestures to the small container holding a bunch of sweets.

In a military unit? “No thanks.” Although, he should get one for Isabel, she would appreciate that. No, he won’t do that in front of this one. “I can go now, right?”

“In a minute. Can you sit over here?” Eve points at the chair in front of his desk.

“What else do you want?” Levi sighs, sitting opposite her and crossing his arms with a glare.

“I need you to fill out this form,” Eve hands him a paper and pen, and turns around to gather some things.

Levi’s brows furrow tightly, eyes scanning the symbols on the paper. He grips the pen tightly, and when he hears that Eve is no longer shuffling papers, and staring at him instead. Levi feels smaller, and he hated it.

It dawns on Eve, and she softens. She contemplates which question to ask that would annoy him less. “In the underground city, do they not have schools?”

“Some kids don’t survive long enough to stay in it. Wasn’t worth the bother for some people.”

“I see.” Eve holds her hand out, and Levi gives her back the paper. Somehow, Levi doesn’t feel insulted by her actions. “I’ll fill this up for you. I’m sure Hange will do the same for your friends.”

“What’s the form for?”

“Every scout in the Survey Corps is accounted for. Each one has their own documents, detailing important things about them.” Eve holds up a folder. “This one is yours. Now, it isn’t as thick as the others, but you’ll get there. This file will contain your details, medical examinations throughout the years. As does everybody’s,” she gestures behind her, towards the neatly arranged folders withing the cabinet. “And the only person allowed to read any of it is me. Confidentiality is quite important in this lab. So, whatever you reveal to me, will stay with me.”

Levi just glances at it, and looks back at her with visible questioning.

“If you want to ask me something, just go ahead. I have nothing to hide, you know.” Eve shoots him a knowing look as she searches for a decent pen.

“You say you’re the only one who can read them. Why the hell are you letting that loudmouth examine Furlan and Isabel?”

Eve chuckles. “I’m still going to talk to Furlan and Isabel soon. Hange is just out there to measure the technical ones.”

“What’s it all for, anyway?”

“Records. History is nothing without our records. And of course, this can save lives to come. Having medical records saves our time on helping a scout, should they ever get sick,” she smirks again. “And if you become who I believe you can become, I think your medical records will be extremely valuable in the next century.”

Levi knots his brows at her in suspicion. “You scouts sure know a lot of shit about people enough to have someone decide to have all this records bullshit available.”

“Yes,” she nods, gesturing to herself. “Me. I’m the one that decided to have records for each of our scouts. See these forms?” She holds up the stacks of papers, with blanks and empty charts. “I developed them. Kept them organized so they’ll be easier to read. And now, even the MPs and Garrison follow our example. So far, we have over seven thousand soldiers on record, and counting.” Eve has a small smile on her face, humble yet proud.

Levi just stares blankly at her, and she assumes that her achievements must mean nothing to him, so she moves on.

“Do you have more questions? Because I have a few for you,” she waves the paper. Levi stays quiet, and she takes the hint while writing on her paper. “Alright. So, Levi. That’s an L, an E, a V, and an I,” she mutters while writing. What the fuck is she even saying? “Do you have a surname?”

“No.”

“Alright. When’s your birthday?”

Silence.

Eve lifts her head from the paper and takes the hint again. The underground city is very cruel. Eve can only imagine that if this powerful young man doesn’t know the day of his birth, how many more people do?

“We’ll circle back to that someday. Do you at least know your age?”

“No.”

“Hm. You seem to be around Erwin’s age, so I’ll put that down temporarily, yeah?” She asks permission with her eyes, and he just nods. “Do you have any known relatives? Living or dead?”

“The hell’s that got to do with my medical shit?” Levi snaps, disliking how this is progressing, but he knows he needs to keep it together for his mission to work.

She calmly raises her hands as if to tell him it’s fine. “This is your demographic profile. I’d appreciate it if you answer honestly, since it’s just the two of us here. Normally, these would be required for the cadet corps, but seeing as none of you underwent training, I’m at liberty to ask. So, any relatives, living or dead?”

“Furlan Church and Isabel Magnolia are my family. The only one I have. Does that satisfy you?” Levi narrows his eyes, but his mind goes back to the way his mother held him close to her chest to keep him warm.

“Alright, do you drink alcohol?”

“No.”

“Any drugs I should know?” Eve asks. “Don’t worry, I’m not sending you to jail for it. It’s just necessary to make sure I won’t accidentally dose—”

“No.”

“Okay. Do you have trouble sleeping?”

“No.”

“Do you have trouble breathing?”

“No.”

“Are you sexually active?”

“No.”

“Do you have poor eyesight?”

“No.”

“Any tattoos I should know about?”

“No.”

“Piercings?”

“No.”

“Okay, we’re close to being done,” Eve puts her pen down and approaches Levi to sit closely in front of him.

His eyes slightly widen when her thigh his slotted between his legs just so she could be close to him. “The hell are you—argh!”

Eve uses her gloved fingers to open Levi’s mouth, inspecting it for a moment while Levi’s whole body is tense, but he grips the chair tight in his fist. His eyes widen even more when he feels her finger be inserted in his mouth, to feel against his teeth. He can feel her fingers prod against his tongue. After a few more seconds, she lets him go and Levi stumbles back into his chair to groan.

“What the fuck?” Levi wipes the corners of his mouth from his own drool, and the tips of his ears heat up.

“Sorry. I knew you’d say no if I ask ‘Levi, can I put my fingers in your mouth?’ so I had no choice but to take you by surprise.” She takes the gloves off and throws them to the sink to be washed thoroughly, and she is smiling to herself. “It’s impressive.”

“That you fucking put your filthy fucking hands in my mouth without even asking? The hell is wrong with you?!”

She ignores what he said in the last part, still smiling as she jots down notes on her notebook instead of the paper for his medical record. “No. Your teeth. They’re perfect!” She practically swoons, and Levi grimaces at the display. “Healthy. Very healthy, it’s impressive! I always thought it was impossible for someone who lived in the underground city!”

“My teeth are… perfect?”

Eve gives him a knowing smile. “Thank you, Mr. Levi, for your cooperation in your medical examination. I’ll give you the results tomorrow. You can leave.”

Levi didn’t think twice on leaving. That woman, she’s definitely crazy. Calling Levi’s teeth perfect? It makes him wonder how that Captain Erwin Smith could ever choose her as a partner. She is clearly insane.

Eve leaves her office and sees Hange exit the other room as well. She looks at them. “Well?”

“Isabel has trouble with walking and coordination, Furlan’s eyes aren’t very good. Not to mention their bones…”

“Yeah,” Eve sighs. “Lack of sunlight would do that to you. But get this… Levi’s teeth?”

“Yeah?”

Eve breaks into a swoon. “I’ve never seen a set so perfect!”

Hange howls out a laugh. “How is that even possible! What about the sun?”

“Seems like our Levi has bones of steel, must be the genes. I wonder where he came from,” Eve snickers, nudging Hange by the shoulders. “Pretty soon, he’ll probably become stronger than us all. I told you, this was the right choice!”

“Alright, alright, leave the I told you so’s to you-know-who.” Hange snorts, waving her off. “Goodnight, Vonnie.”

“Night, Hange.”

For the next few days of being in the scouts, it was strange to admit that things weren’t so bad here. The day after the medical exam, Eve has brought Furlan and Levi a basket full of fruits, demanding that they should eat them. Although, she didn’t really need to demand Furlan, since he wouldn’t stop eating—claiming that fruits are the best thing he has ever tasted. Levi decides that fruits aren’t horrible when he tasted them himself. 

Levi notices that Isabel seems to be close to Eve. They hang out quite often. He watched as Eve cheered loudly for Isabel when she got the hang of her horse. Eve gave Furlan a big grin when he successfully balances himself on the ODM gear with the towers.

And of course, Levi didn’t miss the way Eve was watching with interest and glee as Levi easily maneuvers himself and kills the dummy titan during their brief training.

Eve was a strange woman. Unlike any that Levi has met. There is always that stupid annoying smile on her face, like she’s always happy. Levi doesn’t trust her at all.

Right now marks a week of them being in the Survey Corps. Levi still needs to kill Captain Smith, but no opportunity has presented itself yet. Not until they find the document. They tried looking for it in Erwin’s office, but nothing came from it.

They have an upcoming expedition beyond the walls in three days, and Levi couldn’t sleep. Not because he’s thinking of a lot of things, or tormented by horrid memories.

It’s because Furlan wouldn’t fucking stop snoring.

Levi is instantly reminded of why he and Furlan slept in separate rooms back in the underground.

When he couldn’t take it anymore, he groans out quietly and sits up, pulling off the covers to leave the room. He pushes himself to go to the mess hall to make himself some tea, but the door they used was locked. Levi clicks his tongue and turns back, looking quite annoyed as he decided to walk the long way.

When he passes a corridor, he hears a familiar voice from a distance.

“—don’t want to talk about this right now. I really don’t.”

Levi frowns, deciding to hide behind the wall and slowly peek out. From the end of the corridor, he sees Captain Erwin Smith and Section Commander Eve standing in front of what seems to be his office.

“You wouldn’t come here for nothing,” Erwin lowers his voice.

“I’m here to deliver my side notes to you about our new recruits. Here, everything I found interesting about them. You’re not going to have the medical results, Erwin. I told you that many times. Whatever they reveal to me, stays with me. The same goes for every scout,” she presses the notebook to his chest, her tone is reprimanding, yet hushed so that they won’t be heard. “And you can have your little gift back.”

“Yvonne.”

“Now is not the time, Erwin.” Eve insists, shaking her head at him. “We’ll talk about this some other time.” Levi notices that her voice is slightly shaking. It makes him frown. Is she… about to cry?

Eve tries walks away, towards Levi’s direction, making him hide back. However, he hears that her footsteps stopped. Levi cranes his neck, glancing back at the scene. He finds himself surprised to see the formidable Erwin Smith, gently holding onto the young woman in front of him with his head hanging low. Levi almost sees how desperate the man seems to be, it was… a strange sight.

Erwin has his hands gently gripping the sides of Eve’s arms as he pushes her to the wall next to his door, and he sighs. “Yvonne, just ten minutes.”

Is Levi witnessing a breakup, or what is this? Why is he so invested? Fucking hell, Levi must be bored of his life for this to be able to entertain him.

Although, seeing the way Eve’s eyes shine with tears is an odd sight. From knowing her for a week, all he has ever seen on her is a smile and nothing else. Right now, Levi can see the light reflecting on the tear trailing down her cheek.

“Erwin, please. Let go of me.” Eve’s voice is low, filled with pain.

“Talk to me first. I can’t… I can’t take this silence anymore, Yvonne. You need to talk to me.”

Come to think of it, for being the ‘captain’s girl’, Levi never saw Erwin and Eve interact during the entirety of their stay here. Not even when they were recruited back in the underground city, Levi never saw them talk. Despite how everyone knows they are together, they seem to be private when it comes to shit like this.

“You already know what I’m going to say, why keep talking about this?”

“This is necessary. You know I don’t have a choice…”

“Then you shouldn’t have asked!” Eve raises her arms to push Erwin back. “You keep saying that some of this is necessary, when you know it’s not! You proved your point, okay? Just… you don’t have to keep doing this. Let me talk to them.”

“Yvonne, please. Don’t interfere.”

“We keep going in circles, Erwin. I can’t keep doing this with you anymore.”

“Yvonne,” Erwin closes his eyes, and she walks away from him again. This time, he doesn’t stop her.

Levi steps back quietly into the shadows, watching as Eve walks down the corridor and goes to the opposite way, not seeing Levi behind her. She leaves the building and all Levi can hear now is the way Erwin Smith fidgets in his place. Curiosity gets the best of Levi and he peeks at the captain again, catching on time the way Erwin slams his fist against the wall with a grunt before storming into his office, shutting the door closed.

Levi is left standing there, unsure what he just witnessed. That was definitely a breakup, right? Shit, he never thought he’d witness such a dramatic one. Levi could laugh.

Although, that’s not what his body did. Instead, he finds himself walking out of the building and looking around to check whether Eve was still around. Sure enough, he spots her legs dangling from the balcony above his head. The fuck? How did she get there?

In the balcony, Eve sighs while wiping the tears staining her cheeks, muttering under her breath in frustration. “Fuck.”

She takes out a flask and uncaps it, sipping from the rim to let the taste burn her throat.

“I didn’t know you drink.”

Eve blinks, slowly looking over her shoulder to see Levi in casual clothes by the balcony door. Eve knots her brows at him. “Aren’t you supposed to be asleep?”

“Furlan snores.”

“Ah. Right. Hange told me about that.” Eve turns back to her view of the nightsky, sipping from her flask again. “Care to join my misery of sleepless nights?”

Levi frowns, but says nothing other than approaching her and sitting on the cemented railing as well. “Why the fuck are you awake?”

“Careful, I’m still your superior.”

“Right. Why the fuck are you awake, section commander?”

“Mm. Better.” Eve chuckles. “Oh, it’s nothing for you to worry about.”

“I wasn’t worrying.”

“Mhm. Well, it’s nothing. I just enjoy drinking at night. It clears my head better.”

“Alcohol is supposed to make it worse.”

“I take it that you’re a non-drinker?”

“Anti-drinker. That shit is disgusting.”

“Okay, captain alcohol, it’s one flask.”

“And I would drain it down the sink without any regrets.”

Eve pulls the flask a little further away from Levi while huffing, but an amused smile appears on her face anyway. “So, Mr. Strongest of them all, how are you enjoying the Survey Corps so far?”

“It’s tolerable.”

“Oh, that means you like it here! Just admit it.”

Levi sends a glare, but not because of the way she is teasing him, but because of how strangely easy it is for her to suddenly be laughing, when a few minutes ago, she was at the verge of tears because of the captain.

“I’ll decide if I like it here or not when we fight titans soon. Until then, everything about here is boring.”

“Yeah, you’re probably right. Whenever we’re not on missions, all everyone can do here is just gossip.” Eve snorts, drinking from her flask again.

“Yeah, gossip. You know, I heard an interesting one the other day.”

“And what’s that?”

“You and Captain Smith. You two have a thing, right?”

Instead of a straight answer, Eve’s smile drops and she lowers her head with a sigh. “I knew it. Fuck.”

“What?”

“How much did you hear from earlier?” Her tone shifts from amusement to serious.

“…I only caught the last part of it.”

Eve shakes her head, rubbing the side of her face as she winces. “At least it’s just you. I wouldn’t be able to stand it if it was anyone else who saw Erwin and I fighting.”

“Lovers’ quarrel, then? Fuck. Good luck with that,” he dryly says.

Eve just snorts, taking a long sip of her flask. “I think I would just call it a quarrel, since Erwin and I aren’t lovers.”

Levi blinks, glancing at Eve who just stares at the sky. “I thought…”

“Like I said, Levi. People like to gossip.” Eve offers an apologetic smile. “In fact, you’re the last person I thought would listen to gossip. Guess I was wrong.”

There was an odd jab through Levi’s chest when she said that. It made him a bit uncomfortable, and so he stays quiet.

“You want to know the truth, Levi? Because I’ll tell you what I’ve never told anyone in the years that they’ve known me and Erwin.” Eve sips from her flask and she caps it before setting it aside. Levi is staring at her, and she chuckles. “Don’t worry. I’m not drunk, I have a high tolerance. And besides, I know you’re not one to gossip. You’re not much of a talker anyway. I know you’ll keep it to yourself.”

What if it’s important intel that can help Levi kill Erwin Smith quicker? Or find that stupid document? Levi can’t push this opportunity aside.

“Whatever. Tell me what you want.” Levi tries to look disinterested.

“Hm… alright. Well, for starters, Erwin and I aren’t together. We’ve never been together. It’s just a weird rumor going around, since everyone believes we’re dating. And the reason why people believe that is because Erwin has feelings for me. In the ten years I’ve known Erwin, we never officially dated, contrary to popular belief.”

Levi is surprised. Huh. So, it’s not Eve who is chasing Erwin around. It seems to be Erwin all along.

Fucking hell, two weeks ago, Levi was killing members of the military police. Now, he’s listening to the section commander of the Survey Corps talk about her complicated romantic relationship with the captain of the Survey Corps—which Levi joined willingly. Fuck.

“And I know what you’re thinking. If we like each other, then why won’t we just go for it?” Eve shrugs. “I should tell you first that in the whole duration of knowing Erwin, I know that he can never put anything above his goal.”

“What goal?”

“It’s not mine to tell… but I can say that no matter how many times Erwin tells me that he loves me, he will never choose me over that goal. So, I’ve made the decision for him a long time ago. We will never be in a relationship.”

“Why can’t you achieve his goal with him? Isn’t that what couples do?” Levi grumbles, feeling uncomfortable that he’s even saying these words.

A smile creeps into her face, and he sees it from the corner of his eye. “You big old softie. You like me, don’t you?”

“Fuck off. I’m trying to be civil. Just because the captain is in love with you, doesn’t mean everyone else is. Fucking cunt.”

“No, I meant you like me. You think I’m your friend. I’m very touched, Levi. I didn’t know you and I would be close in just a week of knowing each other.”

“If you don’t stop talking, I’ll push you off this balcony.”

“Oh, that would be a great idea, actually. Spare me from this misery, oh, humanity’s strongest soldier!” Eve recites in a theatrical way, making Levi grimace.

“Don’t fucking call me that.”

“What? It’s kind of catchy. And the truth. You know what? That should be your title. I’m going to spread it like a plague tomorrow. Humanity’s strongest…” she coos, leaning towards him.

Levi groans, pushing her away. “Has anyone told you how fucking annoying you are? Fuck, I can’t stand you.”

“Yet here you are.” Eve smiles at him, looking at Levi gratefully as if he did her a great service for just sitting here and listening. Levi doesn’t reply, and she exhales. “To answer your question, if you know what his goal is and how devoted he is to it, I think you’d agree with my decision.”

“If you made that decision a long time ago, then why are you two fighting over it now?”

Her gentle smile remains on her face, and Levi can’t lie and say it looked horribly out of place on her. In fact, he thinks that her smile should stay exactly where it is. The thought makes him frown.

Eve’s smile is constant, and she pulls her legs close to her chest while looking at Levi. “Erwin asked me to marry him.”

Levi wavers, and visibly too. Eve sees the way his brows softened, and it gives her the idea that Levi believes marriages are a big thing. “Oh.”

Eve slowly nods. “Hours before we went to the underground city to look for you, in fact. He… sprung it on me as if we never had the agreement of not being in a relationship. At first, I thought he was joking.”

“Is there something wrong?” Eve asks.

“Nothing is wrong.”

Eve raises a brow, turning back to the fireplace to clean the top. “If it’s about the mission, we still have an hour while the cadets prepare the horses for us. The underground city isn’t a nice place. You’ve never been there before, right? It’s not like Shiganshina, so I want you to be carefu—”

“Marry me, Eve.”

Eve stands still in her place, processing what Erwin just uttered. She snorts. “Very funny, Erwin.”

Although, when she turned around, she expected Erwin to be laughing along with her, but no. She was not expecting Erwin to be standing so close to her, showing her a shiny ring on his palm. Eve’s smile vanishes and she stares at Erwin with wide eyes.

“Erwin… what are you doing?”

He sighs. “I know this is the least expected way for me to do this,”

“Erwin—”

“But it is now or never, Eve.” Erwin softly tells her, reaching up to cup her cheek. “I already spoke to your father for his blessing—”

“Erwin!” Eve pushes him away, and it results to a flash of hurt appearing across his face. “I… what is wrong with you?”

“What?”

“You are so fucking dense!” Eve’s eyes widen, in disbelief of what just happened. “I-I thought… I thought we agreed that night that we’re not together, and we’ll never be together!”

We were drunk that night, Eve. That was five years ago.”

“Drunk or not, we had an agreement!” Eve covers her mouth. “Oh, my—did you think that this entire time, we were in a relationship? What the hell, Erwin!”

“Eve—”

“Couldn’t you have given me a heads up that you were my boyfriend for the last five years? Is… is this why no one, not a single decent person, has ever asked me out for the last few years? They all think that I belong to you? This is so wrong, even for you to do!” Eve glares at him. “And, what, you’re just going to propose? And we get married? What happened to your plans? Your goal that will one day get you killed, huh?!”

“Eve…” 

“Are you capable of saying anything else other than my name!”

“I love you, Eve.”

She stops talking, and her eyes fill with tears. Eve’s body goes lax. “But that’s not enough, Erwin…”

He looks defeated. “I know…” he closes his eyes.

“If you did, then why would you ask me to be your wife? You even went to my father—!” She cuts herself off to breathe. Eve wipes her eyes, composing herself again. “We can pretend this never happened.”

“Eve, I don’t want to pretend I never asked you—”

“Stop cutting me off, damn it! Erwin, please. Let’s pretend this never happened. We have a mission in an hour, for goodness’ sake,” she shakily blurts out, catching her breath afterwards as they both stand in the middle of the room together.

Silence fills the space between them until Erwin meets her eyes again with his blue ones. “You are the only person I’ll ever wish to marry, Eve. Is that so difficult to believe?”

Her chin trembles, threatening more tears to spill as she looks away from Erwin. “Erwin…”

“I love you, Eve. I need you by my side.”

“You had your chance five years ago. Let me go, please.”

“Eve…” Erwin watches her in dejection.

“We have a mission today, and you need to focus on it. We can’t ruin this or the others will think we’re insane for recruiting three underground gang members. Hell, they already think it. Please, Erwin. If you do love me, then do right by me.”

Erwin says nothing. Instead, he locks their gaze while taking her hand, placing something cold on her palm and closing her fingers around it. Then, Erwin gives her a final look before exiting his own office.

Eve shudders as she exhales, opening her hand to reveal the beautiful ring that was meant for her. Eve sniffles, closing her eyes, unsure if she feels regret or relief.

She shakes her head at the memory. “Erwin was very serious. As he is with everything,” she reaches into her pocket, retrieving the ring Erwin gave her, and passing it onto Levi. He takes it and observes the shiny gem on it. Simple, yet attractive. “I tried giving the ring back to him. He keeps avoiding being alone with me so I couldn’t. I had Hange try giving the ring back to Erwin. He refused. Hange gave it back to me. I tried giving it to him again, and you saw what happened.”

“Well, he’s clearly insane. He shouldn’t be forcing you to marry him.” Levi huffs, feeling an urge to throw this ring for her, so he passes it back to Eve to prevent himself from doing so.

“He’s not forcing me with anything, he’s just… confused.” It amazes Levi how empathetic this woman is.

“Well, do you feel the same way for him?” Levi awkwardly asks.

Eve just shrugs. “If Erwin asked to marry me five years ago, I would’ve said yes.”

Hm. So, she used to love him, then. Levi somehow feels bad for the two of them. It looks like Erwin never gave them a chance to try this relationship shit out until it was too late. He waited for too long.

“I accepted it, and moved on. I still care about Erwin, just not in the same way I did when we first met years ago.”

Fucking hell. Eve spent more than five years pining after the same man who never prioritized her, despite loving her. The whole situation is so stupid to Levi.

“How did you meet?”

“We joined the cadet corps, and met there. No one would talk to me because they all knew who my dad was. No one talked, except Erwin.” She smiles at the memory. “You know, on the second week of knowing each other, Erwin told me that he had feelings for me. He would do all kinds of cliché sweet things for me. You know, those very public things, that I don’t blame people for thinking we’re a couple? He did that.”

“Sounds awful.”

Eve laughs. “It was. But I was stupid and young, and I loved being loved. And Erwin was willing to give it despite not having a solid answer. So, I didn’t stop him, but I didn’t say yes either. I—” Eve stops herself, feeling that she has said too much, so she sighs. “I guess you can say it’s both mine and Erwin’s fault that we’re like this.”

“No shit. I’ve seen better relationships in the Underground than this shitty excuse of a romance.”

Eve’s smile widens, and she curiously observes Levi. “You are so honest. I envy that about you.”

“You envy me?” Levi frowns. “I grew up in a shithole. You shouldn’t be out here envying me.”

“I know, but here I am.” Eve’s voice is soft, and she’s still looking at him with this strange glint in her eyes. “I know about the things you’ve done, back in the underground city. Despite that, I still envy you.”

Levi says nothing, unsure what to say about that. After a while of silence. “Don’t envy me. I’ve killed a lot of people. I don’t even remember their faces, or cared to know their names.”

“But you and I both know why they’re all dead.”

Levi feels a chill down his spine. Yes, he does know why they are all dead. It was so he, Isabel and Furlan could live.

As if his answer was obvious on his face, a smile grows on Eve’s face. “Sounds like anyone would wish to be part of your family.”

Levi holds her gaze, but replies with silence.

“I know what I am, Levi. My strengths, my weaknesses. Skills, my worth, my status, everything. I know my role. That’s why I’m not afraid to be confident, despite how I still get envious of others.”

“Because you think you’re better than everyone else?”

“No. Because I’m no one special. I’m replaceable.” She shrugs, looking away. “Hange doesn’t know this yet, but I’ve been discreetly training them to become the next section commander. Hange is my chosen successor. The chain of command, it protects me. It gives me a sense of identity outside of my personal life. I’m not special, but a section commander is. You get me?”

Levi nods, a bit perplexed that this is her outlook on life.

She sighs in relief that he understood. “You’re a good man, Levi. I don’t know if you know that, but I can tell that you’re good. This whole tough guy exterior, I know you’re not faking it either. But underneath all that, I think you’re just fluff,” she smirks.

“Fluff.” Levi repeats, unimpressed. “Keep telling yourself that.”

It was the least he expected. She seems to be optimistic all the time. Levi finds himself be more interested on how she thinks, the way her brain works. Maybe he’s finaly getting the idea why people admire her a lot.

Although, hearing all of that now, Levi knows that Eve will never get over Erwin’s death, despite the complicated relationship they have. Levi will be the reason why Eve will be sad soon.

He stands up, offering a hand towards her. “Well, captain’s girl, think it’s time for us to go back.”

“You go on ahead. I’m going to stay up here longer.”

“You sure?”

“Yes, Levi. I’ll be fine. Don’t worry.”

“Wasn’t worrying,” he scoffs. “Whatever. Good talk. I’m going to bed.”

Eve says nothing in reply, and Levi feels like he should have said more.

As he closes the door, Eve finally lets out a breath she was holding and shakily reaches over for her flask, unscrewing it to drink. Then, a soft sob exits her throat before she could even stop herself. Eve pulls her legs to her chest and buries her face into her knees, quietly crying into her own skin as the events from tonight finally sinks into her.

Behind the door, Levi remains standing, and the muffled noise of Eve crying felt out of place for him. A grim expression takes over his face, and he listens to her for a few moments more before he finally forced himself to move and walk back to his chambers.

Chapter Text

When the expedition comes, everything is relatively normal. Levi can see how Eve reverted to her usual self. Laughing with comrades, teasing cadets as she walks by, playfully reprimanding Hange for various reasons. It was as if she didn’t have the worst night of her life.

It should be her worst night, right? Fighting with Erwin, crying over him, even ranting about Erwin to Levi, of all people. Yeah, it was definitely her worst. Even Levi thinks he would tear his hair out if he ever experienced the same. An hour alone with Levi seems like a nightmare already, and that’s Levi’s opinion.

He is a bit impressed by how professional Eve can be. Just a minute ago, he saw Erwin talking to the squad leaders with his usual authoritative expression. Sadies was standing next to him, giving out orders just before the leaders gives their salute and scattering. Levi didn’t even see Erwin spare a glance towards Eve, or vice versa. It was like nothing happened.

Isabel was way better at riding horses than Levi and Furlan were, but neither of them were surprised. Apparently, according to Moblit, Isabel would sneak to the stables at night and look for her horse, feeding the apples she saved during dinner to the mare for it to trust her more. As much as Levi wanted to yell at her for not eating her own goddamn fruits, he knows that she should still have a sense of teenage life. And if befriending horses helps, then so be it.

Although, Levi knew he had to have that talk with Isabel.

“You shouldn’t get too close to the section commander, Isabel.”

“But… she’s so nice to me. To all of us.”

“That’s because she needs us here so she’ll get promoted soon, don’t you get that? She’s using us the same way we’re using her.” Furlan defends Levi.

Isabel just shakes her head. “No. Miss Eve is better than that. I don’t know about the captain, but I know that the section commander genuinely cares about us,” she pauses. “Maybe… maybe we can ask her for help. Maybe we don’t have to kill the captain—”

“Lower your fucking voice,” Levi steps towards her before looking around the area to make sure they’re still alone. “Look. Eve may be nice to you now, but she’s like that to everyone else. We’re not fucking special. Get that through your head. She won’t help people like us.”

“Yeah, Izzy. The section commander’s not just going to help. Especially if we tell her that we’re here to kill the captain.”

Levi glances at Furlan before looking back at Isabel, who is almost in tears. “You’re… you’re wrong.” Isabel shakes her head, lips quivering. “Section Commander Eve is a person with principle, and she will definitely help us!”

Levi grabs Isabel’s wrist. “Hey. Don’t do anything reckless.”

Isabel pulls her wrist back, glaring at them. “You’re both wrong.”

“Isabel…” Levi sighs when Isabel walks away from them, and he looks at Furlan, who only shrugs. They were going to their first expedition tomorrow, and Levi didn’t want Isabel to be angry at them, so he follows her and apologizes to his best ability. Isabel was touched that Levi actually apologized, and the three of them looked up at the night sky.

When they went beyond the walls, Levi finds himself speechless over the view of endless greenery, and the sky stretching above them. Looking to his left, he can see Isabel and Furlan do the same. The wonder on their faces reminds Levi of the conversation they had before.

Levi was worried about them, unsure if they can handle it beyond the walls. Until now, he still thinks it’s better if Isabel and Furlan stayed behind, letting Levi do all the work. But the two of them fought back, and made Levi know that they stick together no matter what.

So now, here they were, riding together through it all. When they encountered titans, Levi was quite proud of his two friends for handling the other titan on their own. It reassured him that they’ll all survive this expedition together.

That was until the fucking captain came over and congratulated them before saying it was a waste of gas. His words made Levi more irritated than usual, how can Eve stand this guy?

When Erwin strides away on his horse, Levi glares at the back of his head.

“He’s right, you know.”

Levi snaps his head to the left, seeing Eve on her own horse, giving them an apologetic smile. “You’re seriously going to agree with him? To hell with your comrades, save your supplies first?”

“No. I meant minimize your gas consumption while saving your comrades. You made too many unnecessary moves, like Erwin said.” Eve gives Levi a pointed look. “Stick to the formation. Everyone, return to formation! Hange, the signal, please.” Eve’s eyes linger on Levi and his friends before she strides away with her own squad.

His lips curl into a snarl. So, she’s taking his side, then? What the fuck?

No, he needs to focus on the mission. He needs Erwin Smith dead, so Isabel and Furlan could have a better life than what they had back in that shithole under the capital. Eve can’t get in the way with that.

And the worst has happened. Levi has never felt so much pain, blind rage, loneliness, emptiness, loss, and uselessness in one moment. It only took one moment, and he has lost everything.

The sight of Isabel’s head after it was torn from her body, the close-up view of her lifeless eyes in contrast to how proud they were for killing her first titan, it filled Levi with so much wrath he couldn’t explain. Furlan’s half-eaten body was spat out into the muddy ground as rain continued to patter around Levi, who stood still in shock from what he was witnessing. The faith he placed on his family, it was misplaced, and this is what he got. His self-doubt, it haunts his every waking step. Why did he ever doubt his instincts of his family not being ready for this expedition?

The anger was mostly towards himself, and he suddenly feels a shock of energy coarse through his body, sending him in different directions as he yells brokenly while slashing his blades through the titan’s skin, anywhere but the nape. Levi was sure that the titan was no longer alive as he cut through its neck, and it drops on the ground behind him.

Under the rain, his tears are masked perfectly, but even with the angry pour from the clouds above him, his sobs were still audible. He can hear horses approaching him, but he made no move. The cool blood covers his face and uniform, but he couldn’t bring himself to care.

The rain stops a while later, and the sun shows itself again in the most offensive way it could. Levi has no idea how long he had been standing there.

“I take it you’re the sole survivor?”

Levi doesn’t answer, even when he recognized the voice of his target.

He hears a soft chuckle. “You’re a sorry sight.”

Something snaps in Levi, and he sharply turns to Erwin with his dangerous glare, growling at him before he tries swinging his blade at him, but Erwin grabs the sword to stop him. Levi presses down on Erwin’s equally trembling hand, this fucking captain is stronger than he looks. Levi speaks, but he has no idea what he’s saying anymore, his mind is too filled thinking of his useless last moments with his family.

Erwin reaches in his jacket, taking out a scroll and throwing it to the ground. Levi follows it with his eyes, and already knows what it is. A fake. Erwin explains, but all Levi can hear is I planned all of this, and it doesn’t matter if your friends died, and Levi couldn’t help but try lunging at him again with a yell.

Miche grabs him to hold Levi back, and it sinks into Levi what he just lost, and it was all for nothing. He falls to his knees with a thud, covered in rainwater and dried blood. He hears Furlan and Isabel’s voices, asking him to have faith in them. Fucking damn it. Fucking goddammit!

Erwin steps forward, telling him not to regret this decision. Regrets will get him killed, he says, and having no regrets will ensure that he will be able to make decisions with a sound mind soon. Levi listens to every word Erwin says, and somehow, the words engrave themselves into his chest, never to fade.

“We’re about to resume the expedition. Get up. You’re still needed.” The words felt cold, but commanding. Erwin turns and walks back to his horse, mounting it just before his gaze locks with Eve, who witnessed his little speech to the recruit. Erwin briefly glances at her and yanks his horse, making his way back to formation.

One of the cadets walk up to her. “Section Commander—”

“I got this. Go ahead. Back in formation.” Eve slowly commands, and the others nod with a salute, mounting their horses to leave.

Eve stands behind Levi for a moment, before she approaches to kneel next to what was in front of Levi. He barely notices her take her hood off and wrap it around the head of Isabel. Eve cradles Isabel into her arms, with a blank face before placing it inside the basket she carries on her horse. Eve moves to Furlan, doing the same as well. After she’s done, she looks back and sees that Levi still hasn’t moved from his place, kneeling on the sticky and dirty mud, covered in blood.

She walks until she stood in front of him, and she kneels. “Levi, you need to get up.”

“What’s the fucking point?” Levi says under his breath with unblinking eyes, as if he was still deep inside his mind.

Eve observes him, and she reaches inside her jacket for a handkerchief. Levi blinks once he feels Eve wipe the rainwater and blood from his face.

His eyes begin to focus, and he finally sees her right in front of him. “Eve…”

“Shh… it’s okay.”

Levi feels his body go lax. “Isabel… Furlan…”

Eve just hooks her arm under the crook of his. “Come on. On your feet, cadet.”

“Fuck off.”

Eve ignores his words, and manages to get him back on his feet. “Levi. A titan can appear at any moment. We could die just like Isabel and Furlan. Let’s get moving.”

Levi clenches his jaw and snatches his arm away from her. “Fuck off, Eve—!”

A sharp sting on his cheek makes his face crack to the side, and Levi stands still in his place. Slowly, he cranes his neck to look at the one who assaulted him, only to find a chilling expression across her face.

“Get it together, Levi. Neither of them would want you to die here as well, so fight like your life depends on it,” Eve steps forward, angry. “Move… your ass.”

This was the most serious he has ever seen her be. Her wide eyes stare back at him with so much determination, she seems to be towering over him despite their similar height, there is a dark aura growing around her, and her skin seems paler and deathly.

They lock gazes, and she is not backing down. Eventually, Levi huffs before moving to his horse, mounting it easily. Eve does the same, using the rope to get her mare moving. Levi follows beside her, eyes going to the covered basket attached to the horse.

During the camp for the night, Levi was too lost in his own thoughts to even notice Eve come up to Erwin, offering him a bottle of water. “Drink.”

Erwin sighs, stressfully pressing against his temple, but decides not to fight her. He takes the canteen and drinks some of her own ration. “How’s he doing?”

“Not good. Should’ve taken it easy on him.”

“You’re the one who slapped him.”

“You’re the one who laughed at him!”

“I guess both of us are horrible people to comfort others.”

Eve nods, lowering herself to the fallen tree to sit next to him. Erwin watches her for a moment, glancing at the others to see that some are asleep. From afar, Erwin can see Levi sitting by his own fire, just staring at the flames.

“You should talk to him.”

“I already slapped him to snap him out of whatever he was thinking, right after his friends died. I doubt he even wants me near him.”

“He hasn’t eaten yet. He could be hungry.” Erwin tells her, and Eve noticed that, too. She glances at Erwin, and they share a brief look. His eyes soften after a moment, and he averts his eyes. “What?”

“That speech you told him earlier. You said the same thing to me when we first met.” Eve narrows her eyes, slowly growing amused. “You like him.”

“…I am impressed by him. He has nerves of steel. A true soldier. One we can use for many decades to come.”

“No. No, no, no. I think you want to be friends with him.”

“I’m the captain of the Scout Regiment.” Erwin says as a matter of fact, and she lets out a soft snort. “My friendship is the last thing he needs.”

“Maybe it’s the one thing he needs right now.” Eve urges.

He watches her for a minute. “You were very against this plan in the first place.”

“Because your little gamble could cost them a family. And I was right.” Eve frowns. “Just because I’m nice to you now, doesn’t mean what you did wasn’t shitty. You don’t gamble on people’s lives, Erwin, especially the ones that aren’t your own.”

Erwin nods, but Eve knows better.

“You should watch over Levi.”

“Is that an order?”

“It’s a request.”

“He’s not in my team.”

“His squad leader is now dead. Sadies will be assigning Levi to another. Your team is full.”

“Then, why are you asking me?”

“Can you do it?” Erwin says instead, craning his neck to look at her.

Eve softens. She stares into Erwin’s deep blue eyes, somehow dull from the low fire they had nearby. A nod from her makes Erwin breathe.

“Thank you, Eve.” Erwin says before looking back ahead of himself before he places his hand on Eve’s back, patting her as he gets up to walk away. Eve doesn’t watch him leave, merely listening to his rescinding footsteps. Later, Hange comes to sit next to Levi, and they sit in comfortable silence as Hange offers him food. He accepts. Too drained to protest.

The next morning, they arrive back to Wall Maria. The usual crowd that greets them always has to feel the need to throw insults, as if the scouts haven’t had enough for the last few days. It genuinely felt like a walk of shame. As Eve glances to her right, she sees a different group of children, still having smiles and light in their eyes as they watch with admiration from afar. Eve raises her hand to wave at them with a warm smile, and they brighten up even more.

They reach HQ after a few hours, and Eve sends instructions to the cadets to start unloading their belongings and weapons. Eve glances at the blood staining her uniform, but didn’t mind it. As soon as she arrived, she and Hange looked for a good place to bury the remains of Isabel and Furlan.

Eve doesn’t see much of Levi during the first few days of arriving from their expedition. Sometimes, she would just see him in the training grounds, under his new squad leader, but he is always training alone, and mostly just keeping shape. He doesn’t even talk to anyone except when necessary. Since day one, Levi has detested small talk, but now is different. Eve knew why, but she is still trying to figure out how to approach him.

Tonight, though, it seems that she doesn’t have to.

“Levi?” Eve calls out as she approaches the stables, holding up a lamp. “What are you doing here? It’s late.”

The moon shines above them, signifying the late hour. Levi looks startled to see her, but masks it by placing his hand on the side of the horse’s face. He says nothing, and she just walks up to him.

“It’s cold out here. Why aren’t you wearing anything to keep you warm?” Eve frowns, looking towards where Levi is gently caressing the horse in front of him. “You like her? This is Sef. My horse.” Eve tells him, and from the way he stops stroking, she figures out why. “You didn’t know that, did you?”

“No.” Levi takes his hand away. “I didn’t.”

“That’s okay. I mean, there are hundreds of horses here, but you somehow found mine,” she chuckles, reaching up to stroke the horse as well.

“You’re not supposed to name your horses.” Levi mutters. “That’s what your captain said the first day we came here.”

“Oh, don’t listen to Erwin. He sometimes doesn’t take his own advice,” she holds back a smile. “He named his horse, too, you know. And Jade doesn’t like people very much. Only tolerates Erwin.”

Levi doesn’t respond, but he looks more relaxed as words were exchanged. Well, barely.

“Isabel would sneak in here just to feed her damn horse,” Levi casually says. “I came to see mine. But this one wouldn’t stop making noise when I came here.”

“Sef gets cranky when strangers are around. She probably saw your grumpy face and thought the worst.”

Levi snorts, rolling his eyes. Silence fills the space again, and the horse whinnies, as if to urge one of them to keep talking.

“I came across Isabel when she snuck in here once. Just two days before the expedition.” Eve confesses, and Levi doesn’t show that he is surprised by the new information. “Sef liked her, and Isabel gave her an apple.”

“Sounds like her.”

“And then I told her that I knew you joined the scouts to kill Erwin.”

Levi snaps his head towards her. “You knew?” He sneers, and Eve nods. “Even before we talked in that balcony?”

“Yes.”

“Why the hell didn’t you say anything?”

“I did. Just not to you.” Eve answers quietly. “That I argument you heard between me and Erwin. I was begging him not to go through this stupid plan that could cost lives. He once asked me to marry him, but all this time, he knew that he could have one of my suggested recruits killed. I was angry.” Levi watches the way Eve’s hands twitch, almost to clench them. “And then he would justify it. Saying it was a gamble that was worth the outcome. I slapped him so hard, he stumbled a little.”

“Congratulations.” Levi deadpans.

She hated how a smile is attempting to take over her face, sounding like she’s boasting for making their captain stumble. “Shut up.”

“That where you get your kicks? You go around slapping people?”

“Only the ones that needs to get back to reality. It’s actually doctor approved.”

“Were you the doctor that approved it?”

“That’s not relevant.”

“Right. And what did Isabel do?” Levi asks, going back to their original topic.

“She told me she never wanted to kill anyone. She just wanted her big brothers to have a good life here in the surface.” Eve smiles at the memory, and Levi feels a sudden punch to his gut from those words.

Levi says nothing, too deep inside his own mind.

Eve watches him for a moment. “It wasn’t your fault, Levi.”

“You’re right. It’s that son of a bitch, Erwin’s fault.”

“Could be. We’ll never know. Nobody predicted an abnormal among us that day.” Eve gives him an apologetic expression. “I’m sorry for your loss.”

Levi just nods, not wanting to show any sort of emotion over this even though he couldn’t help but sob in his room earlier whenever he remembers he will always wake up without Furlan and Isabel greeting him in the morning like they usually do. “The one with the glasses. They told me you both handled their burial.”

“Yes. We can go see them tomorrow.”

“Why didn’t you tell me that yourself, you brat?”

“I didn’t think you’d want to see me.”

“You don’t know that.”

“Well, I did slap you.”

Levi snorts, rolling his eyes. “All the more to see me. I could slap you and we’d be even.”

“Oh, yeah?” Eve lowers her hood and leans forward. “Give it your best shot, shorty.”

“I’m not going to fucking slap you in front of your horse. I’d get kicked and thrown, you brat! It’d be a bitch to take a shit with my side being all fucked up.” Levi scrunches his nose, using his hand to push her head away instead, and she chuckles. “And who are you calling short? You’re fucking shorter than me by an inch, and you’re wearing military issued boots.”

“Is that your weakness, humanity’s strongest soldier? A horse’s kick?”

“I told you to stop calling me that.”

“What’s your weakness, then? Just tell me with no explanation,” she smirks.

Without hesitation, he answers. “Anything that’s fucking filthy.”

Eve has an amused smile now, and Levi had no idea why. This woman knew all this time that Levi is here to murder the man who had been courting her for years, the same man she cried over, days prior the expedition. Where she spoke to Levi as if he was her friend, not an assassin. And now, she’s looking at him like he is the most interesting thing she had ever seen, and Levi grew uncomfortable.

How is she okay with any of this shit?

“You should rest. It’s late.” Eve walks past him to grab a brush from the bucket nearby, and she starts brushing her horse’s hair. “I won’t tell anyone you were here.”

Levi watches her for a moment. He wanted to thank her for being so nice to Isabel the entire time they had been here, but the words die in his throat. Instead, he nods and starts walking away. His mind is focused on the sound of her brushing, and after a while, he stops walking.

It was a strange question, what he asks, but she doesn’t seem to mind.

“When we talked,” he begins, and Eve looks up, surprised to see that Levi is still nearby. “You said you knew what your weakness is.”

A brief look of recognition flashes in her eyes. “I do.”

“What is it? What’s your weakness?” Levi asks curiously, the distance between them prompts him to add volume to his voice. “No need for explanation. Just say it.”

Eve stares at him, eyes wavering in brief astonishment of his sudden curiosity over something they spoke about weeks ago. As if he has not stopped wondering it.

A wistful smile is formed by her lips under the moonlight and from the dull light from her lamp. She looks relaxed and safe, and Levi suddenly feels the urge to memorize the scene in front of him. And she answers.

“Children, Levi.” Eve answers with a nostalgic smile that made his stomach churn. “My weakness are children.”

Levi blinks, and his lips part. His mind goes back to every instance that Isabel would be talking in Eve’s presence, and he recalls the fond expression displaying across Eve’s face as the girl talked about anything she finds interesting about the surface, and how different it is from the underground city she grew up in. Levi feels his stomach shriveling up at the memory of Eve patching Isabel’s knee, and how Isabel would boast about the section commander tending to her wounds, even when it was a common thing for Eve to do as one of the scouts’ doctors.

Eve would laugh proudly whenever Isabel would show off her skills in horseback riding, and Isabel would almost faint from how she soaks up the praises from someone who has a high rank. Isabel has grown so attached to Eve during their entire time here at the scouts, it never occurred to Levi that Eve also grew attached.

And now, Isabel is gone.

As Levi stares at Eve, who resumes with brushing her horse’s hair, he realizes something. Maybe he isn’t alone at grieving for his friends. Maybe Eve shares his pain. Levi gives her a single slow nod, and turns back around to walk away.

It was no surprise to Levi how he doesn’t sleep that night.

One thing about the military that Levi absolutely hated was the communal bathroom. Especially in the men’s building.

Levi grimaces every time he wanted to take a bath. Fucking hell, the only thing he liked doing to himself, and he has to do it in front of everyone. Damn Survey Corps. Levi is actually considering aiming for a higher position, just so he could have his own private bathroom. Fuck this.

Another thing he hates is how other cadets seem too comfortable with talking to him while their asses are bare.

“So, you’re like the guy that the captain recruited from the underground, right?” Some naked guy next to him asks.

Levi’s eye twitches. “Yeah. Why are you talking to me?”

The guy chuckles. “I was just not expecting someone so…”

“So what? Spit it out.”

“Well, someone so short.”

Levi glares at him, saying nothing else. He isn’t blind or delusional. Levi knows he’s short. Eve explained to him why before, and it did make sense. Apparently, the sun emits vitamins for people that makes their bones stronger. Since Levi lived in the shadows for his whole life, he barely got any of those nutrients, hence his height.

When Levi first learned about that, he felt an immense weight in his chest be lifted. Eve made it sound so… scientific and factual, and made Levi stop thinking about how his stature may be because he was weak or something. No, it was because he lacked sunlight, and it was understandable because he could never leave that shithole.

Speaking of Eve, Levi is startled when he hears screaming at the other side of the communal bathroom.

“S-Section Commander!” The male cadets exclaim while scrambling to get their towels, shielding themselves from her as she storms inside with vigor.

“Where the hell is he?” Eve yells, her voice echoing while looking through the lockers and shower stalls.

Levi’s lips part in astonishment, and watches as Eve walks past him to stand in front of the guy who was just speaking to Levi.

“What the fuck, Maxwell? You’re supposed to be in my lab for examinations yesterday! Where were you? You could’ve been dead today!”

Levi just stood there, eyes going to the man in the stall next to him, who’s apparently named Maxwell—and is mortified just looking at Eve while she is fully clothed in her usual intimidating uniform, and the rest of the men in the room are as naked as the day they were born.

“S-Section Commander, I—”

“And don’t give me the sick excuse. You’re supposed to go to the doctor if you’re sick.” Eve crosses her arms. “What? You afraid I’m going to see your arse? Well, I’m seeing a lot more of you right now.”

A low wave of snickers come from the other soldiers around them. Eve turns to give them a sharp look, and they immediately ducked their heads and went about their business, still trying to cover themselves.

Eve looks back at Maxwell. “My lab in ten minutes. If you’re late, you’re doing laps.”

“But I-I’m sick! You can’t make me do laps—”

“Nine minutes and fifty seconds, cadet!”

“Yes, ma’am! Sorry, ma’am!” Maxwell salutes with no clothes on, like an idiot, and grabs his towel to dry himself off, running the opposite direction to get dressed.

Eve huffs, glancing at her pocket watch attached to her hip. Her eyes go to Levi’s, and he is still watching her with careful eyes, not even bothering to cover himself up. Why would he care to? Their gazes are locked for a few seconds, daring the other to look anywhere else.

Then, her eyes dart down his body for a brief second, looking quite amused before giving him a hint of a smile and walking away. The male cadets she passes by would stop what they’re doing just to salute her. Levi knots his brows together in puzzlement, but shrugs it off as he turns back to the showerhead.

There is a strange uncomfortable feeling inside his stomach. Why the hell was she smiling?

“Did you have to embarrass him in front of everyone?”

Eve turns to look at him. Levi is somehow joining her table now, since she was eating alone. Eve tasked her team to keep training, and they ate early so they could start right away. Now, the superior officers and their own teams were dining at the cafeteria.

He sits opposite her, and begins to drink his tea while leaning against the chair he sits on. It seems like this was a normal thing for them to do, from how comfortable it feels. Levi briefly glances at the newspaper in her hand, which she was reading while she ate.

“I always believed that pain is the best way to discipline people!” Eve cheerfully says, and she lowers her voice an octave, folding her newspaper. “And what is more painful than public humiliation?”

“You’re disgusting.”

“Thank you.” Eve chuckles. “It’s just funny, alright? Making people squirm in discomfort,” she sighs dreamily while placing her hand on her chest. “It warms my tiny heart.”

Levi shakes his head at her. He can never figure her out. One time, he catches her crying and she is pouring her heart to him about this complicated relationship she has. Then the next, she’s storming inside the communal male bathroom for cadets, yelling at one of the soldiers for missing their doctor’s appointment.

“So, you sometimes slap people, you sometimes humiliate them, and you sometimes befriend the most fucked up person in the group. Your mom drop you as a baby or something?” Levi bluntly says before sipping his tea again.

Eve has that weird fucking amused expression again, as if she finds this situation funny. It really bothers Levi. “I’d ask her, but she’s kind of dead, so…”

“Oh. Sorry about that.”

“Eh. It’s fine. There’s a lot of that going around here anyway. Ask around the corps, it’s rare for a soldier to have no dead person in their life.” Eve waves off, resuming to eat.

Levi blinks, staring at her in a dumbfounded expression. He puts his cup down. “What is it?”

“What’s what?”

“You’re acting even weirder than you normally do. What’s wrong?” Levi frowns, genuinely confused. “Is it Erwin again?”

Just like that, her smile drops and her eyes widen. “Levi!”

“What? It’s him, isn’t it?”

“Stop talking.” Eve says through gritted teeth.

A flicker of interest appears in Levi’s eyes, and he leans forward. “And if I keep talking?”

“I’ll carve you mouth until you can’t even open it again.” There goes her sadistic grin again. “I’m a scout doctor. I’d know how to do that to you where you can feel the most pain.”

“How cute.” Levi is unfazed by her words.

Sadistic, but not merciless. Confident, but not cocky. Intelligent, but not obnoxious. Humble, but not afraid to call someone out for their bullshit. Ruthless, but not heartless.

Who the hell are you, Eve?

The smile returns on her face, and Levi narrows his eyes at her. Just a second ago, she was ready to throw her fork at him. And now, she’s smiling as if Levi was the greatest company she ever had. Fuck, he can’t figure her out, that’s a rare instance. Levi is always quick to realize what kind of person an individual can be.

With Eve… it’s bothering him how unpredictable she is. Levi doesn’t know what to expect from her.

“Vonnie!!!” The voice of Hange drags out from afar, making Eve crane her neck to look at them, and Levi lean slightly to the side to be able to look over Eve’s shoulder. “It’s done! I got the results here!!” They yell with enthusiasm while Moblit runs behind them, yelling at them to be careful.

Hange reaches the table, eyes bulging with excitement and Levi grimaces at the stench, hinting to him that this cadet hasn’t showered at all today.

Eve was given some papers and she proceeds to read them soundlessly. Levi sips his tea, peering at Eve as her eyes move from side to side, and her face fills with shock and interest. Her mouth gapes, and she looks at Hange, who nods at her in affirmation.

“Wait, is this real?” Eve holds up the papers. Hange snickers.

“You bet! The machine worked, Vonnie! Come on!” Hange pulls on her arm, making Eve sway a little before Hange and Moblit take off again, cheering. Much to the confusion of the other cadets. Levi sees the others glance at Hange, but return to their own conversations as if it was a normally occurring thing.

Eve grins, looking back at the papers to read something again. Levi is watching her carefully, and once he realizes he’s staring, she meets his eyes happily. Then, her eyes wander on him to scrutinize. Her gaze brings an unwanted heat through his skin, and he shudders almost in half-disgust, and half… something else.

“What?” Levi asks out of annoyance.

“You’re lucky.”

Levi frowns, assuming that whatever Hange gave to her, it had something to do with him. Why would it? Curiously, he glances at the report that Eve was holding, and looks back at her. “Lucky?”

Eve wistfully smiles, lowering her voice. “You look much better with no clothes on. You’re lucky,” she nods, voice soft as she stares directly into Levi’s eyes, her words bringing a chill down his spine, but his face remains impassive. “Not many people do.”

Levi blinks, and he watches her give him a final smile before walking to wherever Hange and Moblit were. The manner on how she walks further away from Levi, it was like she wanted him to follow her with his eyes. So, Levi averts his gaze and looks back at his tea, trying to ignore the fucking implications of whatever the hell she just said.

Days later, Levi finds himself walking back inside Eve’s lab. She wasn’t around in her own office when he first came, so he awkwardly looks around the room.

There were a few portraits on the walls, sketched beautifully by a skilled artist. One artist, since the various drawings have the same style. There was a sketch of a woman, another of a man, and one of them together.

“Oh—Levi.”

He turns, seeing Eve with a surprised yet pleased expression as she stands nearby the entrance.

Levi frowns upon seeing her be surprised. “You asked to see me.”

“Did I?”

“…I can leave—”

Eve chuckles. “I’m just messing with you. Please, have a seat,” she tells him before she sits on her chair. Levi takes a seat in front of her desk. “Sorry for my surprise. I didn’t think you’d come.”

“You’re the section commander. I’m supposed to.”

She sighs, grabbing a pile of documents on her desk. “There we go again with the titles. For now, I’m just Eve, alright?”

“Sure.” Levi says, bored. “What’s this about then, Eve?”

She lifts her gaze to him, her lips hinting a smile. “The other day, I saw the way you looked at my newspaper.”

Fuck. She noticed that? What else does this crazy woman notice about him? Fucking hell, she doesn’t even try, but she creeps Levi out from how observant she is. Levi doesn’t even think he stared at the newspaper for more than a few seconds.

“What does that mean?”

“And I haven’t forgotten that you cannot read or write.”

There it is. Levi’s hands brace themselves on the armrests of the chair. “What’s it to you?”

“There are a handful of soldiers among the Survey Corps who share the same situation as you do. In fact, during the periods in between expeditions, there are free classes. The professor is a woman from the academy in Mitras. Simple lessons on reading, writing and communication.” Eve tells him.

“Let me guess. You started that shit, too.”

She merely stares back at him, but the amusement is clear in her eyes. Levi got his answer. “I believe that no one should be ashamed of not being able to do something others can. And I believe they should have a choice whether they’d like to learn or not. No one should be forced to do anything. There are many of you in the scout regiment that share the same situation in terms of education, which is why we began these free classes.”

“You here to recruit me to go to school with a bunch of kids?”

Her lips quirk into a gentle smile. “No, Levi. I’m telling you all this because I don’t want you to feel ashamed of not being able to read or write, you aren’t alone,” she truthfully answers. “And you shouldn’t be shamed if you don’t want to study either. Which is why I’m giving you a choice.” Eve nods, resting her forearms on the desk while lacing her fingers together. “If you’d allow it, I’ll be the one tutoring you. Here, in my office.”

Levi stays quiet, just looking back at her. Eve patiently waits for his answer, and Levi thinks hard.

Where can he actually use this reading and writing skill? When will it be useful to him?

He thinks back to Furlan, the way he would read books and tell Levi all about it. He had been doing that even before Isabel entered their lives. When Isabel began living with them, Furlan would read stories to her, and Levi could still remember the way her eyes twinkle as she excitedly cheer, while Furlan narrates dramatically. Levi would always sit away from them, still able to hear, but far enough so that the other two won’t be able to see him smile fondly at his family.

One of the belongings that Furlan couldn’t bring with him was his favorite book. The book filled with stories he would read to Isabel. Stories that would make her starry-eyed. Levi can’t even recall what the stories were about, but he can still remember Isabel giggling while Furlan imitates beastly sounds like it was yesterday.

An ache appears deep in his chest, once he remembers that he was all alone in the survey corps now.

Without Furlan or Isabel around, Levi has felt loneliness for the first time ever since he was a child, when Kenny left him.

Levi is ready to answer her, but there was a knock on the door. Eve shuffles some documents to neatly put them aside, as she tells the one who knocked to come in. Levi doesn’t turn around, and keeps his gaze fixated on Eve, but he sees Hange approach Eve’s side while handing her a bunch of envelopes.

“The post arrived this morning,” Hange tells her, but there is something else laced in her voice.

Eve just nods, flipping through the envelopes before one catches her eye. She keeps her gaze on it, even when thanking Hange and telling them they may leave. Hange nods, looking at Levi briefly before exiting the room.

“Excuse me for a moment.” Eve mutters, putting down the other letters and settling for only one.

Levi watches as she opens it with a small knife tucked inside her drawer, unfolding the paper within and reading its contents. As her eyes move from one end to the other, Levi sees the softening of the skin between her brows, and her gaze becomes less and less warm. She finishes with reading, and folds it back into the envelope before turning back to Levi, reverting to her previous expression; a pleased face with a hint of a smile.

“So, Levi, have you thought about it yet?”

Levi’s eyes detach themselves from the letter she was previously reading, and goes back to her. “I’ll do it.”

“Great. We’ll start next week at nine sharp. I dislike tardiness.”

“Yes, ma’am,” he responds with a disinterested tone, but he looks back at the letter she was reading. For some reason, he wanted to grab it and read, just so he would know why it brought Eve the slightest bit of irritation. But then, Levi realizes the many flaws of that action.

One being he can’t fucking read.

He leaves the office, seeing Hange working in their own space on a small desk within the lab. Hange lifts their head for a moment and briefly meets Levi’s eyes as he leaves the room.

When Eve said next week, Levi didn’t think it was because she was going to disappear for a whole week.

“Oi. Four eyes.”

Hange looks up in surprise. “Yeah?”

“Where the hell is, uh… section commander?” He corrects himself.

Hange raises both their brows. “She went to the capital. Family thing. She’ll be back in a week.”

It occurs to Levi that he had no fucking idea about Eve’s personal life, let alone her family. What happened to her family that needed her to abandon important work in the Survey Corps? She was the best doctor of the regiment. What if something happens within this week?

As questions swirl his mind, Hange leans forward curiously. “Did you need something from her?”

Levi snaps out of his thoughts. “No. I just had an appointment with her.”

“Oh, right!” Hange grabs their clipboard and scans it with their eyes, before exclaiming loudly with a laugh. “Yes! Vonnie—I mean… the section commander told me that you’re scheduled for a medical exam, in case you swung by.”

Levi raises a brow. In case he came by? Levi wanted to see whatever the hell was written on Hange’s clipboard. He barely notices Hange putting gloves on.

“Alright, big boy, I’ll examine you. I’m actually—”

“No thanks.”

“But I can be as great as—!”

“I’d rather wait for her instead.” Levi dismisses, not giving Hange a chance to speak as he walks to the door.

As he leaves, he hears Hange call out, “It was nice seeing you!”

Levi trained hard for the next few days. He would be doing laps for hours, doing push-ups, and even pulling his whole weight on a bar to suspend himself in the air. One day during lunch, he eats alone, and as he drinks his tea, he overhears an executive officer huff as he scolds some cadets.

Miche Zacharius, Levi recalls his name. The bastard who put Levi’s face on the fucking mud. At the corner of his eye, he watches the him march off, and the other cadets looked free to breathe. Levi overhears a conversation that makes him freeze in his seat.

“Miche is pretty stressed out,” one of them says. “I heard from Hange it’s because the captain and the section commander had to leave for Mitras at a sudden notice, and the captain put him in charge.”

Erwin and Eve left together? Levi blinks rapidly, lowering his cup to listen better.

“Do you think they’re finally getting married? I heard they’ve been together for like ten years.”

“Ten years?!” Another cadet exclaims, putting his cup down. “Oh, they’re definitely getting married. Aren’t they going to be gone for a week?”

“Yeah, you’re right! Kind of wish that they at least invited us to the wedding.”

“Maybe they like their privacy.”

“Privacy? Everyone in the Survey Corps knows they’re together!”

“Yeah, but they’re not the showy type of couple!”

“Really? I thought they were. Hange said that the captain likes showering the section commander with gifts and affection in public,” one of them dreamily sighs. “I heard he is so sweet on her. I’m glad they’re getting married!”

“Me, too. They’re so similar, and they fit together.”

Levi wanted to snort. Eve and Erwin were not similar at all, Levi thinks to himself as his mind wanders back to the instances where Eve would find it funny when she makes cadets squirm in discomfort, or when she would look him in the eye and say Levi is much better naked than with clothes on.

If these cadets think Erwin and Eve were similar, what kind of Eve are they seeing? Does she act differently around Levi? Or is Levi just as creepily observant as she is? Fuck, Levi didn’t even want to think about this shit.

They continue to gossip, until Levi finally got annoyed enough. “Oi. Don’t you shits got something better to do than gossip about our fucking superiors? Idiots.” Levi says as he stands, walking away from the table.

Eve comes back after a week, like Hange said. Levi sees her getting off a carriage, and Erwin comes out after her. They’re both wearing their formal military uniforms, and Levi sees a few medals pinned on Eve’s breast pocket, the same with Erwin.

Levi sees her, only because he was on his way to the stables, but the sight of a carriage arriving only reminded Levi that a week has passed.

He sees the wary expression on her face, the dull light in her eyes, and her pale skin. It was as if she went through hell the past week. Her body looks like it was drained of energy. Eve doesn’t see Levi, and Levi watches as Erwin subtly places his hand on her back. She pays him no mind and only continues walking to her lab.

Levi frowns, eyes following Captain Smith as the blonde man sighs while watching Eve walk away.

Did they actually get married?

For some reason, Levi had to know. He needed to know. So, when he finds himself in the lab an hour later, he is not at all bothered by Hange’s screech of excitement upon seeing Levi.

“Lee-Vah-Yee!” Hange yells, arms thrown upwards as they grin maniacally. “Here for your monthly examination?”

He nods, and they escort Levi to Eve’s office. The moment he enters the room, he sees Eve flipping through a notebook while scratching her head.

“Brought a patient for you, Vonnie!” Hange pushes Levi inside and the door slams close.

Eve looks up, and when their eyes meet, the dull expression she had transforms back to amusement, something Levi is more used to seeing on her. “Missed me already? I didn’t think you were that excited for our medical exams.”

Levi approaches her desk, sitting on the chair in front of it. For some reason, his eyes immediately go to her left hand, inspecting for any sort of jewelry. She does have a few, but on safer fingers. And it looked nothing like the one she showed to him at the rooftop. And somehow, the weight on his chest is lifted.

“Where were you?” Levi asks instead of barking out an insult.

Eve shrugs, holding up the envelope that she read a week ago. “Wedding invitation. My sister got married yesterday. She asked me to stay for a week, to help her prepare.”

So, there was a wedding. Just not hers and Erwin’s.

“Didn’t know you had a sister,” he looks around the room, eyes fixating on the portraits he observed back then. “That her?” He nods towards the lady within the portraits.

“That is my mum, actually. The man is my dad.”

“Oh.” Levi mutters, looking back at her. Eve hasn’t taken her eyes off him ever since she met his gaze. “You don’t look too happy today.”

Eve’s brows raise slightly, and she fidgets with her fingers in a subtle way, smiling at Levi. “What makes you say that?”

“If I had to guess, you didn’t want this wedding to happen.” Levi bluntly says, and she doesn’t react. “Why, was the groom the love of your life?” His tone is sarcastic.

Eve isn’t insulted at all, and she just looks constantly amused. There is no other word for it. She always finds whatever situation she is in, entertaining. This brat.

“No. I’m actually pissed because my sister is a sixteen-year-old, who married someone older than you and me.”

Levi’s eyes falter, and he finds himself not being able to say anything. Should he be sorry to hear that? Because it sounds fucking awful.

“To top it all off, it was my stepmother who arranged the marriage. Without my knowledge.” she calmly says, finally looking away from him so she could open the notebook again. “Now, then. Let’s do your medical exam later. I think we’re going to start with reading first, before writing. I prepared a list for you to follow, and it’s the alphab—”

“Your little sister just got married off to a pedophile, and you’re going to teach me how to read?” Levi looks unimpressed.

“It’s not the first time this happened, with me being late and unable to stop anything.”

Not the first time? “Your sister was married before? At sixteen?”

Eve snorts, shaking her head. “Brace yourself, Levi.” She begins, and he knots his brows together. “I have eleven sisters.”

Elev—fucking hell. Levi already struggled to feed Furlan and Isabel, how the hell do you keep twelve brats alive?!

“I know, it sounds awful. It is,” Eve agrees nonchalantly. “Don’t worry, we didn’t all come from the same woman, thank God. That would’ve been a nightmare for her.” She chuckles, and Levi just stares at her in horror. “When my mother died, my father remarried twice. The girls are half-sisters of mine. I even have sisters who are twins and triplets of each other.”

“Right.” Levi’s mind goes to his own mother. She couldn’t even handle one child. How is Eve’s father so fortunate to be able to feed twelve crying brats? It felt so unfair somehow, and it makes his stomach shrivel.

“I’m the eldest of twelve. And the youngest is my sister who got married yesterday,” she quietly snorts. “Quite funny, don’t you think? I’m not married, but she is,” her tone suggests it was anything but funny. Eve briefly shows her distress by rubbing her forehead. “When I was sixteen, I was a cadet, writing a proposal for the commander to keep medical records for scouts. And at that age, my sister is being married off to nobleman who had no wife. For the rest of her life, she’ll be an heir producer, and a housewife.”

Levi couldn’t say anything, but from just observing Eve, it was obvious how she is so close to breaking down. Beneath that amused expression, Eve was near to just drop on her knees and begin crying over the loss of her little sister’s future.

“Is that why you became a scout?” Levi says instead. “So you’d be no one’s heir producer or housewife? Your dad looked like he had no problem with marrying your sisters off.”

Eve isn’t bothered by his straightforward words. In fact, she appreciates them after hearing Erwin’s optimism on the ride home.

“It wasn’t the main reason,” she mutters. “Part of it, yes, but not the actual reason.”

“What’s the actual reason, then?”

Eve smiles at him. She looks like she’s contemplating to say to him the reason. Levi is expecting her to blurt out the answer, but instead, she gets up and walks to her shelf of books. Levi watches her, and sees the way she reaches inside the shelf, pulling out a hidden book from deep inside. Levi’s brows knot, unsure why the book would be placed in such a way. Eve goes to sit on the floor, motioning him to join her. Levi complies, sitting cross-legged on the clean floor as Eve opens the book. She flips through the pages, and Levi observes the ink on the papers. There were writing, and Levi does not understand them at all, so he wonders why she was showing him this. Is this the lesson she was talking about?

She stops at a page around the middle, and this one has little writing on it. What is eye catching about it is the drawing scrawled across the paper, with distinct lines and curves that Levi couldn’t figure out what to be.

Since he couldn’t read, he opts to observe the book instead. The way it is frayed at the sides suggests that it was old, and the way it easily opens suggests that it has been read several times.

Eve taps her finger on the page. “Levi, this is the sea.”

The sea. Levi tries to repeat that in his head. He looks at her, waiting for an explanation of what ‘the sea’ is. Although, as soon as he sees her eyes, he falters at the sight. She seems to be intoxicated, eyes glistening in a dreamy haze as her finger traces the lines on the page.

“It’s theorized that the continent we’re in is surrounded by the bluest of waters. Stretching out as far as you can see, like it’s endless,” she speaks in a tone that Levi has never heard her talk before. “Bodies of water containing all sorts of wonderful creatures, and colorful houses for fish, called coral reefs,” her eyes brighten even more than they already have, and Levi couldn’t look away from her to even look at the drawing she is so fixated on.

Once again, Eve manages to surprise Levi.

She looks at him with a smile. “I joined the scouts, in hopes that someday, we’ll have an expedition that reaches further beyond the walls. Far enough to reach the edge of the continent, and confirm it myself if such a beautiful thing exists.”

Levi sees the genuine interest across her face, and her cheeks suddenly flush before averting her eyes.

“Sorry. I got a bit carried away there,” she clears her throat, before closing the book. “This sort of knowledge is illegal, you know?”

“Illegal?”

“Yeah… I know you didn’t go to school, so I should tell you how children here are taught that nothing else lies beyond the walls except for titans. Installing fear in little kids, so they would never dare to dream to their own capabilities.” Eve stands, hiding the book again to its previous spot. “I told you, my weakness are children. Their dreams are far more important than mine. I go beyond the walls, hoping that I can prove to them that there’s so much more out there than monsters.”

“How noble.” Levi answers sarcastically, making Eve snort, shaking her head as she joins him back on the floor.

“Shut up.”

Levi watches the way she looks smaller by hugging her legs to her chest, curling into a ball while she rests her cheek on the back of her hands. He realizes he was staring when a smile grows on her face.

“You missed me, didn’t you?” Her voice is soft.

Levi doesn’t answer, but doesn’t look away from her.

“Tell me you missed me, Levi.”

Her gentle voice sends a strange feeling in his stomach. As if hot metal pierced through his navel, and he couldn’t scream in agony, because it was far from it.

She doesn’t let him answer. Instead, she is reaching into her jacket. “I brought you something from Mitras.”

A stroke of curiosity prompts Levi to follow her hands, and she pulls out a silver pocket watch with a chain. She passes it to him, and he cradles it in his palm. She scoots over to show him how to open it, and Levi swallows from the way her fingers briefly touch his palm. The pocket watch is open, but she doesn’t return from her own spot.

“Do you like it?” Eve asks, brown eyes wide with anticipation.

“I don’t know how to read time. Don’t waste this on me.”

Eve looks at him in puzzlement. “But I always tell you to come here at a specific time.”

“I count the seconds in my head.”

She stares at him, and their gazes lock. Levi dares her to laugh at him for not only being illiterate, but also incapable of knowing what time of day it is without counting to sixty multiple times a day, and making guesses or estimates.

But she doesn’t do that. Instead, the smile appearing on her face is edging towards fond.

“You count to sixty multiple times a day, to make sure you’re on time to see me?”

Levi blinks. Now that she worded it that way, she makes it sound like he’s obsessed with her. It does sound excessive. Before he could retort and say she shouldn’t feel special, since he counts the seconds to be on time for everything, she only reaches for the watch in his hand to open it.

“You know what numbers look like, right?”

“Yes. We do use money in the underground, you know.”

“Of course.” Eve nods, giving an apologetic smile for her blunder. “But counting money and telling time are slightly different.”

Then, she goes on a lengthy yet simple explanation on how to read it. What the short and long hands mean. The numbers. Everything he needed to know about telling time. Levi is a fast learner, and soon enough, he figures out that the time right now was eight fifteen in the morning. Lunch is at twelve. Dinner is at seven. Their tutoring sessions are at nine.

Afterwards, Eve gets on with the medical exam. For some reason, Levi feels strange when she begins prodding at his bare chest through the rubber gloves she wore.

“Hey, are you okay?” Eve suddenly asks after a while of silence.

“What?”

“Your heartbeat, it’s insane,” she huffs a brief laugh, crossing her arms before smirking. “Is this about the totally legal book I have lying around? It’ll just be confiscated if it’s found. You’re not in trouble for seeing it.”

Is that really the reason why this annoying organ in his chest is pumping out blood much quicker than usual? Is it not because of how close Eve is to him? Or how Levi can breathe in the scent of her perfume hinting on her neck while she leans across him to check his pulse earlier? Is it not because of how relaxed Levi feels when watching her be so happy while imagining the mythical body of water around their land?

“I’m fine.”

“You sure? I can get you some water.”

“I said it, didn’t I? I’m fine.” Levi forces through his teeth.

She holds up her hands in mock surrender. “Okay. Well, you ticked off the boxes. We’re done now,” she removes her gloves, and he slides on his shirt and jacket. “Be here at nine, okay? You don’t have to count the seconds anymore. Remember what I taught you.”

Levi nods, feeling the weight of the pocket watch in his jacket. He wanted to ask why she gave one to him, and he even wanted to thank her for it. But he remembers that she must have given this to him so that he would know when to arrive somewhere without losing track of time. You can only count seconds so much.

For the rest of the day, Levi continues to train. He would sometimes see Erwin from a distance, and it unsettles Levi how he feels the captain’s eyes are on him. The hell does he want?

So, Levi decides to find out.

When Erwin was finally alone by a table nearby the training grounds, Levi walks up to him with a hostile expression. “You keep looking at me. What do you want, eyebrows?”

Erwin raises his eyebrows, which makes him blink repeatedly once Levi’s nickname sinks in. A surprised chuckle leaves Erwin’s mouth, and his shoulders shake.

Levi is stunned by how the captain just chuckles at him. “Oi. You laughing at me?”

“No. No, no, no, I was just… not expecting you to approach me.” Erwin smiles, gesturing to the seat opposite him. “Please, join me, Levi.”

Levi hesitates, but takes a seat while eyeing him cautiously.

“I hope you don’t mind me calling you by your first name. I would use a surname, but…”

“I don’t care.”

Erwin nods, not bothered by his blunt nature. Maybe it can be useful to Erwin. “How are you liking it here?”

“There’s literally nothing to do when we’re not on expeditions. We’re just sitting on our asses all day.”

“Well, if you were higher in ranks, you can accompany me and Section Commander Eve to Mitras next time.”

“Oh, yeah?” He responds in a disinterested tone. “How do I get higher in ranks?”

“Easy. Socialize.”

“Yeah, sounds very easy.” Levi mocks.

“And of course, titan kills and assists are important. Sometimes.”

“Sometimes?”

“Well, compared to Zacharius, he has more titan kills and assists than me. But I have a higher rank than him. People skills and combat skills are important.”

“What about Eve?” Levi casually asks, eyes still trained on Erwin.

At the mention of her name, especially the familiar manner of addressing her by first name instead of a title, Levi sees the way Erwin appears astonished. “Eve?”

“How did she reach her position?” Levi asks, and feels the need to provoke Erwin, wanting to see how he’d react. Would it be similar to poking a dangerous wild animal? “Is it because her dad is a nobleman?”

Instead of evoking the reaction Levi was expecting, Erwin reacts entirely different. “A nobleman?” He asks, as if it confused him for a moment. “Eve’s father is not a nobleman, Levi.” Erwin frowns, and he looks like he is genuinely confused as to why Levi hasn’t been enlightened by the identity of Eve’s living parent.

Levi stares back at him, as if waiting for him to keep talking. But Erwin just narrows his eyes, fascinated as to why Levi doesn’t know yet. “What? Is her dad the fucking king or something?”

Erwin softly chuckles, rubbing his forehead. “You know, things would be easier if he was,” Erwin considers the idea for a brief moment. “Eve is the first daughter of Darius Zackly.

“Am I supposed to know who that is?” Levi says, trying to sound disinterested.

“Zackly is the commander-of-chief of the entire military regiments in Paradis.” Erwin’s brows quirk downwards as he offers an apologetic small smile.

Levi softens. “Oh.”

He wasn’t stupid. Levi knew that the commander-in-chief is the highest of the highest among the military. It is beginning to make sense why Eve preferred not to be known as their daughter when she was introduced to Levi and his friends. Her words about people being intimidated by her due to her father, became heavier.

“I’m not sure why Eve never told you. Everyone in the cadet corps are aware of who her father is.” Erwin sighs, sounds like he empathizes his friend. Or… whatever Eve is to him. Levi didn’t want to think too much over that. “But make no mistake, Levi. Everything Eve has achieved to this day, she achieved all on her own. Not through her father. Everyone is aware of that. It earned her the title of Paradis’ Crimson Scout, after all.” Erwin gives him a pointed look, wanting Levi to know that he is ready to defend Eve at any moment. “If Eve wasn’t motivated by her own goals, she would not be here with us at the corps.”

“Instead, she’d be married off to some old rich bastard, that right?” Levi mutters.

Erwin is once again surprised. “Yes…” he observes Levi for a moment. “Did she talk to you about anything?”

Levi shrugs. “Nothing you don’t already know.” Before Erwin could argue, Levi continues. “And calm down, I’m pretty sure I don’t know any more than you do. I think I only know like one percent about her. Obviously. Didn’t even know her last name until now.”

Erwin relaxes. “I see.”

Hm. Captain Smith is the jealous type, then. Worth noting.

“Relax, eyebrows. I’m not fucking the section commander.”

Erwin’s eyes shot wide. “Levi!”

“There’s really nothing to worry about, sir. I know you have a thing for her,” Levi attempts to provoke him, but was met with Erwin’s frown. “And while I spend some time with her some days, nothing’s going on.”

“Levi.”

“Yes, captain?”

“I’m not concerned over you and the section commander, if that’s what you’re assuming,” Erwin says. “Eve is a professional, and treats her job delicately while maintaining a masterful approach to her tasks as both section commander and our scout doctor.”

Levi shrugs. “Sure.”

“So, Levi… if she ever gave you an impression that she does the opposite, rest assured, Eve is only doing her job.”

Eve is only doing her job.

Erwin’s words echo, but it seems like the ticking of Levi’s new pocket watch grew louder inside his jacket.

You are so honest. I envy that about you.

You’re a good man, Levi.

You’re lucky.

Tell me you missed me, Levi.

If you’d allow it, I’ll be the one tutoring you. Here, in my office.

Levi nods, looking away from Erwin to cross his arms. “Whatever.”

The conversation with Erwin was strange. It bothers Levi a lot, and he isn’t sure if he wants to talk to Erwin again.

An hour before his appointment with Eve, Levi sits on the grass in front of two marked stones on the dirt. His legs are crossed, and he wore his casual clothes. Now, he doesn’t find himself to care about the dirt. Wind blows through his hair as he stares at the rocks, carved with names he will never forget.

“I think I’m doing fine. I don’t know.” Levi mutters quietly. “I’m not sure yet.”

No response, as usual.

“That guy we’re supposed to kill? Total douchebag. I don’t think he even feels remorse for what happened to you.”

Despite what Levi puts on display, it still hasn’t sunk into him that both Furlan and Isabel are gone from his life forever. He wants to blame Erwin, and he forces himself to blame Erwin. He can’t think of anyone else to blame.

If he stops blaming Erwin, then Levi would blame himself. He can’t do that if he needs to stay alive.

“Fuck.” Levi buries his face into his palms. “What the fuck am I going to do?”

He’s been so used to having those brats around to ground him, and Levi lost them. He was alone. No one among the cadets would even befriend him, and the only person who he thought actually would, turns out to be just another superior who is doing their job. Levi is alone.

“Hey, are you okay?”

Levi whips his head around, looking up to see that familiar person with glasses and a ponytail, and a worried expression on their face. “Tch. What do you want, four eyes?”

“I was just swinging by to clean up the place. I wasn’t expecting someone to be here.” Hange offers an apologetic face. “Sorry for interrupting.”

Now that Levi had a pocket watch, he can now come to visit at a specific time, instead of just random hours. He didn’t anticipate seeing Hange here.

Levi glances down at Hange’s hands, which held two roses that looked fresh. The roses were familiar, since he spotted withered ones nearby Furlan and Isabel’s graves.

“It’s fine.”

Hange hesitates for a moment before placing the roses on each rock, before they settle to sit next to Levi in silence.

Minutes later, Hange breaks the ice. “I think I got along with Furlan the most.”

“Oh, yeah? You were both at each other’s throats the minute you met.” Levi doesn’t hesitate to say, but there is no bite in his tone.

“Aw, come on, I won every single argument. Furlan didn’t stand a chance!”

From that, the corner of Levi’s lips curl only a little bit. “Sure, Hange.”

Hange seems to light up at the mention of their name spoken in a familiar manner. “Oh, come on, Levi. You know I’m right!”

“I wouldn’t say that.”

They spend the next few minutes bickering, and Levi relaxes enough to let himself smile in their company. Maybe he is not that alone after all.

Hange and Levi both walk to the lab together, and Hange lets him go straight to Eve’s lab. Inside, he finds Eve hunched over the table, nestling her head in the space between her arms. Her red hair spills across her arms as she stays still. From afar, Levi can see that her eyes are closed.

He looks around, and the whole room is a mess. It looks like she was preparing really hard for their first lesson, since Levi can see a few open books on the floor. Levi glances at her again, and she is fast asleep on her desk. No amusement on her face, or frustration. Just a deep contentment as she rests after having a long day of working with no pause.

Levi watches her for another few seconds before leaving the room. “Hange. She’s asleep.”

Hange scrambles on their feet, adjusting their glasses. “Really? I’ve never seen her sleep in my entire life! Let me see!”

Upon hearing that confession, Levi grabs Hange to hold them back before dragging them away from the door. “No. Let her be.”

Hange whines. “You’re no fun! Vonnie never sleeps. You’re lucky. You saw her sleeping!”

You’re lucky.

The memory rushes back inside Levi’s head, and he pushes it away.

“Don’t fucking bother her, alright?” Levi sighs, making sure Hange stays away from the door. He contemplates for a moment. “I’ll go back in and clean her filthy ass office. You stay here and keep doing whatever shit she told you to do. Got it?”

“But Levi—!”

“Shut up, and just do it, four eyes.” Levi pushes them lightly.

Hange huffs, but grins widely. “You know, you have a commanding streak on you! You’d really suit a superior position!”

“Tch. Shut your face.” Levi walks back inside Eve’s office. Sighing at the mess, he looks for her cleaning supplies and gets to work.

Eve wakes up on her desk, and her neck immediately aches once she opens her eyes. She groans, sitting up while rubbing her nape.

Her eyes grow wide upon seeing Levi leaning against the wall while viewing the pocket watch she gave him.

“Hm. I arrived here two hours and three minutes ago,” he closes his watch, meeting her gaze. “That makes you late for two hours and three minutes. Don’t you value punctuality, Section Commander Zackly?”

Eve looks surprised to be addressed that way, and Levi only crosses his arms as he leans his back against the wall to her left. “Don’t call me that. It’s too long. Just Eve will do. And I can be late, I’m your boss!” She argues, abruptly standing as if she wasn’t just out cold a few seconds ago. “And were you just watching me sleep? Not at all creepy, humanity’s strongest soldier.”

“I couldn’t stop looking at you. What, with drool all over your chin.”

Eve looks horrified, and she goes to wipe the nonexistent drool on her lower cheek, throwing him a glare when she finds nothing. “I was just dreaming about you. I’m dry as sand,” she monotonously says.

He sucks in a breath, still going along their sarcastic banter. “When I dream of you, I’d wish I could gauge my eyes out.”

“So, you dream of me? That’s nice to hear.” Damn, brat. “Now, ready for your lesson… Levi…?” She trails off when she looks around the spotless office, not a speck of dust can be seen. Her eyes dart around without moving her head. “Did you… did you clean my office?!”

“Did you see the state you left it in when you fucked off to dreamland?” Levi scoffs, rolling his eyes. “I’m not going to let you to teach me how to read in a fucking stable. Filthy brat. Considering the quality of your cleaning products, I thought you like keeping shit clean.” Like me.

“Well, only sometimes.”

“Tch. Are you going to teach me to read, or what? I feel like I could shit all my breakfast out and you’re still going to be standing around, gawking at your office.”

“I just… I’ve never seen this place be this clean,” she holds back a laugh, slowly sitting back down as if she was careful not to ruin anything else. “You should’ve woken me up.”

Levi sits on the chair in front of the desk again and she holds up a small board. He should feel embarrassed, but he couldn’t. Eve has made the air around them feel so comfortable, it was strange… but a good kind.

Eve looks away and shows him the board, which had familiar symbols on it. “This is the alphabet. It’s what we use to compose words, and words compose sentences.”

Levi listens intently as she explains every single letter, pronouncing them to him. Eve doesn’t treat him like a child, but makes sure not to go too fast, so that Levi can keep up.

After a while, she writes something down on the board, and shows it to him. “This is your name. See, there’s an L, an E, a V, and an I.”

Levi looks at his name, recognizing it from how Furlan showed him before. “Why is the I pronounced like an ‘eye’? I thought it’s pronounced as ‘eee’. That’s wrong.”

“Well, it’s because vowels can be pronounced differently,” she then explains how each vowel can be spoken in many ways, pronouncing them while stretching her lips, and Levi is now amused by how strange she looks. Eve looks at him. “Are you even paying attention?”

“No. You look fucking weird, and none of this makes any sense.”

“Well, that’s the beauty of language.”

“Show me how you write your name.”

She doesn’t find the request odd at all, and only grabs the pen before writing it down on a piece of paper. She passes it to Levi, and he tries his best to remember which letters compose her name.

“Your name makes no fucking sense. It has way too many letters.”

“‘Eve’ is a nickname, Levi. That,” she points to the paper. “—is how you spell my actual name. The name my parents gave me.”

“Why… von?” Levi grimaces, staring at the paper in frustration.

“It’s Eee-Von, actually. See, the Y here is pronounced like a really hard E. Remember what I told you about the different pronunciations?”

“Yeah, but Y isn’t a fucking vowel.”

“But it’s… but Y is… oh, shut up,” she whines.

Levi smirks, putting the paper down. “You’re a horrible teacher.”

“You really think so?” She sighs, a bit ashamed, and it makes Levi frown since he was only joking. “I’m sorry, Levi.”

“Why are you sorry? You’re the one making all this effort to teach me.” Levi huffs, rolling his eyes. “Get over yourself. I’m not about to fucking cry just because I can’t differentiate vowels.”

“Well, that’s the perk of teaching a grown man, as opposed to a handful of younger sisters.” Eve chuckles, and Levi holds up the piece of paper again to read the contents.

“Yvonne Zackly.” Levi reads, and Eve is surprised yet pleased. “How do you get Eve from Yvonne?”

“You shake her really hard!” Eve answers without another beat, and she laughs while her face flushes from her own joke. Levi, unimpressed, only stares at her while waiting for her laughter to finish.

“You done?”

“Oh, hell. I haven’t made that joke in ages. Rarely ever meet new people nowadays.” Eve chuckles. “The first syllable, Levi. Eve-vonne.”

Levi repeats her name in his head, and understands it now. Why didn’t he think of that? “What’s the point of nicknames? Fucking hell. People have names, use it.”

“I think nicknames are endearing,” she looks at him carefully. “You know… like how Furlan called Isabel as ‘Izzy’ sometimes.”

Her tone is cautious, as if she was testing the waters to see if she can talk about them with him. Levi just scoffs. “Furlan did that to annoy Isabel.”

“Yeah, well, I think Isabel liked it.”

If she did, Levi wished he called her that at least once.

“Alright, well, before we conclude today’s lesson, I should test you a little.” Eve rummages through her documents on the table, pulling out an envelope. “Can you read out this invitation for me?”

Levi takes the little card, seeing the neatly handwritten invitation. He squints a bit since it is written in cursive. Levi didn’t want to embarrass himself in front of Eve, so he shifts in his seat. “The… Muller Clan… re…” he pauses, and briefly glances at Eve. “Requests?”

She smiles, and he takes that as her saying he was right.

“Requests the… hoh-nor…”

“The H would be silent there. You just say Aw-nor.”

“What’s the point of a letter if it’s just going to be silent?”

“It looks cooler.” Eve smirks, and Levi just rolls his eyes.

“Requests the honor,” he emphasizes to mock Eve, and she just nods, “of your… presence… at…” he frowns.

“Xyra.”

“What kind of fucking name is Xyra?”

“It’s my sister’s name! Don’t be an arse!” Eve says in between laughter.

“Xyra Zackly and John Muller’s wedding—now, that’s just bullshit. How can your sister have that name, and your stepmother just marries her off to some bastard named John?” Levi lets out a frustrated huff, eyes scanning the rest of the invitation. His eyes go to the date, and he frowns. “This was seven years ago.”

“Well, this is my first sister’s wedding invitation. My father’s second daughter,” she holds her hand out, and Levi returns the invitation. Eve’s eyes scan over it. “All my sisters have gotten married, and some have children of their own. I’m the only one who hasn’t, and I’m the eldest.”

“Sounds tough.” Levi watches Eve’s gaze settle on the invitation.

“Yes…” she quietly says. “My youngest sister, Narcissa, is the one who got married yesterday.”

Levi frowns, glancing back at the alphabet that Eve gave him. For a minute, his eyes scan the page before he closes his eyes and exhales a long breath. “Please, don’t tell me that you and your sisters are named in reversed alphabetical order.”

Eve blinks at him, and as a moment passes, a smirk slowly grows on her face. “And that concludes our lesson today.” She puts away the board and pens.

“What are your other sisters’ names?” Levi looked horrified.

“Hm… there’s me, Yvonne. Then, Xyra, Wilhelmina, Valeria, Ursula, Tatiana, Sloane, Rafaella, Quinn, Portia, Ophelia, and Narcissa,” Eve is enjoying the way Levi is shaking his head in horror of what he is hearing, and she laughs. “What? Our last name is Zackly, with a Z. My father is a creative man.”

“Your father is stupid.”

“Careful, someone could hear you!” Eve doesn’t bother holding back her chuckles. No one will ever be as bold as Levi, by calling their commander-in-chief as stupid, in front of his firstborn daughter.

“I don’t care. That’s the stupidest fucking way to name children.”

“Well, let’s pray I will never have a sister named Aurora.”

Unexpectedly, those words make Levi snort out a laugh, and his shoulders begin to shake as he chuckles. The sound of his quiet laughter brings Eve to a momentary disbelief, before she joins him in laughing.

Chapter Text

Levi sometimes gets mixed opinions about Eve.

Just an hour earlier, he overhears a group of cadets while he was walking around the building. There were three unfamiliar soldiers, two of them seemed to be comforting the third. Hange was there as well, so Levi had no problem with walking up to the group.

Levi approaches them and asks what was wrong, and they instantly went ranting, blabbering about how the section commander was scary.

“She’s so scary!” The man cries out, gripping his hair. “It’s like the longer she stares at me, the more energy I drain.”

Levi blinks. Do they all have the same woman in mind? Are they all talking about Eve?

Tell me you missed me, Levi.

“Scary? More like terrifying!” One of them shudders.

“You’re all easily spooked,” Hange scoffs. “She’s still just a person, you know.”

“Didn’t she leave you all flustered the other day by teasing you about—”

“Okay! We don’t talk about that!” Hange exclaims quickly, not wanting to embarrass themselves in front of the corps’ strongest soldier. Levi raises a brow. “The point is, the section commander is just… unsettling sometimes,” they grimace. “But not the bad type of unsettling.”

“Unsettling?” Levi frowns. Not the word he would use on her.

Tell me you missed me, Levi.

Fuck, get those stupid words out of his head.

“Yeah… it’s just…” one of them sighs, unsure how to describe the section commander. “She knows everything about everyone. All their weakness, their strengths, their stories. Who knows how many secrets she knows by now! Be it political or personal,” they say. “Don’t get me wrong, she would never spill anyone’s secret to other people, but it does feel unsettling. Hell, I feel like she knows me better than my own family does,” the man shudders.

“Yeah, I know she prefers not to share anyone’s secrets, and always keeps them to herself. But still, it just feels intimidating that she knows everything about everyone, despite not sharing that,” the other says. “I could feel my skin crawl when she looks my way.”

“You’re that disgusted by her?” Levi looks apprehensive, almost ready to defend the woman who was currently absent.

“No! No, no, no! Of course not! We all love the section commander, no one else is ever going to be better at her job than she is!” He immediately says, and his tone is rather genuine, so Levi relaxes. “She’s approachable, but kind of intimidating, you know? Like… like no one else is at her level. You’ll just feel the need to impress her all the time, it can’t be helped!”

“I heard that she’s going to be the next commander,” the other man says, and Levi looks at them. “You know, I also heard that a few months ago, she was almost murdered.”

Levi masks his surprise. Murdered? Who would dislike Eve enough to go to extreme lengths like that?

He wonders, but then, Levi is reminded that just weeks ago, he was tasked to murder Captain Erwin Smith.

Hange nervously chuckles. “I think our gossip has reached far enough!” They seem uncomfortable talking about their squad leader behind her back like this.

“What do you mean she almost got murdered?” Levi presses curiously, ignoring the way Hange bites their lip anxiously.

The man leans over, as if to tell a secret. “I heard that during her birthday celebration, someone added a bottle of wine among the pile of gifts for her. The bottle was taken back to her office where she shared it with some cadets at the time,” they say in a low voice. “The soldiers were hospitalized and later died.”

Levi glances at Hange, who lowers their head with a frown. If this story is true, then Hange probably knows who the cadets were. “What about the section commander? She didn’t drink?”

“Oh, apparently, she did!” The other replies. “But she survived. Just goes to show how strong she is, it’s scary sometimes.”

Levi raises a questioning brow.

“The Zackly family is famous in all of Paradis. They’re not new to attempted murders, sadly.” One of them informs. “It’s happened a lot to them.”

“Then what’s the big deal with the whole poisoning thing?” Levi asks.

This time, it was Hange who answers. “The culprit was never caught. And since the party happened here at the Survey Corps, it’s possible that whoever tried to poison the section commander, is a fellow soldier.” Hange says, before immediately adding. “Allegedly. Nothing was ever confirmed. No one even knows if any if that did happen.”

Levi nods once, and he changes the subject to their upcoming expedition. Later, the others had to leave in order to speak to their own squad leader, leaving Hange and Levi by the tree.

“Why isn’t he found yet?” Levi asks, and Hange already knows what he is referring to.

“No suspects, Levi. No one in the corps would seem to have any motive. No fights, no scandals. It happened out of the blue, too. But it was planned, since it happened on her birthday.” Hange sighs. “And during expeditions, people die anyway. The culprit is probably dead.”

“But it’s possible that he isn’t.” Levi points out. “Fucking hell. Why would someone poison Eve? What’s there to gain?”

Hange hesitates. “You know about her dad, right?”

“Commander-in-chief. High position. High enough that I’ll probably never meet him in my life.” Levi crosses his arms. “What about him?”

“Well… Eve is the only daughter he has that isn’t married, and she’s the eldest.” Hange explains. “Zackly will likely give most of his fortune to her, and since Eve doesn’t have a husband or family to share that money with, she’ll have it all to herself.”

“Where are you getting at?”

“My theory is that it has something to do with her stepmother,” Hange grins maniacally, as if proud of their theory. Levi stares at them, unimpressed. “What?”

“This isn’t a fairytale book, Hange.”

“Oh, hear me out first! Zackly’s late wife only had one daughter, and that’s Eve. The next five daughters were with the ex-wife. And the next six, with the current wife. Current-wife would want her daughters to have bigger cuts from the inheritance!” Hange holds up their index finger. “I think her stepmother bribed a soldier to poison her.”

“You didn’t tell her this theory, right?” Levi shakes his head.

“Nope. I don’t think she’d appreciate it.”

“She wouldn’t. Keep your mouth shut about this stupid theory,” Levi scoffs, but he can’t deny that Hange’s theory is compelling. “They’re still trying to look for whoever it is, right?”

“The case got closed,” Hange shrugs.

“What? They can’t just brush this off, this is some serious shit. The section commander almost got poisoned, and soldiers died.” Levi frowns, disappointed.

“Actually, it was Eve who allowed the case to be closed,” Hange mumbles. “Currently, this is just a rumor to the other cadets. The only ones aware of this are the current Yvonne squad, Captain Smith, and Commander Sadies. As well as the family of the cadets. The official story is that the soldiers died from alcohol poisoning.”

Levi looks disappointed. It’s not like Eve to cover up some deaths, especially not of cadets who sound like they were younger than Eve.

My weakness are children.

He blinks, averting his eyes from Hange. “Why would you tell me this?”

“I know that you and Eve are becoming fast friends,” Hange reluctantly looks at him. “And because Eve continuously flusters people by pushing the right buttons. If she manages to push the wrong buttons, well… you’d keep her in check, right?”

Levi lifts his gaze to Hange’s hopeful eyes. Why are they putting a lot of trust into Levi right now? Although, he finds himself nodding, and Hange relaxes with a smile.

“You know, I wasn’t sure if Eve was calling the right shots when she first said she’ll bring underground citizens to the corps,” Hange observes him. “But I’m glad that she did. You’re a good person, Levi.”

“Stop. You’re making me blush.” Levi deadpans.

Hange howls out a laugh, and Levi grimaces when they suddenly wrap an arm around his shoulders.

“Get off of me!”

“Ah, Levi! You truly are humanity’s strongest soldier!” Hange salutes him, their fist pressing into their chest. “I’ll follow you wherever you go! That’s a promise!”

The corner of Levi’s lips threaten to form a smile, and he aggressively pushes Hange off him, brushing himself off as he looks away, the tips of his ears burn hot. “Fucking hell, did you even shower today? You smell like shit.”

Hange grins at him, already knowing that this day begins a wonderful friendship between the two of them.

After weeks of lessons with Eve, Levi finally reads his first letter.

“Dearest Levi,” he starts, and looks at Eve in surprise. “This is for me? I thought I’m going to read one of your letters.”

“Keep reading!” Eve chuckles.

Levi gives her a disapproving look, but hides his excitement over reading a letter for the first time. “Dearest Levi. I am very proud of…” he reads the next words with his eyes, and he widens his eyes. “Fuck you, Eve. I’m not saying this shit out loud!”

“Well, how do you prove to me that you can read now?” Eve challenges with raised brows.

Levi holds back an annoyed groan as he looks back at the paper. “Dearest Levi,” he shots her a sharp look, speaking through gritted teeth. “I am very proud of how hard you’ve been working for the past few weeks. Know that it is difficult to learn how to read and write at this age, but you managed to do so in such a short time. For that, I am proud of you. Use this newfound skill to read more books, and write many letters to your friends. I hope you write to me also, because your thoughts are important to me. You are my dearest friend, and I am honored that you allowed me to help you learn these skills,” Levi tries his best to sound annoyed, but the more he reads, the more he feels a tightening in his chest.

Eve just watches him with a fond smile.

“I hope that when you read or write something, you’ll somehow think of me. Yours, Eve.”

As Levi lets the words digest for a moment, Eve grins widely and claps for him, cheering proudly. “You did it! That was so good! Although, remember the accents, Levi. The accent for newfound is in the first syllable. Other than that, no errors, Levi! Aren’t you proud?”

Levi only frowns at the letters, unsure what to do next. He meets her eyes. “Does this mean we won’t have lessons anymore?”

“Well, you hardly need me anymore. You can read and write just fine now as a beginner.”

“What if I make mistakes?”

She watches him carefully, and stands up to walk in front of her desk, leaning her back against the edge of it as she crosses her arms. “Do you need to learn more?”

Levi nods.

Eve smiles. “Well, if you’re the one asking, how can I refuse?” She turns to her desk, taking a book. Eve touches the cover of the book for a moment, thoughtful, and she reaches it out to Levi, who takes it into his hand. “Here.”

Levi views the cover, recognizing it instantly. He blinks, looking at Eve in astonishment.

She offers a small smile. “Isabel said that Furlan had to leave all his books behind, they were all too heavy to carry. And if he brought one with him, he’ll end up bringing them all,” she lets out a soft chuckle. “She said this was his favorite. Fortunately for you, I have a copy.”

“Why would she tell you that?” Levi’s eyes are glued to the book, remembering the times Furlan would read to him at night, even before Isabel even came to their lives. “She knew what our goal was. She knew who you were to Captain Smith. Why would she tell you all of this?”

Eve looks slightly conflicted, but lets out a sigh. “Isabel was a wonderful girl, Levi. She always talked about her big brothers with me.” Levi looks up to see Eve’s face again, and she averts her eyes this time. “You can keep it. I want you to read it.”

“But I already know it. Through…” through Furlan.

“And you can read it through yourself this time,” Eve smiles to herself. “Maybe you’ll hear his voice from time to time.”

Levi’s jaw clenches, and he feels the back of his eyes sting. He swallows, pulling the book to his lap. “I’ll keep it in good condition.”

“I know you will.” Eve nods, pausing for a moment. “Actually, there’s something I—”

A knock on the door cuts her off, and they hear Hange’s voice from the other side. “Section Commander, it’s the captain. He’s here to see you.”

Levi watches as all the contentment and relaxation drains completely from Eve’s eyes upon hearing those words. Her body is tense, and her throat bobs from how she swallows. Eve clears her throat. “Let him in.”

The door swings open, and Levi stands. He gives a salute while Eve stands next to him. Erwin enters the room, acknowledging Levi with a nod before looking at Eve. “We need to talk.”

Levi is already making his way to the door, when Eve’s arm blocks his way. He glances at Eve, who wasn’t even looking at him. “Stay, Levi. We’re not done yet.”

Erwin glances at Levi for a moment, who awkwardly straightens himself back, eyes going to the ground. Erwin looks back at Eve. “You really want to do this in front of a cadet?”

“I have nothing to hide from Levi.”

“Eve.” Erwin presses.

“What you say to me, you can say in front of him. Besides, you’re on my time. I’m in the middle of something with Levi.”

“This is not something to be discussed with a cadet present.”

“I don’t want to be alone with you, Erwin.”

Those words bring a level of alertness in Levi’s body, and his head sharply turns to Erwin, and the captain gives him a quick glance, knowing that Eve’s words could be misconstrued.

“Eve, this is about the celebration last summer.”

She wavers, and briefly looks at Levi. He slowly keeps his head down, and something tells Eve that Levi already knows. So, she looks at Erwin, and with no hesitation, she replies. “That case is closed, Erwin. I don’t know why you keep insisting on reopening it.”

The way Eve openly discusses this in front of Levi urges Erwin to do the same. “Eve, you were almost killed, by someone in the regiment. You think I would just forget?”

“Let this go, Erwin,” she sighs tiredly. “Whoever it was, they’re probably dead now, their bodies hacked into pieces by some random titan. Does that not bring you enough peace?”

“No, it does not. Because there is a possibility that they’re still among us. And even if they are dead, the possibility of them being a mere tool by someone outside the regiment, is still present.” Erwin’s eyes shift into a glare. “I implore you. Open this case again. Assign soldiers to investigate. We need to find out who would do this.”

“Why don’t you ask the commander?”

“He agreed with you before, he will again. He already thinks it’s a waste of time, given your family name. Eve, you can’t seriously just brush this off.” Erwin steps forward, and he looks at Levi, making him dread whatever is next. “I’m sure even Levi would agree with me.”

Eve falters, eyes going to Levi with reluctance before turning to Erwin with a glare. “Don’t bring him into this.”

“You brought him into this when you insisted that he stayed.”

“I didn’t know this was the topic you were going to bring up!” Eve clenches her fist, and Erwin briefly closes his eyes as he lets out a sigh.

Eve really thought that Erwin will talk about their failed engagement, and Levi’s presence would make things awkward for Erwin and result into him leaving the room. The reason why she didn’t want to be in the room alone with Erwin is because he might talk about their engagement again.

“Levi.” Erwin says in an authoritative tone, making the cadet look back at him with his usual deadpan expression. “Answer me with complete honesty. Do you agree that the case should be opened, in order to find out who would plot to murder the section commander, or should it remain close for whatever pathetic reason Eve seems to use?”

“Erwin!” Eve steps forward, glaring harshly at his words.

“Yes.” Levi answers earnestly. “I agree that it should be reopened. To find whoever wants the section commander dead.”

Eve looks astonished that Levi is taking Erwin’s side. Erwin doesn’t look surprised at all. In fact, it looks like he already knew Levi’s answer. Erwin approaches Eve, hands behind his back. “Even he agrees. Why do you insist on keeping this closed? Do you not want justice for your previous squad members?”

Previous squad members. They could be Hange’s old friends. And Eve’s.

Eve closes her eyes. “Don’t do that. Don’t force me into this by making me feel guilt.”

“Their families deserve justice, Eve. And so do you.” Erwin reaches for her shoulders, gently holding her. “Let me take care of this. You do not even have to do anything other than agree. I’ll handle everything.”

Levi lifts his head, only to see Eve tilting her own head to be able to look up to Erwin. She and Levi had similar height, and Erwin is quite tall. But right now, Eve looked to have more power over Erwin than he does with her.

The pleading look in Erwin’s eyes are enough to tell Levi that the captain is deeply in love with the section commander. The sight makes Levi soften, it was the purity and depth of Erwin’s love for Eve that made Levi feel a sudden warmth in his chest. The captain does seem like he would do anything for Eve.

Eve wavers the longer she stares at Erwin, and she sighs. “The reason why I closed this case is because I’m looking into it myself. I don’t want anyone else involved. People can die,” she frowns. “One cup of that wine, Erwin, and they died. I don’t want that happening to anyone else.”

“You’ve been investigating on your own?” Erwin looks deeply upset. “Why didn’t you say anything? I could have helped you.”

“If they think the case is closed, they’ll be sloppier and more careless of their moves. Why cover things up if there is no one to cover for?” Eve says, and Levi raises his brows. It is an impressive strategy, even Erwin seems to think so. Especially since he himself fell for it. “This case is officially closed, but it doesn’t mean I forgot about it. I’m handling it, Erwin. I don’t need anyone’s help.” She simply answers, taking his hands off her shoulders.

“There you go again, with that mindset.” Erwin gives a look of disapproval. “You cannot just do things on your own.”

“I’ve been doing a lot of things on my own, Erwin, and I’ve been fine.” Eve is strangely calm now. Using his peripheral vision, Levi steals a glance at her.

It still feels wrong to stand here, listening to their conversation. Levi knew his place. He was a mere cadet who was lucky enough to be given private lessons on reading and writing. Being allowed to witness a private conversation was not part of his duties.

Erwin seem to think this as well, when he looks at Levi’s unmoving figure again. “Is that so?”

“I’m not publicly reopening the case, Erwin. Do not interfere again, or I’ll have to talk to the commander.”

Erwin frowns. “You’re threatening me because I am concerned over your life?”

Levi feels his stomach twist for some reason. Why the hell isn’t Eve letting Erwin help?

“Don’t be dramatic, I’m not threatening you.” Eve scoffs.

“Sounds like you are.” Levi finally speaks, and the two of them look surprised that he is slotting himself into the conversation. Levi turns to them with a dull expression. “Look, I’m not really interested in getting between this weird foreplay between you two—” Levi says, and his words horrify Eve. “But since I’m already here, let me say that both of you are shit in showing you two care about each other. I’m one to talk, yeah, I know. But both of you are painful to watch. Captain, you’re right about investigating this again. Section Commander, you’re right about investigating secretly to trap the fucker. Cut the bullshit. You’re both right about different things. Can I go now?”

Eve sputters in surprise. “Forepl—”

“He’s right, Eve. We shouldn’t put him between this.” Erwin sighs, rubbing his forehead. “I apologize for asking your opinion, Levi.”

“Why are you apologizing? You ordered me to answer.” Levi mutters.

A frown forms on Erwin’s face. “I assumed you thought I asked, but I apologize that I forced you to take a side.”

“Whatever.” Levi feels uncomfortable that all the attention is now on him, and he crosses his arms, looking back at Eve, who has her eyes switching from Erwin to Levi. She seems to be in deep thought as she glances between them.

“Fine.” Eve says, and Erwin immediately looks at her with parted lips. “The case won’t publicly reopen, but I’m going to put my trust in you with the investigation, Erwin.”

He looks relieved. “Oh, Yvonne. Thank you. I will find whoever is responsible for this.”

She nods. “But in one condition. Levi will assist you.”

The short man meets Eve’s eyes, and there is some sense of pride on her face. As Levi eyes Erwin, the blonde also smiles.

“Not much of a condition, Eve. I was just about to ask him to assist.” Erwin tries to suppress a smile.

“Can I trust you with this task, Levi?” Eve asks, and now, Levi can tell it’s not an order, but a request.

“You’re section commander. Why don’t you just command it?”

Eve offers a small smile. “Because you are first and foremost my friend, and I trust you implicitly.”

Erwin spares her a quick glance, but otherwise says nothing.

Levi masks his surprise. It wasn’t that long ago that he was planning to kill the man in front of him, who is also Eve’s closest friend. How can she say that so easily?

“I’ll do it. Got nothing else to do anyway.” Levi says in a bored tone, but there is nothing else he wants than to torture whoever the hell even attempted to end Eve’s life.

“Thank you. I’ll rely on you both to get to the bottom of this,” Eve turns to go to her cabinet, pulling out a large envelope to hand over to Erwin. “This is all I gathered so far. Everyone at the party, all the cadets present, all the presents given. I haven’t scratched the surface, and I hit the wall a few months ago. It’s been a year, too.”

Levi knots his brows together. It’s been a year?

Erwin briefly goes through the documents. “Alright. We’ll use this. Thank you, Yvonne.”

She steps forward, close to Erwin’s face. “Do not make me regret this, Erwin,” she lowly says.

Erwin only gives her a soft expression. “You can count on us, Eve. We’ll find out who did this.”

Eve still looks doubtful, but Erwin leaves before Eve could change her mind. Of course, before he goes, he leans down to place an affectionate kiss on the top of her head, and she doesn’t protest from it. In fact, she sighs in content while closing her eyes, and Levi had to look away since he is intruding another private moment between them.

Once he and Eve are alone again, she sits down on her chair and lets out a deep sigh while palming her face.

“Hange, right?”

“Yeah.” Levi confirms.

“They never learn when to keep their mouth shut,” Eve looks amused, as if remembering a few memories. “At least they spared me from explaining it to you, hm?”

“Why would someone want you dead?”

Eve shrugs. “I’m the eldest Zackly daughter, but unfortunately for them, I’m also a soldier. Attempts on my life are futile. No matter how many times it happens,” she explains, and Levi is affronted by how easily she brushes this off. “I’m more used to ordinary people trying to kill me, though. A member of the Survey Corps is a first. That’s why Erwin is making such a big deal out of this.” She speaks like this matter was a nuisance to her, and it makes Levi clench his fist.

“Are you not at all concerned over your own life?” He asks after a few moments of silence.

Eve stares ahead of herself, and Levi wonders if his question was even heard. “From an early age, I’ve learned how to defend myself. I even drink droplets of the most lethal poison in Paradis, daily, to develop a tolerance for the lesser poisons,” she cranes her neck to look at him. “Honestly, I’d rather meet death by the jaws of a titan, than die by someone else’s hands.”

The words make the hair on Levi’s nape rise. Their stare grows intense, and there are numerous of unspoken words that hung in the air.

Eve is the first to look away. “Erwin needs your strength, as much as you need his leadership. You two complement one another, and yet you refuse to see it.”

“I don’t owe him anything. I only agreed to help him because you asked me.” Levi tries to bite back his tongue from speaking, but he couldn’t help it. “Erwin Smith is the last person I would follow.”

Eve has an unreadable expression on her face, and she slowly blinks while forming a smile, like she knows something he doesn’t. “I think we should continue our lessons next time. You’re dismissed, Levi.”

Levi frowns, but gathers his things; being the book and a small sheet of paper containing Eve’s handwritten letter. Before he leaves, he stops by the door. “It happened exactly a year ago, right?”

“Yes.”

Levi looks at her over his shoulder. “Happy birthday.”

Eve gently smiles. “Thank you, Levi.”

“I didn’t know. I don’t have a present.” Levi has no idea why he said that. Even if he knew, he doubts that he would give her a present.

“The fact that you can now read and write is enough of a gift to me.”

“Tch. Don’t say shit like that.” Levi glares.

“Or what? You going to fall in love with me, Levi?” She teases, and Levi recognizes it to be her tactics to fluster someone in a conversation. Hange warned him about this before. Eve always attempts to subtly make someone uncomfortable by pushing the right buttons.

Is this the right button for Levi?

Nonetheless, he just gives her an unimpressed look. “No. You better watch your mouth. It can get you in a lot of trouble. Willing to bet that it already has,” he says on the way out.

“Multiple times,” she confesses with a gleeful smile, not even minding that he was her subordinate.

Levi and Erwin don’t get along. At all.

It wasn’t to say that Erwin wasn’t kind to Levi. The tall blonde was so fucking kind, it annoyed Levi a bit.

No, the reason why they can’t get along is because they have nothing in common.

Erwin was book-smart, and very strategic. He knows how to talk to people, and subtly find information without letting the other person know that he was soliciting intel. He was extroverted, and a true people’s person.

Levi was street-smart, and very brute. He knows how to read people, and figure out what they could be thinking or feeling, and would use that to his advantage. He was introverted, and disliked being forced into conversation with others. Especially small talk.

He especially hates how optimistic Erwin is. He’s so perfect for Eve. A perfect match, even. Levi has no idea why Eve wouldn’t marry this idiot. It’s so clear that he loves her. Erwin somehow mentions Eve from time to time during their conversations, and his tone is always laced with deep admiration. It was subtle, Erwin wasn’t the type to swoon every minute like a schoolboy. But Levi can tell. He finds it sickeningly sweet how Erwin admires Eve. From how Levi heard from other cadets, receiving praise from the captain was rare, and always genuine.

Right now, the two of them are at the tavern, where the bottle of wine originated. They gathered no leads, since the winer who possibly sold the bottle to the assailant have passed away a few months ago due to old age. This was the wall that Eve apparently hit, and she got stuck.

Erwin is equally stressed, since he stays in the tavern to have a drink. Levi checks the time on his pocket watch, seeing how it is way too early to drink, but sits on the stool next to Erwin anyway. The last thing he wants is for Eve to scold him for leaving Erwin alone in a tavern to get drunk in the morning. Levi has no idea about Erwin’s alcohol tolerance, which is why he stays.

Erwin holds his drink, and is already observing Levi. “That pocket watch. It’s the same one that Eve had custom-made in Mitras during our visit.”

Levi’s face gives nothing away, and he only asks for some tea from the bartender. He briefly glances at Erwin. “It’s a gift.”

“Hm. I see.”

“Look, captain. You don’t have to be jealous of me or whatever.” Levi bluntly says, and brings amusement in Erwin’s eyes. “She just wanted me to be on time. She’s way too damn polite to say I’m always late. Like you said, the section commander is only doing her job.”

“Oh, I doubt that now,” Erwin chuckles. “It’s not every day that she verbally confirms a cadet to be a trusted friend. She’s very comfortable around you, you have my gratitude. Since your arrival, Eve seems to be more at ease lately.”

Levi doesn’t reply, so Erwin continues.

“I believe it’s partly because you arrived months after the wine incident, and it is your first time being up here. It means you are an impossible suspect. You can be trusted, in her eyes.” Erwin tells Levi before sighing. “Everyone else could be behind it. While Eve is kind and considerate to everyone, the ones she trusts can only be counted with one hand.”

Levi frowns, eyeing his glass as he listens to Erwin talk about Eve. Sounds like being a Zackly means being paranoid at all times.

“Eve views herself as unimportant.” Erwin says, and his tone is laced with discomfort. “Being a Zackly is important. A section commander is important. But Eve, as herself, is not important. Replaceable. Her perception of things is quite concerning. I fear the way she thinks so little of herself.”

Levi wonders if it’s time that he takes away Erwin’s drink, before the captain of the Survey Corps ends up on his ass in this tavern, but his curiosity gets the best of him. Then, Erwin watches as Levi asks for some beer this time, switching his drink from water. Erwin should warn him about day drinking, but he would be a hypocrite.

“You two grew close, have you?”

“If you’re going to ask me about what she thinks of you, save your breath.” No way in hell he is going to break that trust she gave him.

“I wasn’t going to ask you that.”

“Tch. Yeah, right.” Levi mutters before he drinks his beer.

“But you know a lot about Eve by now, yes? I heard from Hange that Eve has been tutoring you with words.”

Levi looks mortified, but only tightens his grip around the beer he held. Damn you, four eyes, and your big ass mouth. “Yeah, I couldn’t read or write. Is there a problem?” He shots Erwin a look in the corner of his eye.

Erwin smiles. “I’m actually glad. Eve is a fine teacher. She taught her youngest sisters how to write, even before they went to school, and the girls became experts in under a month.”

“She’s pretty multitalented.” Levi mumbles, thinking back to how Eve would try her best to show Levi how each letter was pronounced. He had to bite the inside of his cheek so he would not start chuckling at the memory. “I heard that she has like a million sisters.”

Erwin chuckles. “Ah, yes. The Twelve Zackly Daughters. They’re all quite famous. All lovely girls. When young Narcissa was married off to a noble, it broke so many hearts. Not only was the age gap massive, but the true purpose of their marriage was to unite two important families. Narcissa was the only choice, as everyone else was already married. And Eve is here with us as the section commander…” he pauses. “It broke Eve the most, the wedding. She couldn’t stop it from happening. Even when she offered herself to marry the noble.”

Levi blinks, glancing up at Erwin who had a distant look on his face. Erwin hesitantly meets Levi’s eyes, and forces himself to give a little weak smile.

“Is it selfish of me, Levi? To be glad that Eve was never allowed to marry that noble? In dispense of the future of a girl I’ve known since she was six years old?” Erwin mutters. “I never stopped Eve from offering herself to her stepmother as Narcissa’s replacement, but I wasn’t saddened when she was rejected either. Is that selfish of me?”

Levi didn’t have the answer for that. It was way too early to be talking about deep shit like this, but he has never seen the captain like this. Every time they speak, there is some level of authority that radiates from Erwin.

Now, it was like Levi is sitting with a broken-hearted man, conflicted by the woman he loves.

“Eve sounds like quite a heartbreaker, if she got you sniveling like this.” Levi deadpans, not knowing what else to say. There is no way he would say yes or no to that question.

Erwin huffs out a quiet chuckle, head still facing the drink in his hand. He gives a mocking nod. “I’m not exactly ashamed to admit that I am quite taken by Eve. My entire being belongs solely to her.”

“For a guy your size, I thought it would take more than one beer to get you all drunk.”

“I’m not the sort of man who needs to be intoxicated with liquor to be able to openly admit my intoxication for a brilliant woman.” Erwin chuckles, drinking his beer again. “I may be a soldier, but I am still just a man, Levi. There is no shame in loving a woman, and letting everyone know that.”

“No, but you have to be incredibly stupid to lay your claim on her,” Levi deadpans, shifting in his seat so he could slightly be facing Erwin, who begins to frown.

“I don’t claim her. She is free to choose whomever she would like to be with, I only show her that I would like to be that person to her.”

“Yeah, you don’t force her to be with you, but with your status, you practically scare people left and right, enough for them to not try asking her out.” Levi scoffs.

“I… never thought of it that way.” Erwin seems genuinely surprised.

“Tch. Obviously not. Or you wouldn’t be screaming from the rooftops how much you fucking love her.” Levi sarcastically says before sipping his beer. “It’s intimidating enough to ask out someone like the section commander, why not have Captain Smith as competition for her hand? I’ll definitely not lose.” He mocks, as if voicing a nameless man who is interested in Eve.

Erwin looks conflicted now, having realized this, and Levi sees the guilt across his face.

Levi just nods. “Yeah. Take that aaaall in, captain. You’re the reason why the section commander hasn’t been getting some for the past decade.”

Erwin widens his eyes, and his face grows hot. “Levi, don’t speak about her like that.”

“What? It’s the truth. There’s no way she’d sleep with other people while being fucked up over you.” Levi bluntly says, and Erwin tenses in his seat. “Yeah, I know how weirdly mutual the whole feelings thing that you both got going on. It’s actually so depressing to think about.” Levi gives him a once-over with his eyes. “You call yourself a man who would openly admit to being in love with a woman, but you didn’t do shit about it until it’s too late. It’s pathetic,” he turns back to his beer. “Yeah, you tell her that you love her, care about her, and all that stupid romantic bullshit. It’s sweet. Whatever. But you didn’t make shit official back then, and you made her wait for nothing.” Levi huffs. “Now that she’s moved on with her life, you’re back to confusing the shit out of her. It’s ridiculous.”

Erwin doesn’t say anything. Levi slightly grew anxious over voicing out his opinions to a person who can remove him from the Survey Corps, and take him back to the underground city. Or worse, surrender him to the damn MPs.

Instead, Erwin looks at Levi with depth in his eyes. No one has ever called Erwin out on his bullshit before, not even his sweetest girl, Eve. Due to that, Erwin feels warmth in his chest the more Levi speaks to him. A small warm smile forms on his face.

“What else, Levi?”

Usually, people would just tell Levi to shut the fuck up and mind his own business, so when he heard those three words from Erwin, he was momentarily taken aback. Although, that didn’t stop him.

“Honestly, now that I say all this shit out loud, I’m glad she said no when you asked her to marry you. If I was Eve, I’d give you a taste of your own damn medicine. I’d make you wait the same way you made me wait. Torture the fuck out of you. ‘Will they, won’t they’ this crap.”

Erwin huffs a chuckle, not at all surprised that Levi knows about the proposal. “For someone who says they didn’t know how to read, you surprisingly know quite a lot about romance novels,” Erwin shifts himself in his seat to face Levi this time. “Tell me. Is there someone waiting in the underground city for you?”

Levi gives him a deadpan expression. “I don’t know if that beer you’re drinking is enough to get your brain all fucked up.”

His crass language continues to amuse Erwin. “Is that a yes?”

“Do I look like I got time for shit like that?” Levi scoffs. “I already had a family to watch over. Didn’t need anyone else besides them.”

Upon the reminder of the two cadets Levi left the underground city with, Erwin briefly averts his eyes. Levi notices. Tch. No regrets, my ass.

“Why not meet a lady here in Trost District? They seem to like soldiers.” Erwin briefly glances around the tavern, seeing a group of ladies sitting in one corner, giggling to themselves as they eye Levi and Erwin who were both wearing uniforms. “And there are quite a lot of them around. You can find someone.”

Levi rolls his eyes. “Don’t talk to me like I can’t find someone to have sex with, I got no problem with that, but I just don’t want to. I don’t have time for any of that bullshit. There are way better things to do than fucking, dating, getting married, having kids.”

“Like what?”

Levi looks at him, and with a straight face, he answers, “Honestly, I’d be way happier if I get a private bathroom, than if I find someone to fuck tonight. Communal bathrooms should be fucking demolished.”

Erwin snorts, shaking his head at Levi. This short man is incredibly funny without even realizing, Erwin finds it extremely comforting in a way. “I should be honest. I forgot what we were even talking about.”

“Me, too.”

Erwin sighs, rubbing his forehead. “We should not be day drinking like this. I’m setting an inappropriate example.”

“Who cares?” Levi calls the bartender to refill his and Erwin’s cups, and the captain’s protests fell to deaf ears.

“I care, because we’re here to find whoever is trying to hurt Eve.” Erwin says, watching as Levi takes big gulps of the beer.

“Screw that for just a day. We’ve been at this for a week now.” Levi huffs, pushing Erwin’s beer towards him. “‘Sides, Eve’s main suitor deserves a drink, huh? You know, even though you fucked this up before. She’s a handful. Don’t get why you’re putting up with her. You got to be really brave to chase that brat.”

Erwin doesn’t look insulted. Instead, he hums in agreement. “Before she met me, she had a whole line of men just waiting for her to notice them. Although, it shouldn’t surprise you that many men have offered to become suitors for the eldest Zackly. All of them were rejected, though.”

“Yeah,” Levi looks at Erwin. “All of them were rejected.”

Erwin couldn’t help it, he actually laughs. Levi stares in disbelief, and he finds himself chuckling along with the captain while raising his beer to his lips. Well, maybe for now, they could get along.

It was night, and the dark sky is littered with stars. Crickets’ little noises are faint around them, and the other cadets have gone to their quarters to rest.

Hange bites her lip as they try their best not to burst out into fits of laughter.

When they first approached the laboratory building, they could see two figures just sitting outside the locked doors. Approaching, Eve looks mortified as she stares at the pair situated on the floor right next to the door leading to the laboratory building.

There they were, Erwin and Levi, on the floor with their backs against the wall and legs stretched across the floor. Levi’s head rests on Erwin’s arm as the blonde leans his own head on top of the shorter man. They were both asleep, snoring when the scientists came up to them, both Eve and Hange in the state of shock.

Before Eve could ask what the hell was going on, Erwin seems to be half-awake, and he mutters something to Levi, and Levi starts giggling in a high-pitched voice, patting Erwin’s leg multiple time. Erwin joins in, his laugh being more of a deep rumbling erupting from his chest.

The pair didn’t seem to notice that Eve is right in front of them, looking quite furious.

“What the hell is going on here?!”

Upon hearing Eve’s voice, Erwin jumps, and promptly makes Levi jolt awake as well. Erwin looks up, and immediately tries to stand upon seeing Eve, and his movement made Levi fall to the ground sideways, with the absence of something to lean on. Levi doesn’t seem to mind, and instead, he just nuzzles his cheek back into the floor, closing his eyes again.

Erwin grins widely, his face flushed as he salutes with his wrong hand. “My dearest section commander!”

Eve gapes at them, taking one quick whiff in horror, and quickly realizing that they smell like they swam through crates of liquor. “What the hell, Erwin?” Eve hisses out, looking at both him and Levi with worry. “Where have you been all day?”

Hange, on the other hand, is now burning into their mind the image of Levi and Erwin drunk off their asses, as they try not to laugh.

“I… well, we—Levi and I, we went to the tavern where the,” Erwin hiccups, and Eve just stares at him. “—wine bottle was purchased.”

Levi lets out an incoherent grunt.

“And what? You two accidentally got drunk?” Eve raises an unimpressed brow, crossing her arms.

“Not accidentally,” Erwin continues to grin sweetly at Eve. “Levi here offered to drink the whole day with me.”

Levi grins from the floor, eyes closed with a blissful look on his face. Something none of them are used to seeing.

Eve nods along, mocking. “He offered. Right. How very out of character of him,” she glances at Levi briefly with a glare. She never knew that the gloomy man could be so careless.

Eve sighs, and rubs her cheek stressfully before giving Hange a look. Hange wordlessly complies, and goes to help Levi get on his feet while Hange unlocks the lab door.

As Eve grabs Erwin’s arm to lead them inside, Erwin wraps his big strong arms around her instead, pulling her to his warm chest while humming. Eve’s eyes widen, and her face grows a bit hot. “Uh… Erwin?”

“Yes, my love?”

Her face flushes even more. “I need you to go inside, it’s cold out here.”

“Are you cold?” He tightens the embrace, but not enough to hurt. Instead, she feels oddly comforted. She feels his hand caressing her hair.

“No, but you are. Come on,” she pulls away from him, and the pout on Erwin’s face makes her laugh a bit.

Eve pulls him inside the building, and she sees Levi hunched over the table with his eyes closed. Hange was making some tea, and since the only type of tea they know how to make is Eve’s favorite, that will have to do for now. Hange offers the tea to Levi, but he was too out of it to even realize what was happening. Levi stays still on the table, his back bent as he rests his torso on the table.

“How the hell did this even happen?” Hange chuckles quietly as Eve leads Erwin to the sofa where he can sit. Hange hands Erwin some tea, who drinks it all without question. “I thought you said they don’t like each other.”

“Do we even want to know?” Eve sighs, grabbing some clean blankets from a cabinet, which she would usually use for special inpatients. “God, Erwin, you are so stupid,” she mutters as she pushes Erwin to lie down.

“You are so beautiful, Eve.” Erwin says while observing every inch of her face, and Eve gapes with wide eyes. Erwin’s eyes are glazed over. “So pretty…”

Hange snickers. “Oh, I’m enjoying this.”

“Erwin, I can’t take you back to your quarters because other soldiers might see you in this state. So go to sleep.” Eve says, and as she walks away, Erwin grabs her hand.

“Stay, please. I have something to say to you.”

“You’re drunk. Whatever you want to say to me, it can wait tomorrow.” She tries to pull away, but Erwin gives her a pleading look.

“I won’t have the courage to say this once I’m sober. Please, listen.”

Eve stares at him, but surrenders eventually. Hange gathers their books, and gives Eve a playfully knowing look before they leave the lab.

Before Eve moves, she glances at Levi, and his eyes are still closed while he breathes evenly. Eve looks back at Erwin, who burrows into the sheets. She sits on the floor right next to the sofa that Erwin was laying on.

“What is it, Erwin?”

He takes a moment, just slightly side-eyeing her, and she wonders if Erwin is slowly growing sober. However, when he gives her a soft smile, the one he would reserve for her during their cadet corps years. A smile she hasn’t seen in a while, and it makes her falter for a moment.

“Does my love make you feel trapped, Eve?”

His voice is gentle, and his eyes are soft towards her. Eve says nothing, and only watches him, so Erwin continues talking to fill the silence.

“It does, doesn’t it?” He talks so softly, soft enough for Eve to just listen to what he has to say instead of answering. “I’m so sorry, Yvonne.”

“Erwin, what brought this on?” Eve sounds concerned now, and she reaches over to pat his shoulder. “What happened today?”

She watches him briefly glance to the left, and she follows his gaze, to where Levi is sleeping hunched over the table. Eve looks back at Erwin, only to see him with saddened eyes and a smile.

“He’s really something, isn’t he?” Erwin says, and there is a hint of admiration in his voice. “He could be the best decision you’ve ever made.”

“We’ve made, Erwin.” Eve says, and she reaches to squeeze his arm. “This was you and me.”

“I ruined his life, Eve.” Erwin whispers. “I took his sister and brother away from him. If it was the other way around, I’d never be able to forgive me.”

“Don’t say that.”

Erwin offers a weak smile. “If it were you, and I did what I did, resulting to the deaths of your sisters, would you forgive me?”

Eve frowns, glancing back at Levi, who now has his face turned away as he sleeps. She meets Erwin’s eyes, seeing the way he deeply saddened he is.

“I could not stop thinking about the advice I gave him that day. About having no regrets. Every time I look at him, I’m reminded by what I took. I am a hypocrite, Eve.”

“Erwin, you’re tired. You should get some rest,” she urges.

“Levi is the one that opened my eyes about you,” Erwin continues, despite her encouragement for him to sleep. “He told me that my love suffocates you, and holds you back from meeting other people. It holds back others who are interested in knowing you,” he takes her hand, looking deep in her eyes. “I want you to be free, Eve. I am so sorry for suffocating you. I blame my stupidity for not seeing it sooner, so I will fix this. I promise. First thing tomorrow.” Erwin says while not looking away from her eyes. “And I will find whoever is trying to hurt you.”

“Erwin…” she is overwhelmed by the amount of affection he is giving her, but not in an uncomfortable way.

Erwin just softly smiles, the moment is raw and authentic. “I love you, Eve. I’ll… always carry a torch for you. But it’s time I stop smothering you, hm? I don’t… I don’t want to keep hurting my love.”

Eve’s eyes sting a little, and a smile forms on her lips. “You are so stupid,” she mutters, affection laced in her tone.

Erwin chuckles. “I really am, aren’t I?”

Eve looks pleased and content, reaching over to caress Erwin’s cheek with her fingers. He tilts his head to press a kiss on her palm.

“I’m always going to love you, Eve.”

She slowly nods, offering a small smile. “Me, too.”

“I know.” Erwin nods as well. “Find love in someone else, Eve. If you ever change your mind, you’ll know where to find me.”

Eve knots her brows together. She wanted to say that he should find love elsewhere, too, but knowing how stubborn Erwin can be, it will only lead to an argument. And she is far too content to argue with him right now. So, she stands up and orders Erwin to sleep, to which he laughs at before closing his eyes, dozing off almost instantly.

Eve suppresses a smile. What the hell happened today?

She shakes off the thought before going to Levi, tapping his shoulder gently. “Levi… you awake?”

He vaguely mumbles something.

“Can you move to the other couch? Your back is going to hurt tomorrow,” she gently nudges his shoulder.

Levi groans tiredly, but makes no protest when Eve gently helps him up, guiding him to the other sofa. Levi lies down, curling up into a fetal position, which Eve found adorable! Not a word she thought she would ever use to describe Levi, but she has never seen him sleep before. If she knew how to draw, she would sketch both Levi and Erwin, just drunk and asleep like this.

She grabs a clean blanket, making sure it smells nice too, otherwise, Levi will get cranky in the morning. Eve covers Levi with a blanket, tucking him in and taking in the peaceful expression across his face. Eve smiles to herself, reaching over to smooth out his hair sticking to his forehead. Eve gently touches the strands of his hair, observing his face. Levi’s incredibly quiet snores make her snicker a bit.

“Levi, can you hear me?”

He continues to snore.

Eve smiles, sitting on the ground in front of him while gently hugging her legs to her chest, resting her chin on her knees so she could watch him for a moment. Eve notices how pale Levi is, and how younger he looks when he isn’t glaring at people. Sleep suits him.

She reaches over, touching his cheek lightly, almost not even feeling his skin. “I have no idea what you said to Erwin, but thank you. Thank you for telling him what I couldn’t say myself.”

She continues to gently brush her fingertips against Levi’s cheek, before withdrawing her hand. She sighs, standing up again to make her way to where she unlocks the door leading to her bedroom.

She does her nightly routine, and goes to sleep as well. The conversation she had with Erwin will likely never be repeated, but the knowledge of it will remain in hers and Erwin’s minds forever.

The morning comes, and Levi’s hangover hits him like a bitch. He sits up, groaning while clutching his head. He looks around, seeing that he seems alone, until someone pops in front of his face.

“So! Did you have fun?!” Hange shrieks, and Levi cringes away from their loud voice.

He pushes their face away from him. “Fuck off, Hange.”

“I seem to recall you saying that I’m the weirdest yet coolest friend you gained in the corps!” She teases. “It’s a compliment I liked! Thank you, Levi!”

“I don’t remember that shit at all, you’re making that up.” Levi scrunches his nose in disgust, but his heart is beating rapidly because he does recall holding onto Hange to keep himself upright as they lead Levi inside the building.

Levi also has a vague memory of snickering while leaning his entire weight on Hange and mistaking Hange’s grip on him as a hug, which he tried to return—and his face grows hot.

Hange seems to realize that Levi is having flashes of what happened last night, and they smirk while poking Levi’s side. “I never would’ve guessed that you were a touchy sleepy drunk! Who knew!”

“Shut the fuck up!” Levi growls, and Hange just laughs.

“And let’s not forget that you were all buddy-buddy with the captain! I mean… you two were laughing together when me and Eve found you both!”

Eve. Oh, fuck. She saw him being such a fucking idiot. Fuck, fuck, fuck—

“Good morning,” Eve walks out of her office, and Erwin seems to be behind her. Both of them are carrying documents, but Erwin uses only one hand for that, his other hand carries a cup of tea. Eve sees Levi awake, and she chuckles. “Moooorning, Levi,” her voice singsongs in a teasing way.

“Not one word, I swear,” Levi warns.

“You are adorable when you giggle, did you know that?” She continues to tease, even making an exaggerated gesture of clasping her hand together, and situating them under her jawline, batting her lashes at him. “Oh, Eve! I am so thankful for your lessons! I like reading and writing with you! Which is why I asked for more lessons!” Eve speaks in a high-pitched tone.

“Fuck you, I never said that.” Levi glares, very aware that even drunk, he would never say such a thing.

Erwin chuckles, sitting on the sofa where Levi remembers he slept in the night before. “Regardless, I enjoyed being your drinking companion, Levi. What say you that we repeat this?”

“Never again.”

The other three in the room let out a laugh, and Eve goes up to Levi to hand him some tea. Levi accepts it, and despite not being fond of the taste, he drinks it to stop his head from throbbing.

Somehow, from day drinking once, Levi and Erwin became fast friends. For the next few weeks as they prepare for the next expedition, Levi finds himself at ease once he realized the sort of person Erwin was. Even from their drunken blunder, Levi could still remember Erwin talk to him about some childhood dream; of learning what the world actually is.

Despite their inebriation, Levi could tell that Erwin was genuine about his dream, and because of that, Erwin could see things that Levi cannot. Because of that, Levi feels the urge to put his trust into the man.

Alright, Erwin Smith. I will follow you, and I will not regret this decision even until I die.

During the mornings, Levi would train vigorously and keep himself fit. On afternoons, he would be in Erwin’s office, talking about leads and information they could have on the case before leaving to investigate. At night, he would be reading thing out loud for Eve, usually letters from other military units that should otherwise be kept secret from cadets.

Levi has no idea why he is being treated so special, but he doesn’t question it. After all, these two people are the reason why he is in the corps.

On the day before the expedition, he heard a strange rumor.

“Is it true that the section commander and the captain are broken up?” Levi hears someone whisper in the stables, where cadets are preparing their horses’ gear. Levi was there to make sure his horse is eating and still ready to go.

“Yeah, I heard that the captain went on a date last week,” someone else added. “It was that shop owner downtown, what was her name again?”

“I don’t remember, but I heard she’s really nice. I even heard that the section commander was the one who broke things off.”

Another tsks. “Does that mean the captain did something bad?”

“No, I guess that means the section commander is available again,” they snicker.

His arm was swatted by the woman in their group. “You better not get any ideas! They were together for like nine or ten years. I don’t think they’d just break it off,” she shrugs. Tch. They were never even together, moron. “Maybe it’s just a rumor. No way it’s true. The captain loves the section commander, I can’t imagine both of them being with other people.”

“Oi,” Levi calls out, eyes half-lidded in annoyance. “Stop gossiping. You got better things to do. Idiots.”

It’s not a secret that Levi and Eve are close comrades. None of the cadets assume that Levi sucked it up to their superiors, they all know that Levi is the most hardworking and skilled among all the cadets. They were not surprised that the officers acknowledge him with pride.

Some would even use the term humanity’s strongest soldier with Levi, ever since Eve started to publicly call him that just to annoy him. There was some truth behind the title, though, which is why it is used quite seriously by others.

When afternoon comes, Levi enters Erwin’s office, tossing some documents on his desk. “Found them for you.”

“The suspect?”

Levi glares. “Statements of each cadet’s families, idiot.” He replies, and Erwin suppresses an amused smile as he flips through some pages of a book. “The MPs weren’t really willing to give them up too easy.”

“And did you charm them with your sweet words?”

A blade suddenly slices through the air as Levi flips a knife from underneath his sleeve. “I did.”

Erwin merely chuckles at Levi’s interesting strategies.

One thing that Levi found out about Erwin was how, underneath all of that kindness he displays, there was a sense of brutality, a flicker of fearlessness over what is to come. Erwin can be merciless yet kind. An odd combination, but Levi had no other way to word it.

“Where the hell have you been? I was looking for you this morning. You weren’t here.”

“Oh. I was out visiting the language class on the other side of headquarters.”

Levi frowns. He didn’t know that Erwin cared about those classes enough to visit them. “Oh, yeah? How’d it go?”

Erwin gives him an amused expression. “Do you care?”

“No.” Levi truthfully answers, and Erwin nods without judgment. “Anyway, what’s this I’m hearing about a shop owner down the street?” Levi mutters.

“I see word travels fast,” Erwin stands, going through his shelves to look for something. “Yes, I did go on a date, Levi.”

“But why? Aren’t you supposed to be planning how to ask Eve to marry you, the right fucking way?” Levi raises an unimpressed brow.

Erwin just huffs a chuckle. “Ever since our conversation back in the tavern, you seem to have shown me my mistakes. I’ve corrected them, and now, Eve is as free as she wishes to be.”

Levi frowns. “Didn’t think you’d give up.”

“I haven’t. Pathetically, I still have hope that she would choose me in the end. I will continue waiting for her. Now, however, she is free to be with whoever she chooses. Love whoever she likes. I will not interfere.” Erwin simply explains, and Levi just looks frustrated.

Levi is willing to bet that Erwin started that stupid rumor. “That’s dumb as shit. Why not just let her go? You’re making all these worthless efforts for nothing. Can’t you just move on? There’s literally thousands of women in Paradis.”

“Eve is the woman I Iove, Levi. If she cannot love me, then I won’t force her,”

“You saying that there’s no one else in your life? Eve is the only woman in your life?” Levi almost winces.

“If you’d like to put it that way.” Erwin says, his voice is normal, and laced with a tinge of sadness. It makes Levi frown. “Besides, we still have a lot of things to focus on right now.”

“Right…” Levi says nothing else.

When he gets to the laboratory building, he watches as Hange carries a bouquet of flowers towards Eve’s office. Hange sees Levi, and waves while grinning. “Heya, Levi!”

Levi approaches. “The hell is that?”

“Oh, it’s the seventh one today.” Hange chuckles. “The section commander is quite popular with the men all across the walls, you know.” They knock on the door, and walk in after hearing a muffled voice from inside. “When they heard that she’s single again, so many came in today!”

Levi follows behind Hange, and raises his brows at the numerous flowers in vases situated at one corner of the room. He sees Eve, tinkering with a machine on her desk without even looking up.

“Another one for you, Vonnie!” Hange snickers.

Eve makes a vague hum, not bothering to check the flowers. She is too focused on what she seemed to be fixing. “Hange, what do you say if I ask you to take charge for this expedition’s medic group?”

Hange gasps, and their eyes literally turn into stars. “R-Really?”

“Yeah, it’ll be a nice change. And it’ll test out everything I taught you. Do you think you’re ready?”

“Oh, I’ve been born ready!” Hange squeals, and Levi winces at the noise. “Thank you, Eve! Oh, man. This is going to be a blast.”

Eve finally looks up, smiling at Hange and Levi. “Just this once though, and besides, it’ll be nice to get back on the field. I haven’t killed a titan in a long time.”

Levi is interested now, and it makes him realize that during the last expedition, he never saw Eve fight, and she always carried a basket of medical supplies. It intrigues him to witness what Eve is like during combat.

Hange coos. “Finally!” They smirk on the way out. “Can’t wait to see you in action again, Vonnie!”

They leave. Eve and Levi share a gaze, before he looks towards the flowers nearby.

“Never wasted a second, didn’t they?” Eve says, amusement in her tone.

“They all want a piece of the section commander.” Levi deadpans, looking back at her when she laughs.

Eve stands to place the machine on the other side of her desk.

“What’s that?”

“Oh, this?” She gestures to the machine. “It’s a heart rate monitor. I’m still working on it. Hange’s been helping me. The research division is at a loss without Hange.”

“A heart rate monitor?” Levi frowns. “What, it beeps every time your heart beats?”

Eve lights up. “That’s precisely it!”

“…Really?”

“Yeah! Can’t believe you got it on your first try! It’s the name, right? I knew we should use monitor. Beeper sounded way too strange.”

“Let me guess…”

“Hange.” They say in unison, and results to Eve’s short chuckles.

“How’s that supposed to help us kill titans?” Levi raises a brow.

“It’s not really for expeditions,” she laughs. “This is more of a side job. Alright, down to business,” she sits back down, pointing towards the flowers. “Take all the cards. Read them to me out loud.”

“Are you serious?” Levi grimaces. “I’m not about to read some sorry bastards trying to politely say they want to fuck you.”

Mirth paints across her face as she chuckles. “Well, I need a lay anyway. Help me pick.”

Levi scoffs. “Not interested.”

“In me? Or in reading the cards?” She smirks.

There she goes again. “Both. Shut up, Eve. I’ll just pick one of your books.” He walks to the shelves while Eve groans.

“Oh, come on.” Eve whines, and the sound of it makes he look back at her with furrowed eyes. “I’m so bored, Levi. You have no idea. Thank the walls, we’re going to an expedition tomorrow.”

“Isn’t it a bit counterintuitive? You being a doctor and all, don’t you think you’d want lesser casualties around?”

“Counterintuitive?” She repeats, a teasing tone in her voice that makes Levi roll his eyes. “What a big word for a big boy.”

“I can snap your neck at an instant.”

She tilts her head, baring her neck towards him with a smirk. “Why don’t you come here and do it?” Her voice purrs a bit.

Levi bores his eyes towards her, body tensing a bit. “That’s not funny.”

Her smile remains. “It never is.”

Eve’s gaze turns to… Levi has no idea into what. But there is a sense of entrapment. Like the walls of the room are slowly moving in towards one another to enclose around them. The air felt strange, but Levi couldn’t look away from her.

Her eyes flicker from his head and down to his feet, as if surveying him, and the view of it was so familiar to Levi.

You’re lucky.

He blinks, turning to walk towards the flowers. “Fine. I’ll read your stupid fucking love letters.”

For some reason, as he rummages through the bouquets, he could feel her eyes on him from behind. The amusement that oozes off from her, it was fucking irritating. It was like Eve thinks she got to Levi, like she made him uncomfortable, the same thing she does to other cadets in order to have some fun. What does she get from it? Seeing the cadets flustered and stuttering, embarrassed because of how she would put them on the spot. Why does she do it? What’s the fucking appeal?

Eve is insane if she thinks that she can do the same to Levi. With that, he grabs all the cards and stacks them up. Levi takes a seat in front of Eve’s desk, seeing how she has her boots propped up on the surface of the table while she eyes Levi.

Levi opens one card, and internally groans. “To the most beautiful girl—”

“Nope.”

“You’re not even going to listen to the whole thing?”

She seems to be considering it, but she nods at him to continue.

“To the most beautiful girl in all of Paradis, it would be an honor of mine if you allow me to take you to dinner some time. Ronald.” Levi reads. “Who the fuck is Ronald?”

“I have no idea. You lost me at ‘girl’.” She laughs, shaking her head.

Levi goes to the next, reading them out loud to Eve, who just listens while making occasional criticism on how well-written the cards are. Levi would be lying if he says that he isn’t finding it entertaining how Eve is criticizing these stupid and cheesy notes as if they were a novels she reads. She would even make suggestions on how to write them better, it was ridiculous.

When Levi finally reaches the last of them, he tosses the cards to her desk, so she could see for herself. Eve reaches for them and throws them to the nearest trashcan, making Levi raise a brow.

“Not a single one of them interested you?”

“Well, since I’ve heard the same thing said in all different ways, no. Not a single one.” Eve sighs, leaning back on her chair. “Guess I won’t get laid before we leave for the expedition after all.”

Levi narrows his eyes, suspicious of her little smile being directed towards him.

“I’m not going to fuck you.”

She smiles. “I didn’t say anything.”

“You’re looking at me. Like… like that,” he frowns, unsure how to word it.

“Like what?”

Like you want me to fucking bend you over the desk, flip the skirt of your uniform and ravage you for all you’re fucking worth.

“Tch.” Levi crosses his arms, glaring at her. “Of course you know how to act coy.”

That look of amusement on her face, Levi wants to wipe it off. It jolts something in him. Is he… thinking about slapping the section commander? Fucking hell, what is wrong with him?

“Coy. Counterintuitive. You’re enjoying your books,” she chuckles.

The feeling of discomfort seeps through Levi’s bones. Her piercing gaze truly is unsettling, but not in the scary way that some cadets would describe. It was like her eyes can see through him, like she knows what he was thinking about. How the hell did she place him in this situation? Levi doesn’t even know what he’s thinking about.

Or maybe he does, and he just doesn’t want to admit it.

A chuckle leaving her throat cuts through the silence. It makes Levi frown. “What?”

“Nothing. You’re just very cute when you’re flustered like this.”

Levi glares, but he is internally mortified by the words. “I don’t fluster,” he sighs, glancing at his pocket watch and sees that he only has ten minutes left.

Somehow, Eve brightens up to see Levi use her gift, and she tries to suppress a wider grin. “Impatient to leave?” She finds it entertaining that Levi wants to go as soon as possible.

“No. Just checking the time.”

“Right.”

Levi wants to fucking burn himself alive. Ten minutes is way too long, fuck this. Fuck whatever this is.

“Levi,” she starts talking again, and Levi subtly grips his own knees.

“What?”

“Has anyone ever told you how pretty you are?”

Levi sends her another hard glare, but he can feel the beginning of heat seeping under the skin of his ears and cheeks. Oh, no, no, no, he won’t give her that satisfaction. “Give it up, Eve. I’m not going to sleep with you. I’m never going to sleep with you.”

“I wasn’t doing anything.”

“Yes, you are. You’re trying to get me in an uncomfortable situation, and I’ll mistaken it as me being turned on. When I’m not. You do this shit for everyone, it’s weird.”

“Are you uncomfortable?” she questions. “Do I make you nervous?”

“Cut this shit out, Eve.” Levi deadpans.

“Or what?” Her teasing tone is beginning to get on his nerves.

Or I might shut you up myself. Levi almost said, and he clenches his jaw at the thought of it. Instead, he stays quiet, just looking directly to her eyes without an ounce of shame.

“Can I sit on your lap?”

Levi feels his own throat dry up from those very forward words, but he doesn’t show it on his face. “No.”

“Okay. Can you sit on my lap?”

“What the fuck, Eve?”

She grins, baring her pale teeth. “You’re a tough nut to crack, Levi. But don’t worry. I just… need to find the right angle.”

Levi scoffs, averting his eyes subtly as he looks around the room, anywhere but her face. “Yeah. Keep telling yourself that.”

Eve’s eyes are soft, just observing Levi as he looks anywhere else but at her. She looks at the way he taps his shoe against the floor, and how he would knead his fingernails into his knee. Her lips twitch into a subtle smile, glancing at the heart monitor on her desk.

“Can I test my monitor on you?”

Levi meets her eyes, not really finding any reason to say no. He nods, and watches as Eve sharply turns her, indicating that he should sit on her chair this time. He complies, and her warmth from sitting previously in the chair sinks into him.

“Can you unbutton your shirt? Just so I can attach these on your chest.”

Levi complies again, and he can feel her eyes following the movements of his fingers as he unhooks button after button, until his chest is exposed. He views the concentrated expression on Eve’s face, and the look of amusement from before was replaced with focus. Her fingers bring a wire to his chest, taping over it. Her touch makes Levi wonder if this is a bad idea.

Afterwards, Eve finally goes to the machine and presses a few buttons while mumbling to herself on how it works. She starts cranking a device several times, and it buzzes quietly, like a hum. Finally, with one final sharp pull of a string, the machine starts up, and there is a steady pattern of beeping.

Levi is impressed. Maybe he might listen to Hange explain how the hell they managed to do this.

Eve holds out her palm. “Give me your hand, I need to check your pulse to see if they match.”

He complies yet again, placing his hand on her palm. The cold metal of her two rings touch the back of his hand. Eve gently takes his hand, and presses her other two fingers against his wrist, searching for his pulse point. It occurs to Levi how close she is sitting, and her thigh is slight slotted between his, knocking her knees against the side of his leg as she shifts her chair for a closer look. Eve tilts her head, feeling his pulse while viewing the monitor, which beeps steadily. Her neck is exposed to him, and the deep red baby hair of hers were short by the nape. His mouth dries.

What the fuck is going on?

“Hm…” she quietly hums, knotting her brows.

Levi has been staring at her the entire time, and when she hummed, he blinks multiple times when he realizes what he has been doing. He averts his eyes. “What is it?”

“It doesn’t match,” she frowns, disappointed. “I think it’s only sensing the vibration on the surface.”

“What does that mean?” Levi grows confused. “The beeping is normal. Any slower, I’d be dead.”

Eve lifts her gaze to him, and the expression on her face was of brief mirth. She takes her fingers away from his wrist, and disconnects him from the machine. “It still needs some work done. I better ask Hange about it. This thing could change medicine, you know,” she gently knocks her knuckles against the wooden machine before putting away the generator.

As she walks away from Levi, he blinks rapidly, and subtly presses his own fingers against his wrist. His jaw clenches the moment he discovers that his pulse is erratic.

Fuck Eve. Fuck everything she does to him.

When she returns to her desk, Levi is already standing.

“Do you need me for anything else?” Levi asks, his voice is cool, and he tries not to make his tensed body too obvious. There is a sickening feeling in his gut that Eve can already sense how uncomfortable Levi is.

“Actually…” she begins, sitting down on her chair again, eyes trained on Levi. “Do you… do you mind taking all those flowers and throwing them away? You can leave the vases.”

Levi says nothing, merely gives her a single nod before gathering the bouquets of flowers. They look nice, he guesses, such a waste. As he carries the flowers, he looks back at Eve, who is now writing something down on her notebook. “Anything else?”

His words make her look up, fiddling with her pen as their gazes pierce through one another. He stands by the door, looking quite out of place while carrying colorful flowers to dispose of.

Eve only gives him a sweet smile, devoid of teasing like earlier. “Don’t die tomorrow.”

Levi sighs on his way out, a half-hearted salute by the door. “Yes, ma’am.”

Before he goes to his quarters, Levi throws the bouquets into the largest bin in the area. When he returns to his room, his roommate was nowhere to be found. Probably eating with the other cadets to prepare themselves for tomorrow’s journey.

Levi is alone in his room, lying on his bed with his face towards the ceiling. He thinks back to tonight’s events, the way Eve was looking at him. This glint in her eyes that tells Levi how she knows something that he doesn’t. It makes him scoff in annoyance. What would she know about Levi that he doesn’t already know? The only person who knows Levi is himself.

Fuck Eve, and her weird fucking addiction over flustering other people. What the hell does she get out of it? Does she feel victorious when she sees others being flushed and humiliated?

He shudders, mostly in disgust, but the other part… it nearly horrifies him how his own fingers hover over the hem of his pants. Levi’s teeth clench, and his eyes turn icy in rage. What the hell is wrong with him?

What the hell is wrong with Eve?

The urge to slip his hand underneath the waistband was beginning to be unbearable to resist. Why the fuck is this happening to Levi? And of all people, why did it have to be that wretched fucking—!

He gasps, and realizes that he is now gripping his shaft in his fist, choking out a few humiliating noises as he pumps his fist over himself. His face is flushed, and the sweat across his forehead mats his hair into his skin. He bites down the back of his other hand, his hips twitching as he fucks his fist. He can feel his own precum dripping down from the slit of his stiff cock, making him slick and more sensitive. Levi pants, screwing his eyes shut as he gets lost in the strange thoughts of things he can’t even speak out loud.

For some reason, images of himself sitting on Eve’s lap makes his knees shake a bit. What the fuck?

Levi’s hips uncontrollably buck into his fist, making him gasp desperately for air. He keeps thinking of ways to get Eve to shut the fuck up. He imagines himself pushing her on that stupid fucking desk, stripping her bare, and doing everything he wants with her. He wonders what sort of noises she would make, what words would leave that annoying mouth, what reactions would her body make if Levi touches her. What her pussy would look like, taste like. The scent of it. Fuck.

He slows down, not wanting to cum yet as he pants on his bed, looking rather ridiculous with his cock out and his sweat drenching his shirt. Fuck, he feels disgusting.

He closes his eyes again, and a quiet moan hitches in the back of his throat at the thought of reversing the roles in that fantasy he just conjured up. What would Eve do if she had Levi completely vulnerable that way? What would she do to him?

The vague answer to that question only makes Levi stroke himself faster, and he can practically hear Eve’s voice in his ear.

Has anyone ever told you how pretty you are?

Levi barely hears himself whimper, and he spills his cum all over his stomach, cursing to himself as he hurriedly tries to avoid getting them on the sheets. He catches his cum with his shirt, grimacing before lying back down to pant, descending from his high. Once he is settled, and it dawns on him what he just did, his face flushes into a color of pink that he is thankful Eve can’t see. What the fuck did he just do?

Chapter Text

During the entire expedition, Levi couldn’t look at Eve directly into her eyes. How the fuck can he? He literally fucked his fist at the thought of controlling her. And worse, the thought of her controlling him.

Levi really needs to stop thinking about that and focus on the expedition. Enough is enough, and he will forget what he did.

As for the whole “break-up” thing between Eve and Erwin, Levi notices that they rarely talk. Levi isn’t stupid, he knows that it’s an act, since they were never together in the first place. He wonders what drove Erwin to finally let this go. Eve seems happier lately.

The expedition goes as smoothly as it does, but not without casualties. Levi is still under the command of his squad leader, which is separate from Yvonne Squad and Erwin Squad, so Levi can’t really see them often.

Erwin came up with the positioning, as Levi recalls, and apparently it was supposed to lessen the casualties. As they all ride, Levi knows that Erwin Squad and Yvonne Squad was to his far right. So, Levi was very surprised when his stomach drops, seeing a black smoke signal somewhere to his right.

An abnormal.

His eyes widen, and suddenly, images of Isabel and Furlan’s dismembered bodies flash in front of his eyes.

He jerks his horse back, halting in place as his own squad continues to ride. Some of them looked back in shock, yelling out his name just before he rides vigorously towards the direction of the abnormal, breaking formation without an inch of care. He goes past other cadets, who would be taken aback by his sudden appearance, yelling how he isn’t supposed to be there.

Then, he finally catches sight of Eve.

When Levi reaches the formation of her squad, he sees her in the air, maneuvering herself with her gear and screaming out a war cry, before slashing her blade through one of the abnormals she was up against. As the titan falls, there were now two remaining ones. Why the fuck is no one helping her?

“Levi, what the hell are you doing here!” Hange’s voice rings from next to him. “Levi!”

He barely registers them, as he stands on his horse before piercing his hook to the abnormal hot on Eve’s heels, pulling himself into the air, and with his incredible speed, Levi spins through the abnormal’s arm before reaching its nape to finish the kill.

He catches sight of Eve, whose eyes are wide in surprise, not expecting Levi to show up, but she focuses on delivering the kill to the other abnormal.

Blood splatters across Levi’s face, and he lands on the ground just before the titan falls. Another loud thud and shake of the ground, Levi knows that Eve successfully killed the other.

As one of the troops yell, ‘All targets eliminated!’ Levi wipes the blood from his face, and sees how quickly it evaporates.

The sound of dirt crunching underneath some boots make Levi turn around, and he raises his brows at the way Eve is stomping her way towards him with a set of deadly eyes. Her dark red hair blows through the wind, along with the force of how she walks.

Before Levi could talk, his head snaps to the side with his cheek stinging with heat, the brief sound of skin harshly smacking against skin cuts through the open air around them. Levi knew that others are watching them in silence.

He stays quiet for a moment, eyes settling to the direction where his head was flung to. Levi looks back at her. “Eve—”

Another slap is delivered. This time, to the other side of his face.

Levi clenches his jaw, looking back at her again. Eve is watching him with fiery eyes, and her fists are clenched. Then, she takes a deep breath, looking around. “Everyone, get back in formation!” She yells out, and the rest of them give a salute of affirmation before riding off. They seem to be a little scared of Eve now, since she just slapped the strongest soldier among them. Twice.

Eve sends Levi a final glare before mounting her own horse to ride off.

Levi steadies his breath, trying not to let his own anger distract him from the mission as he rides back to his squad leader, listening to an earful of usual insubordination rules. Levi listens to his leader reprimand him as they ride, but he keeps thinking of the way Eve seemed to be furious with him.

On the way back to Paradis, the casualties were less, but the loss of lives were still heavy on their shoulders. Now that the nearest titans were killed, the Survey Corps rides idly towards home, defeated.

Erwin somehow finds himself riding next to Levi, who has a distant pair of eyes. Erwin glances at Levi for a moment. “I heard what happened.”

Levi doesn’t reply.

“You shouldn’t have left your team, Levi. It’s insubordination.” Erwin firmly says. “I must warn you; your squad leader is very much allowed to punish you however they like. Be mindful next time.”

Levi remains quiet, motionless on his horse.

Erwin sighs. “I’m aware that an abnormal can provoke certain memories to resurface, but we cannot let our emotions get in the way of our mission. Do you understand me?”

“Yes, sir.” Levi’s voice is oddly robotic, it makes Erwin frown.

The captain makes an action he had been avoiding for a while. He cranes his head, looking over his shoulder to find Eve. She was already looking at them. Erwin gives her a ‘look what you did’ expression, to which she stubbornly glances away.

Erwin sighs. “Chin up, Levi. You’re not the first person that Eve slapped,” he grimaces as if he remembers something.

In private, Levi wouldn’t have minded, but to be smacked like that while a lot of cadets were watching… it felt a bit degrading, especially since the other cadets already see Levi differently.

“And it’s certainly not the first time for you. Rest assured, this won’t be the last time either.” Erwin muses, pulling on his horse to join his team members.

When they reach Paradis, they are greeted by another set of citizens, whispering among themselves while talking them down. Levi hated it. He hated seeing their stupid fucking faces, frowning at them as if Levi wasn’t just busting his ass trying to clear the outside of the wall.

They finally get back to headquarters, and Levi returns to his own room. His roommate offers him a drink, but he declines. Levi just wants to shower and wash away the grime and blood on his body, forget about the way the citizens of Shiganshina would shame them for risking their lives.

…When the hell did Levi get so passionate about being a soldier?

He scoffs as he gathers his clothes, walking to the communal bathroom. Seems like he was the only one that bothered to wash up, seeing how he was the only one in here.

The next expedition is likely to be a month from now, and Levi selfishly couldn’t wait. He doesn’t like being cooped up in the same place for a long time.

As the water runs down his body, he scrubs the dirt out of his skin. Levi scratches the crumpled dirt on his neck, grimacing at the mixture of sweat and mud. God fucking damn it. How do people stand being covered in this shit?

“Thought I’d find you here.”

Levi jumps, turning briefly, only to see Eve in the stall next to him, fully-clothed. Levi turns away immediately, as a reflex when being caught off guard while being disrobed. “Damn it, Eve! What the—get the fuck out!”

He somehow forgot that she was his superior, and she was more than allowed to be here.

She crosses her arms, looking quite annoyed. “You don’t get to break formation. Ever. Listen to your squad leader, and nobody else during expeditions. Seriously, Levi? Even my sixteen-year-old sister knows how to follow rules.”

Levi’s gaze hardens, and the shower continues to spray water on his head, making his hair stick to his skin. “I helped you.”

“I didn’t need help! I could handle myself!”

Levi knows, since Hange told him of Eve’s stats. Her titan kills and assist ratio was impressive.

“Not only would your little stunt almost kill me and my squad, you could’ve died yourself for getting in the way of my plan. And even if I did need help, I would ask it from my team. Know your place, Levi. Never let your own personal concerns sway you from the real reason you are in the Survey Corps. If you forget, don’t be surprised to find blood on your hands.”

“You came to the communal showers to fucking lecture me? Couldn’t you have waited?”

Eve shrugs. “Erwin told me to apologize.”

“Tell him I don’t need an apology. It was my own fault.” Levi rolls his eyes, pushing himself off the top of the wall to continue scrubbing himself, the initial surprise of seeing Eve while he showers fades away. “I had a lapse of judgement. Excuse me for not wanting what happened to Isabel and Furlan to happen to you,” his voice is slightly laced with sarcasm.

She stays quiet, and the sound of running water fills the room. Levi glances at her through the corner of his eye, just before he grabs the soap.

“You just going to stand there while I fucking shower? I already said I was sorry.”

“Did you? I didn’t hear a sorry there.” Eve raises a brow.

Levi lets out a deep sigh. “I’m sorry, alright? Fuck, it won’t happen again. Now, can you go? My ass is fucking bare.”

Finally, her lips twitch into a smile, and the sight brings him some relief. Nothing she can do will ever make Levi more uncomfortable than knowing she was angry at him.

“It’s still a nice view, though,” she smirks, eyes viewing his upper body, since the stall wall obscures her view downwards.

“The fuck is wrong with you, Eve? One time, you slap me twice out of rage, and then the next, you’re making eyes at me.” Levi huffs, rolling his eyes. “Do I need to say it again? I’m not interested.”

Eve lets out a chuckle, and it makes him send her a glare. Was that one of her attempts at making him flustered? Well, she should try harder, Levi doesn’t give up that easily. Although, it’s nice to see her laughing because of him again. He hated the discomfort he felt when she was disappointed in him.

She waves him off. “Yeah, yeah, go to Erwin’s office afterwards. He said he has a surprise for you.”

Levi quirks a brow. “A surprise? I hate surprises.”

“Don’t worry. Erwin isn’t crazy with his surprises.”

“Really?” Levi has a doubtful tone, since Erwin was definitely crazy with surprises when it came to Eve. Then again, Erwin’s not courting Levi.

“Really! Stop worrying.” Eve smirks, exiting the stall before making her way to the door. Levi watches her from over his shoulder, and she stops by the door again. She doesn’t turn around, but turns her head a bit to the right. “What I said before, it’s still true.”

With that, Levi listens to her fading footsteps. Levi’s body is tensed under the spray of water.

You’re lucky.

Now that Eve is gone, Levi turns back around to his previous position, and his face flushes red with heat.

When Levi arrives at Erwin’s office, he was now fresh from the shower and wearing cleaner clothes. Erwin abandoned his uniform, and is now wearing a comfortable white shirt that emphasizes his broad shoulders. Erwin allows Levi inside, and Levi sees the table set for two. Levi knots his brows. “What’s this?”

“I heard that you hate eating at the cafeteria, and prefer just drinking tea.” Erwin gestures at the table. “I invite you to eat with me instead.”

“I don’t eat after big events like expeditions.” Meals make him susceptible to vomiting. Levi would rather go through a few days with an empty stomach after seeing comrades be torn apart by titan teeth.

Erwin chuckles. “Alright, but you must know, I prepared something from Eve’s own recipes. This one is my favorite of hers.”

“Gee. You shouldn’t have.” Levi’s tone is mocking.

“The least I can do.”

“Didn’t know she can cook.” Levi approaches the table, taking a seat.

“Well, she always justifies it by saying she’s a scientist, she would know how to mix things. But honestly, it is because her mother was a great chef. She inherited some talents.” Erwin sits opposite of Levi. “That’s how her parents met, you know. Her mother catered for Zackly’s inauguration party as commander-in-chief, as the youngest commander ever in history.”

Levi didn’t know that either. How can he know so little about Eve? Erwin probably knows everything about Eve by now.

“So, you do this for every random cadet?” Levi pokes his fork into the eggs on his plate.

Erwin is amused, smiling comfortingly at Levi. “Only the ones I enjoy the companies of.”

He meets Erwin’s eyes, and he seems to be smiling at Levi before he starts to eat. Levi observes the captain for a moment before following, slightly impressed by the food.

They eat in comfortable silence, just listening to the quiet crackling of the fireplace. Levi finds himself enjoying the silence with Erwin. In fact, Erwin’s company is comforting in a way.

After dinner, Erwin stops him from leaving so soon.

“Before you go, I have something for you.” Erwin says, going to his closet. Levi frowns, watching him go through some boxes before pulling out a flat one. “It’s a suit. I got your measurements from Moblit, so they would fit. I want you to have it.”

“You got me clothes?” Levi asks with surprise, taking the box. “Why?”

“Because you will be accompanying me to the capital next week. You’ll need a suit.”

“…What?”

Erwin offers a smile. “There will be an event at the capital. A celebration of sorts. I was invited to attend.”

“Why do you want me to come?”

“Because I asked. Will you accept?”

“If it’s an order, just say it.”

“It’s not.”

Levi takes a moment. If it’s a fancy party at the capital, there would be all sorts of fruits, right?

“Fine. What’s the occasion?”

“Commander Zackly’s fiftieth birthday,” Erwin answers as he walks to the window, glancing outside to where some of the cadets were going about their businesses. “I just received the invitation from the post earlier. It seems like I can bring a plus one.”

Levi blinks. So, Eve will definitely be there. As well as her sisters. That would be interesting. He holds the box close. It’ll probably be the most expensive shit he owns.

“So, what, I’m your date?”

Erwin chuckles. “You can say that.”

“I’m flattered.” Levi deadpans. “Wonder what all the ladies are going to think of that.”

He receives another smile from Erwin. “I’m sure they will be far from disappointed, seeing as you are now a bachelor of the scouts.”

Levi rolls his eyes. “I used to be an underground gang leader. Don’t call me a bachelor.”

Erwin chuckles. “Now that we are off-duty, I can now say my personal thoughts. Eve’s treatment of you during the expedition was too far. You were only looking out for your friends, and there is nothing wrong with that. There shouldn’t be.”

Levi softens, and his body relaxes at those words. For so long, he had been so guilty of doing what he did, only because he was worried over that damn woman.

“If you’d actually come running to my rescue in the event that I am in danger, I would very much like to be your friend.” Erwin chuckles, his tone being jokingly as he sips his glass of water.

“You already are.”

Silence.

Erwin keeps his gaze on Levi, and his face softens. “Then, I shall treasure your friendship, Levi.”

“You better. Because I’ll be coming back here for dinner after our future expeditions.”

“And I look forward to it.”

The day comes, and Levi feels strange that he is joining Eve and Erwin on their carriage. The same one they rode when they returned from the wedding of Eve’s sister. Levi wraps his jacket tighter around himself, as Eve climbs in the carriage. Erwin follows, sitting next to Eve and they begin their journey. Although, Levi notices that they were going to wrong direction.

“Oi. Isn’t the capital that way?” He points behind them.

“Yes, but we’re making a quick stop at Shiganshina District first,” Erwin says.

“Why?”

“Eve has a friend there. A fellow doctor. She wants to show him the heart rate monitor that she and Hange have been working on,” Erwin says, and Eve says nothing as she scribbles furiously on her notebook, with a concentrated stare. “It will be more useful for a doctor with an actual clinic, with citizens as sick patients. They’re the first priority.”

“And if it works for long-term, Hange and I can build another one for the scouts.” Eve grins happily.

“Right.” Levi mutters, leaning back into his seat to wait out the ride.

They reach Shiganshina soon enough, and Levi looks around the area. They go through this place before and after expeditions, so it feels slightly familiar. The clinic was small, but it seems to be enough for this small town.

Erwin carries the monitor while Levi takes the small generator, and they follow behind Eve. The three of them enter the clinic, and find a few patients occupying some beds, and a doctor walking around while carrying some documents. Upon hearing the door, the doctor looks up, and is pleased to see them.

“Eve, what a pleasant surprise,” the doctor removes his mask and gloves, leading them to his office. “I heard that you all just returned a week ago,” he looks at Erwin and Levi. “I see you brought Captain Smith and, er…”

“This is Levi, he’s a recruit,” Eve smiles. “Levi, this is Dr. Jaeger. The best doctor in all of Paradis.”

If the doctor recognizes Levi’s name, he doesn’t show it on his face. Levi appreciates that. He is aware that his name has reached even the farthest corners of Paradis. Not because he used to be from the underground city, but because Levi’s inhuman skills have impressed many people enough to spread word about him.

Dr. Jaeger chuckles. “Flatterer, this one. Nice to meet you, Levi. I am Grisha Jaeger.”

Levi just nods as they shook hands, and Eve gestures to the machine, and began to explain what it does. Levi observes the way Grisha seems to be delightfully surprised. Eve instructs him how to use it, while Erwin and Levi watch her work.

“This is very helpful, Eve. Thank you. I will use it whenever the need arises.” Grisha nods, grateful.

“So, I heard that you have a little boy now,” Eve muses, grinning as Grisha gives a kind smile. “How old is he?”

“He’s turning five this year,” Grisha says, a hint of pride in his voice. “His name is Eren, he is a wonderful boy.”

Eve coos, and Erwin had to hold back a laugh. It seems like Eve desperately wants to meet the child and pinch their cheeks like she usually does. “I bet. And how’s Carla?”

As they do some small talk, Levi takes a moment to glance around the doctor’s office. Erwin stays firmly next to Eve as Levi explores a bit.

“She is doing great.” Grisha says, catching sight of Levi viewing a few bottles on a shelf, picking up a bottle to read the label. “Please, be careful,” the doctor grimaces.

Levi looks back at the man, raising a brow as he slowly puts the bottle down.

“Those are rare medicine that I created using my garden. Difficult to grow ingredients these days. I have a garden dedicated to a sole ingredient that can only grow in rare soil here,” Grisha smiles apologetically. “Which reminds me,” he trails off before rummaging through his drawers and pulling out a small vial. “This is what you’re here for, yes?”

Eve grabs the bottle, opening it to inhale the scent briefly before smiling. “Yes. Thank you, Grisha.”

“No problem. I’m happy to help.” Grisha smiles. “No payment needed. I’m very grateful for the pulse monitor.”

They exchange goodbyes, and leave the clinic to return to the carriage. As they ride for Capital Mitras, Levi nods towards Eve. “What’s in the bottle?”

Erwin chuckles, shaking his head at Eve. “It’s the deadliest poison in all of Paradis, Levi.”

“The fuck? Why are you carrying shit like that?” Levi scrunches his nose. “You were inhaling it like fucking perfume earlier.”

“Relax. I need it to keep my tolerance in check. I drink tea with a drop of this stuff, you know. I ran out two weeks ago.” Eve sighs. “Drinking normal tea has been a complete nightmare.”

“That explains the second rule you’ve set whenever someone enters your office.” Levi deadpans. Accidentally receiving her cup might actually kill him. Furlan was always so curious about that rule. “So, that doctor, you know him long?”

“You could say that. He was my mentor. I learned a lot from him when I was younger.” Eve says. “I was a nurse at his clinic, when an epidemic outbreak happened. Grisha prevented it from spreading even more, and saved the whole district,” Eve smiles at the memory. “He is truly a wonderful doctor. I regret not visiting him as much once I joined the scouts,” she pouts. “I haven’t even met his kid, from how busy we are. Aw, man. I missed my opportunity being the cool aunt to him, too!” Eve complains, rubbing her face out of stress.

“You’ll get to meet him, Eve.” Erwin sounds amused. “He’s only five years old. I’m sure you can still do something about it. You’re already the cool aunt to your nieces and nephews.”

“That doesn’t count because I have eleven sisters; all of us are the cool aunts.”

“Fair point.”

“Why the hell is a random brat so important to you?”

“He is not a random brat!” Eve scolds. “He is the child of Dr. Jaeger, my mentor. The guy who inspired me to study medicine.”

“Here we go,” Erwin mutters.

“And, by the way, Dr. Jaeger helped me in finding my path. Not only did he teach me medicine, but he showed me that I can join the scouts while also being a doctor.” Eve tells Levi, and Erwin just nods along as if he has heard this story a million times. “So, his child is not a random brat to me!”

“Don’t worry, Levi. Eve just has this overwhelming need to get all children to like her.” Erwin surmises.

Eve just gapes, swatting his arm while trying not to laugh. “It is not an overwhelming need!”

“What’s with you and your weird fucking obsession with kids?”

“Don’t say it like that! You’re making me feel like a creep!” Eve groans out. “Children are just pure and nice, okay! They instantly like you if you’re kind to them, and they have a unique understanding of the world that expands your own imagination. They’re brilliant in their own way,” she huffs, but Levi can tell that there is another reason she doesn’t want to say yet, and he has a feeling that it will be a heart wrenching one.

Erwin just chuckles. “They’re just children, Eve. Calm yourself.”

“Yeah, they’re all the same. They’re stupid brats that drool everywhere,” Levi says. “I don’t see the appeal.”

Eve rolls her eyes, and it’s amusing to see how annoyed she is over how little they view kids. “You won’t get it until you have to take care of children of your own.”

“Sounds like a nightmare.” Levi bluntly says, and Erwin’s laugh echoes in the carriage.

They arrive at Mitras by the afternoon, and they enter a huge mansion which Levi assumes to be Eve’s home.

As they walk up a wide set of stairs, Levi sees a portrait stretching across the wall with a golden frame. Levi only caught a glimpse of it from afar, but he can tell that it was of the Zackly family. There were twelve women of different ages, standing around a couple who were sitting on throne-like chairs.

The man had a brown beard framing his face, and the rest of the girls had light brown hair like him. All except one, which Levi immediately recognizes to be a younger Eve, due to her short dark red hair and shorter height, and she stands directly next to her father. Seated next to the commander was a woman with blonde hair and soft eyes, happy but not smiling.

Levi follows behind Eve and Erwin as they walk, entering a corridor. It wasn’t until they hear hurried footsteps from behind them, and Levi’s alertness made him almost reach for the knife tucked into his belt. Erwin immediately grabs his wrist to stop him.

A group of six young girls run to Eve, yelling her name excitedly before tackling the woman to the floor.

Eve falls with a surprised laugh, clutching her sisters tightly as they hugged. “What are you all doing?”

“We missed you!” One of them practically squeals. And Levi is surprised to see three of the same face. Triplets. Identical triplets. Levi glances at Erwin, who looks entertained by Levi’s reaction.

“You just got back from an expedition, right?! You’re alive! I’m so happy!” The youngest one of them cries as they nuzzle themselves into Eve’s neck.

They excitedly chatter around Eve, and Erwin had to cut in with a chuckle. “Alright, alright, girls. We all just saw one another a few months back,” he extends a hand to them, helping each girl on their feet.

“And Erwin!” The triplet with the blue dress lights up. “We missed you, too!”

“As did I. We brought presents as well. They’re downstairs. Flowers from beyond the wall, as promised,” Erwin says, and Levi notices how the captain seems to be surveying the area, as though to search for someone.

The girls giggle, and one of them finally notices Levi. She had a purple dress on, and her hair is in a tight neat bun. “And who’s your friend?”

Eve has her arm looped around of her sisters. “This is Levi, a recruit.”

“Levi?!” The one who noticed Levi screeches. “You’re the one that Eve—”

She slaps a hand over her sister’s mouth, muffling her words as Eve chuckles. “Sloane here has a loud mouth. I apologize on her behalf, Levi.”

Levi says nothing, unsure what to do. Each sister formally introduces themselves. It seems like the five youngest ones are among them.

Narcissa, recently turned sixteen, is the youngest one, and was recently married. Ophelia, seventeen, has incredibly long brown hair, reaching her midthigh. Portia, eighteen, has the curliest brown hair framing her chubby face. Quinn, is the one who is completely head over heels once she saw Erwin. Reneé, is the one who has been showing off her new sparkling shoes to Eve. Portia, Quinn and Reneé are triplets. Sloane, nineteen, is the loud one.

As they make their way to the rooms, a swooning Quinn takes Erwin’s arm while the other girls crowded around Eve to listen to her stories about the latest expedition. Levi walks behind them, cautious of their surroundings.

They were taken to their temporary rooms, and Levi is left alone for half an hour to get changed. The guestroom he is in is bigger than the house he had back in the underground. Just how fucking rich is Eve’s family?

Knowing how grand the entire mansion is, Levi is now anticipating to meet people of high status in the party. He doesn’t want to admit it, but he does want a higher position in the scout regiment. How else is he going to make Isabel and Furlan proud?

Levi doesn’t want to prove shit to anyone else, but he wants to be someone his family can be proud of. And if it means sucking it up and pretending to be nice to people, then he’ll do it. He wants all these bastards to stop looking down at him, and give him the respect he deserves.

So far, he has met six of Eve’s sisters. All of them were so young and childlike, it terrifies Levi how they are all married. There are five others, and he wonders if they’re all the same. Considering they didn’t come to greet Eve, he doubts they are as energetic as the five earlier.

Levi puts his suit on, grimacing to himself as he holds up the tie that came with it. No fucking way he’s wearing that.

What the fuck is he doing here?

A knock on the door makes him look up. Alright, as much as Levi trusts Eve and Erwin, he doesn’t trust anyone in the capital, especially since he has killed numerous of MPs. Considering that this is their city, and it’s a party for the commander, the mansion might be fucking crawling with them.

So, Levi grabs his knife, flipping it in his hand the way he holds the blades for his ODM gear, and unlocks the door, swinging it open.

Eve greets with a smile, and she is out of her uniform, and in a formal midnight blue gown that reaches her ankles. Her cleavage is mildly exposed, and the dress accentuates the curves that Levi had no idea she had. Her ears held some simple silver earrings, and her neck is adorned with a matching necklace. Not too much, but still noticeable. Levi finds himself staring at her.

“Hi.” She smiles, a hand on her hip before her other hand raises two fingers as if to indicate her eyes. “Eyes up here.”

Levi glares. “Very funny.”

“Erwin said I should bring you this,” she holds up a small box.

Levi blinks, looking down at the box. “What is it?” He steps aside to let her inside the room, and she steps in, not even commenting on the knife that Levi hides behind his back.

“He said that you might not like the tie, so he brought you this,” she opens the box, and shows him a neatly sewn white cloth. “I noticed that you barely wear the cravat you brought with you from the underground.”

“I asked Hange to cut it into two pieces and bury them with Isabel and Furlan.”

“Oh… I didn’t know that.”

“You didn’t need to.”

Eve nods, taking the white cloth. “Well, Erwin got you a new one. In case you want to wear it instead of a tie.”

The last time he wore one was the day his friends died. His family.

She hesitates. “Unless you want to use a tie—”

“I’ll wear it. Give it here,” Levi stands in front of Eve, taking the white cloth and easily tying it around his neck and under his collar, his fingers moving in muscle memory, like he has done this hundreds of times before. Eve watches him the entire time, he meets her eyes. “Your sisters are loud.”

Eve chuckles. “Well, they’re just excited.”

“They just saw you on your sister’s wedding.”

“They love me, Levi. Missing me is part of it.”

“The hell did you even say to them about me?”

“I said that Erwin and I recruited you. And that you’re from the underground city.” Eve smiles. “And I definitely said something about you being humanity’s strongest soldier,” she teases.

“Tch. Make sure to tell them that I hate that fucking title.” Levi finishes with his cravat. “That Quinn girl, she’s in love with Erwin.”

“Practically half my sisters are in love with Erwin,” Eve snorts. “Quinn is the showiest of it, though.”

“Aren’t all your sisters married?”

“Yeah, but they’re not blind. Erwin is attractive and single, you know.”

Levi rolls his eyes. “Do they know that Erwin is in love with you?”

Eve bites her lip, and her silence only answers his question. And he wonders how many of Eve’s sisters are jealous of Eve. At least one of them has to be.

They leave the room together, and find Erwin on his way to them. Erwin looks delighted to see Levi wearing the suit, as well as the cravat. He tells them that the party is already starting, and the three of them enter the open area of the Zackly mansion’s banquet. Above them, Levi can see the stars. There was a table filled with food, and there was some wine being passed around by waiters.

Eve practically grabs Levi and drags him to a group, which seems to be some of her sisters, stepmother, and her father.

Her father.

Levi wanted to stay cool, but he tenses up for some reason. Her other sisters, who seem to be closer to Eve’s age now, turn to the three soldiers.

The tallest among the sisters raise a brow. “Eve.”

“Mina, nice to see you,” Eve says, keeping Levi next to him.

“And Erwin. It’s very nice to see you again,” Mina politely greets.

Erwin offers a gentle smile. “As it is to see you, my lady.”

Wilhelmina’s gaze in Erwin lingers for a moment, almost in suspicion, before she eyes Levi this time. He is slightly uncomfortable under her piercing gaze, but not enough to avert his eyes from her. “And who is this?”

“I want to introduce you all to Levi. Levi, this is my family.”

Eve points to each sister and tells Levi their names. Tatiana is the one with a beauty mark next to her eye, and she wore a colorful suit. And it seems like Ursula is her twin sister, but she doesn’t wear a matching outfit with Tatiana (unlike the set of triplets Levi met earlier). Ursula’s style is darker than her colorful twin, with her deep violet colored outfit. Tatiana’s beauty mark apparently isn’t the only thing that can visually separate the twins from each other.

Xyra is the second eldest of them all, and she has a warm smile. Her unique trait is that she seems to be their father’s favorite, as Levi notices from the way she clings to his arm. Seems like she adores their father very much.

Wilhelmina is the tallest among the sisters, almost the same height as Erwin. Levi has to tilt his head to look at her, which felt a bit humiliating on his part. Her height suits her personality, though, from how calm she is. Her clothes look regal yet simple, and her brown hair is tied into a tight bun at the back of her head. The only skin visible from her is her head, the rest is covered. In a way, she reminds Levi of a female version of Erwin. Calm as the wind, but the tendency of a storm is there. According to Levi’s instincts, he should keep his distance from her.

Valeria is the one with sharp cheekbones and there is a sultry undertone from the way she carries herself. There’s nothing particular about her that Levi can associate her with, like how he associates Wilhelmina as the female version of Erwin. But one thing does catch his attention. Valeria is the one with lint on her dress and a loosened button below her bust. Levi found those to be quite bothersome. He wanted to get rid of the lint so badly, as well as sew the button to keep her appearance in order. Levi decides to not look at her, just to avoid seeing the lint and button.

Eve’s stepmother, who Eve calls by her first name, is an old money woman. Lydia wears jewelry, has her hair tied elegantly and she dresses modestly. The lines by her eyes indicate her age, and her face is kind. Her gaze is sharp though, and Levi is familiar with the aura surrounding her. It was the same look he sees on the faces of underground women who strive to survive in an environment that was so against them. Levi can’t blame her; he doesn’t like being surrounded by too many rich people at once, too.

“This is Levi?” Her father is the first to say something, surveying him from head to toe. “I didn’t realize he was so short, from all the impressive things I’ve heard,” he slightly smiles.

Eve swats his arm playfully. “Papa, let’s not tease Levi about his height. He makes up for it in combat, you know.”

“Can he beat you in a fight?” Tatiana asks, a drink in her hand.

“We never tried.” Eve muses.

“We can try it right now,” Levi deadpans, not wanting to be picked on like this. “You’d be on your ass in less than a second.”

“You sure you’re not talking about yourself, shorty?” She shoots back, playful.

“Oi. I thought you’d stop with this height shit.”

Unexpectedly, most of them just chuckle lightheartedly, and Eve fondly smiles at her family and Levi. Erwin softens as well, feeling glad that he invited Levi here.

“Happy birthday, sir.” Levi tells the commander-in-chief.

“Ah,” the man waves him off. “Let’s talk more, Levi. I want to hear more about your skills in fighting. I heard that you use your gear in such a unique way. Erwin, you too. Come over there. I want to hear all about it.”

“Papa, it’s your birthday,” Xyra says gently. “Can we not talk about military things for now?”

Zackly just huffs out a low laugh. “Since it’s my birthday, I can do what I want.”

All the women (except Wilhelmina) just chuckle, shaking their head at the men before returning to a previous conversation. Eve watches as her dad ushers Erwin and Levi to a different corner to talk business, and she catches Levi’s eye. Eve gives a reassuring glance, and it makes him relax.

Levi has never been to a party before, and he was slightly glad that Erwin stays by his side the entire time while Eve talks to her sisters.

Erwin would introduce Levi to some people, who seem to be part of the military as well, and it seems like a lot of them has heard about Levi before. Levi never realized how popular he is. Even Zackly seems impressed by Levi, from how Erwin talks about him.

Although, when the commander of the MPs recognize Levi, and vice versa, an unsettled feeling sits deep in Levi’s stomach. The commander didn’t say anything to Zackly though, and Levi has no idea why.

To get away for a bit, Levi tells Erwin that he’s going to get them a refill, and before Erwin could ask what was wrong, Levi grabs Erwin’s glass and walks to where the wine was. When he briefly looks behind him, he sees Erwin approaching Wilhelmina, who was originally standing by herself. That leaves Zackly with the commander of the MPs. Well, shit.

Levi steadies his breath, calming himself down. He wishes that the MP commander keeps his mouth shut, he doesn’t want to ruin this fucking party. He’s here to make an impression, and not a negative one. He inhales sharply and grabs a bottle, pouring some into the glasses. Then, he catches sight of a basket filled with fresh fruits. Levi narrows his eyes for a moment as he contemplates abandoning his drinks for the sake of some oranges.

“You alright?”

He turns, only to find one of Eve’s sisters. V… hm… fuck, how the fuck did Levi forget her name so quickly? There’s so fucking many of them, goddammit. Levi can’t keep track of every sister.

He looks down, and sees the loose button and the lint, and he immediately remembers.

“Valeria.” Levi says, as if to keep it in his mind that it’s her name. “Yes. Fine.”

“You look like you’re about to puke.”

“Parties aren’t my scene.” Levi answers truthfully.

“Me, too.”

“Oh, yeah? Then why do you dress like you do?” Levi deadpans. He isn’t stupid. He can tell that Valeria likes parties.

Valeria suppresses a smile. “What’s wrong with my dress?”

Levi sighs, reaching over to take the lint from her clothes, not even caring that he practically had his hand near her chest area. But he was relieved to see the lint gone. “That, and your button is loose.”

She looks down in surprise. “I didn’t notice.”

“Obviously. Or you wouldn’t have worn it.” Levi sips his drink, grabbing the other glass to take to Erwin. “Alright. Bye.”

“Wait,” she says, and Levi turns back at her, slightly irritated.

“What?”

“You’re… the most attractive soldier I’ve ever seen,” she mutters, and her face flushes a bit. Levi knots his brows in confusion. “I was wondering if you’d want to come to my room tonight…”

Levi stares at her, and there is a moment of hesitation in his part. It’s not his first time to be propositioned like this, but it is a first time to be propositioned by someone among the high ranks of society. As far as Levi knows, he’s just an underground rat.

Not only that, but isn’t she married?

“I’m not interested in fucking my superior’s sister. Bye.”

He walks away from Valeria, not letting her say another word, and he returns to Erwin’s side, offering him his glass of wine. As he listens to their conversation, his eyes drift to where Eve was. She had her back turned to him, but he can see her side profile as she speaks to guests while occasionally laughing. Levi can see how happy she is to see her sisters. He notices Narcissa, the youngest among them, clinging to Eve while grinning happily. Like a real child, whose youth was disrupted too soon by an unwanted marriage. Despite that, this family still looks happy.

Seeing Eve this happy, why did Levi ever imagine sleeping with one of her sisters? Why was it kind of tempting to do so?

Was it because he can never have Eve?

The question makes Levi loosen his grip on his glass, making him jerk to keep a firm hold again before he drops it. Erwin looks at him with concern, and Levi just brushes it off. What the hell was he even thinking about? Having Eve? Levi doesn’t even know if he wants Eve, or just hates her so much to the point where fucking her sister might satisfy that hatred.

All these strange thoughts make Levi sip more of his wine. Damn it, none of it is strong enough.

Later, Erwin talks to Levi about returning to HQ tomorrow morning, but something else catches Levi’s eye. Eve is talking to the commander of the military police, and she is laughing at what he is saying. He sees the way her hand grips his arm, and he smiles at her while he talks.

Erwin follows his gaze, and Levi sees the flicker of sadness on his face. “Ah. Commander Roth. He’s been chasing Eve long before I met her. They grew up together. She even said that she knows he likes her.”

“No kidding. And that guy?” He points to the man next to Roth.

“Nile Dok. Captain of the MPs. During our years in the cadet corps, he was also courting Eve. He got rejected early on, though. He’s married now, with two kids. Eve sometimes sends the kids presents.”

“Is there a man in Paradis that isn’t in love with the section commander?” Levi scoffs.

Erwin lightly chuckles. “If you take a look in the mirror, you’ll find one.”

Levi’s eyes follow the way Eve is slightly leaning towards Roth, and he can tell what’s going on. Even Erwin can sense it, and it makes him look away. The action only reminds Levi that Erwin is still deeply in love with Eve, despite the fact that they’ve ‘broken up’.

“You good?” Levi asks his captain.

“Just fine, Levi.” Erwin pats Levi’s shoulder, smiling even though the pain in his eyes is obvious.

As much as Levi knows that it was Erwin’s own fault how he and Eve aren’t together, he still feels sorry for the man, and he feels slightly angry at Eve. An irrational feeling, because holy fuck, when did Levi become so protective and concerned over Erwin?

Levi frowns at Erwin. “You’ve never done anything with Eve before?”

The question catches Erwin off guard. “What do you mean?”

“You’ve never slept with Eve? In the decade you’ve known each other?”

Levi watches as Erwin frowns, but the tint on his cheeks hint beyond wine. “Levi, I’ve never even kissed Eve.”

“Fucking hell, Erwin. No wonder you’re not together. You never initiated shit.” Levi sighs, shaking his head at him.

Erwin’s brows knot, like he also regrets not making an actual move, despite obviously liking her.

Levi hesitantly looks at Erwin. “Is there really no one other than Eve?”

It was surprising to see Erwin appear to be contemplating the question. That would mean that he could be considering someone else, and it made Levi a bit curious.

However, at the end, Erwin sighs. “Excuse me.” Erwin leaves to find more food, and just when Erwin walks away, Eve turns to meet Levi’s eyes for a brief moment before she watches Erwin walk away. There is an unreadable expression on her face just before she looks back at Roth with a smile.

Levi glares at the back of her head. So, that’s how it is? Why would she care about Erwin’s reaction to her flirting with someone else? For some reason, it makes Levi a bit angry.

Angry enough to go follow Erwin and look for another refill for his glass.

The party ends half an hour later, and everyone goes home. Levi looks for Eve, and he finds her talking to her father, with a serious expression on her face.

Later, Erwin, Levi and Eve stay at the mansion, since they leave for Trost in the morning. Levi ignores the way Valeria tries to catch his attention by discreetly waving at him, and he simply stays beside Erwin until they reach their adjacent guest rooms.

As Levi removes his coat, the door opens, and Eve enters the room. She closes the door by pushing it with her back, giving Levi a frown.

He glances at her. “What is it?”

“Finally told my father that Erwin and I are not getting married. He was relieved.”

“Isn’t that a good thing?”

Eve goes to sit on the bed, sighing. “He’s glad because I don’t have to split the money I’ll be inheriting from him.”

“Again. That’s a good thing, right?”

“No, because it’s making me think that maybe Hange is right with their theory. What if my stepmother actually wants me dead so my other sisters get a bigger cut?”

Damn it, four eyes. Ruining my night from a hundred miles away. “Don’t fucking listen to Hange of all people.” Levi scoffs. “Why would your stepmother want more money if she already married off your sisters to rich men?”

Eve’s shoulders sag. “You have a point… Walls, I’m so glad you’re here.”

They stay quiet for a moment, and he removes his cravat. “Why was I really invited here, Eve?” He mumbles.

Eve shrugs. “I want people to meet you. Humanity’s strongest soldier.” She says, and Levi rolls his eyes. “It’s not satire, Levi. It’s the truth. You really are the strongest among us all, and I want people to remember you. Especially my father,” she smiles, and Levi slows down his movement. “He said it himself, you know. Papa has never met anyone quite like you. Even when Roth told him who you used to be, it didn’t sway him. I think he saw something special in you. The same thing Erwin and I can see.” Eve gives him a soft smile. “You’ll make a huge impact to the Survey Corps someday, Levi. I just know it.”

“…Tch… what the hell am I supposed to say to that?” Levi says, uncomfortable with the amount of praise thrown his way.

Eve just laughs. “You can say thank you?”

“…Thank you. Brat.”

“That’s fair enough.”

They stay silent, and Eve smiles towards the carpet, deep in thought. Levi contemplates telling the truth, and eventually decides just that.

“Your sister. Valeria. She asked me to sleep with her tonight.”

Eve turns to him with wide horrified eyes. “What?”

Levi rubs his forehead. “She approached me and said that I should swing by her room after the party. That means sex, right?”

Eve gapes, averting her eyes in shock. “I… I can’t believe—what the fuck? What did you say to her?”

“Oi. I rejected her because I don’t want you to fucking yell, so don’t yell at me, brat.” Levi glares. “I said I don’t fuck my superiors’ sisters, and I walked away. That’s it. Trust me, I was as shocked as you are.”

“I can’t believe her!” She groans, palming her face. “I am so sorry, Levi. Fuck, that must’ve been so uncomfortable for you. I’m sorry on her behalf. Fuck!”

Levi watches as she stands up and starts to march towards the door, likely to give her sister a piece of her mind, but Levi just grabs her wrist. “Oi, stop. It’s fine. I’ve been through worse shit than a friend’s sister offering sex. Fucking relax.”

Eve still frowns with concern. “You shouldn’t be experiencing that from my family, Levi. I invited you here so that my family would know you. Because you’ve become a real friend to me, yeah? My sister shouldn’t be asking you to sleep with them, that’s just disrespectful towards you and everything you do for the scouts. And I need Valeria to—”

“Oi! It’s fine. Really. I’m not offended if that’s what you’re thinking. Cut it out,” Levi frowns. “Don’t fight with your sister on your dad’s birthday. Not because of me.”

Eve relaxes, and it only occurs to Levi that he is now holding her by her shoulders, and their heads are close to one another. The sudden realization makes him release her and take a step back. The wine is certainly late in kicking in.

“Would you have said yes to Valeria if you and I weren’t as close as we are?” Eve asks quietly.

“No. I don’t mess with married people. Unfair for both sides.” Levi admits. He may not be a people person, but even he knows when to draw a fucking line.

“Good. Because I don’t want to imagine you as a brother-in-law.”

Levi scrunches his nose. “I can do sex, not fucking weddings.”

Eve finally chuckles, shaking her head. “Are you going to be alright here tonight?” Levi nods, and she mirrors it. “Okay. Goodnight, Levi. I’ll see you in the morning.”

“Wait,” Levi finds himself saying, and she stops by the closed door. “About Dr. Jaeger’s son…”

“Yeah?”

“Why do you really like kids, Eve?”

Eve softens, realizing that Levi is still thinking of their conversation earlier. She opts to tell the truth anyway. “I really like meeting people as children. They’re always so free, and you’d feel them thinking that they know everything. It’s refreshing. And once they grow up, all of that just disappears, Levi. So while they’re still kids, you’d feel the need to preserve their childhood, and everything that makes them so innocent. You’d want to shield them from the horrors you see every day,” she offers a weak smile. “In a few years, all the children that I know will become young adults. I’d like to remember them as their younger form. To remind myself that they were once free as anyone can be.”

Levi listens to her every word, and feels his own lips part from her answer. Eve never fails to surprise him. From her tendencies in enjoying making people squirm, her genius in both medicine and leadership, her dream to witness the sea, her love for children. Eve always manages to catch Levi off guard.

“You know, this birthday party reminds me that someone still needs to find out when he was born,” Eve teases. “How about we discuss this when we get home tomorrow, hm?”

Levi just nods, not trusting himself to speak after what Eve just said to him about children, painting brats in a completely different light to Levi. Not to say he wants kids, but goddamn, he might be nicer to the next brat he sees.

Eve gives him a final smile, and leaves the room. Levi finds himself sitting on the bed, thinking of all the things she said to him.

They couldn’t return to HQ the next morning, only because of the heavy rain. Erwin says they might need to stay for a few days, because riding the carriage in the after-rain mud was not ideal.

Levi hates it because he didn’t bring clothes for shit like this. Not that he had much, but still. He only brought his uniform for when they go back to Trost.

He showers in the guest room bathroom, relaxed to finally shower in a private room. With hot water, too. Shit, he would give anything to be able to live in this fucking guest room.

He finishes showering and dries himself off before stepping back inside the room, where surprisingly, there is a set of neatly folded clothes laying on the bed, and a note on top of it.

Asked the maid to deliver these to you. Wear them. Meet me in the hallway. -ES

Levi scoffs, tossing the note to the bed as he touches the cotton soft clothes. They seem comfortable, so Levi puts them on, and is instantly astonished by how comfortable the material was. He is mildly creeped out by how Erwin seems to know his taste in casual clothing. Levi brings the white sweater to his nose, inhaling the scent of new clothes.

He meets Erwin in the hallway, like he says, and the captain immediately skips the greeting and goes straight into talking about Eve’s family history. Erwin tells Levi that Zackly’s hobbies include creating machinery, and that hobby was passed to Eve, evident from her idea of a heart rate monitor. He talks about how Eve’s mother died from an illness, and how Zackly remarried years later, and that woman divorced him, and he got married to his current wife now.

Erwin mentions how Eve is the only child from Zackly’s first wife, which is why she looks a different from her other sisters. People say that she looks more like her mother, than Zackly.

Erwin leads Levi to the dining area, where a long table accommodates the Zackly daughters. The commander in chief seems pleased to see all twelve daughters all in one place again, bickering with one another like they usually do.

When Erwin and Levi enter the room, Eve is in the middle of chatting with Narcissa, who giggles at what Eve says. Erwin leads Levi to sit between him and Narcissa, and to Levi’s dismay, he was directly in front of Valeria, who is still making eyes at him.

Unbelievable. Erwin was right next to Levi and Valeria decides to stare at him of all people? Levi ignores it and greets the ones who smile at him a good morning. Narcissa flashes him a kind smile.

“Hello, mister. You should try this!” Narcissa grabs a plate of… Levi has no idea what, and hands it to him. “Please, eat what you like! Oh, and Eve said you like tea. I actually grow my tea leaves myself, I think you’ll like them very much.”

Levi softens at her kindness. Even Levi isn’t immune to a child’s warmth. He thanks her, promising to visit the gardens with her so she could pick out tea leaves for him. Eve watches the interaction with a smile before she continues to eat.

Unexpectedly, Eve’s stepmother is actually nice. She would tell Levi and Erwin about childhood stories of the youngest girls, to which they all groan in humiliation of. It was strange to witness, since Levi knows that their stepmother is the reason why they were all married at such a young age.

Somehow, Levi gets along with Eve’s sisters very well. Only the youngest ones, whom Levi met before the party. The triplets even played a joke on Levi by trying to make him guess which is which, and he obliged while playing along by guessing wrong, even though he knows the correct answers. It was easy to tell them apart, which somehow Eve doesn’t believe when Levi says it.

Levi doesn’t really know how to talk to Eve’s other sisters, the ones closer to his age. Valeria wants to fuck him. The twins, Tatiana and Ursula, don’t really care much about him. Wilhelmina looks suspicious of him, and dares not to approach. Xyra is too friendly and gentle, that Levi is kind of worried she won’t be able to handle his crassness. Levi never holds back sometimes.

“So, Eve.” Lydia begins. “Are you and Erwin truly not going to get married?”

Eve chokes on her drink, while Erwin widens his eyes. Levi glances at the other sisters, seeing them look amused but not in a malicious way. More like in a sibling way, who enjoys seeing their sister suffer. Levi can even hear the triplets giggling.

Zackly sighs. “We discussed this already. The marriage was canceled.”

“But Erwin here personally asked for her hand,” Lydia looks disappointed. “He has made an effort for the past decade for Eve. Don’t you think it’s time for them to settle down?”

“Life isn’t just about settling down,” Eve tells the whole table of her family. Levi glances at her, seeing the way she grips her glass even though her voice is calm.

“Such a shame you wasted a proposal,” Lydia sighs. “Erwin is a fine gentleman who has admired you for years.”

Erwin chuckles with discomfort. “I’m flattered, but the decision was mutual. Neither of us think we are ready to handle a marriage while also handling military defenses. We decided that it is best to go our separate ways, while maintaining the friendship we founded many years ago.”

Levi is impressed. The lies from Erwin’s mouth feels like the genuine truth.

“Wait, it’s true?” Quinn gapes. “The two of you broke up?! I thought the marriage was just postponed!”

The table then goes to an indistinct chatter of surprise. Only Zackly, Wilhelmina, Levi and Erwin were silent.

Zackly rubs his forehead, which tells Levi that this isn’t the first time chaos broke during mealtimes. “Enough!” His voice booms through the room, and it all goes silent. Levi hears various girls slumping back into their seats with a pout. Zackly sighs. “What Eve decides for herself is up to her. Who gives a damn that they broke up? Eve chooses when and to whom she will get married to. Is that clear?”

There was a chorus of pouty ‘yes, father’ and ‘sorry, father’ across the room, and Zackly nods before they all continue to eat.

Eve looks at her father, despite the stoic expression on his face. She gives him a soft look, mouthing ‘thank you’ towards him. Zackly’s face remains unchanged, all except the quick and subtle way one of his eyes wink down at her before he looks at his wife. Lydia doesn’t look too pleased by what just transpired.

It seems that they all view Erwin as a wasted addition to their family.

After breakfast, Levi finds himself in the living room with Eve’s youngest sisters, and they teach him an interesting game called chess. He listens intently at the rules, concentrating very hard.

From a distance, Eve observes with a smile, and Erwin approached her before offering a cup of tea to her.

“What do you think of making Levi a squad leader?” Eve asks, and Erwin looks briefly surprised.

“Considering the latest expedition, is he ready for that?”

“If he can tame my wildest set of sisters, I’m sure he can handle some squad members,” Eve gives him a chuckle. “And besides, I think my dad has his approval. A promotion should be in order, don’t you think?”

“Why not start small? Take him in as an assistant.”

“Eh, I don’t want him working under me.” Eve sighs. “I like being friends with him. I can’t be his boss.”

“Technically, as section commander, you are his boss.”

Eve sends him a playful glare. “He can’t directly work under me. You know he’s a good choice as squad leader. He’ll be a great addition to the chain of command.” Eve says. “And one day, you could be commander. Levi can become your captain.”

Erwin gives a frown and smile. “Eve, you’re the next appointed commander, according to the chain of command. Not me.”

Eve huffs. “I’m happy where I am. And like hell I’ll allow you to become section commander. Hange will replace me, no one else. And we both know that Sadies will pick you, not me,” she turns to him. “You can make Levi your captain. You two need each other.”

“Eve…”

“No, listen, with you as commander, me as the section commander, and Levi as captain, the scout regiment will be stronger than before. We can achieve everything. Even that dream of yours,” she softly smiles, and Erwin looks astonished. “Commander Smith.”

The title gives him chills, but he hides it with an amused huff.

Somehow, Levi and Narcissa are the only ones left in the living room, and they’re playing chess while the rain gets stronger outside. The fireplace nearby warmed them enough to be comfortable.

As they play, Narcissa talks to him about how she missed Eve’s cooking, and Levi listens to her. It still feels weird that this child is married to someone older than Levi. Makes him fucking uncomfortable.

As Levi moves his rook, analyzing the board with his eyes, he can feel Narcissa peering at him through her lashes. Levi sighs. “What is it, brat? What do you have to say to me?”

Narcissa blinks, and immediately looks back at the board. “I-It’s nothing.”

“Spit it out, or I’ll flip the board and no one wins.”

She hesitates, and she talks slowly, really testing Levi’s patience. “You’re investigating Vonnie’s case with Erwin… right? With the poison?”

He is taken aback. “What?”

“I overheard Erwin and papa discussing it,” she sheepishly says, her shoulders caving in around her. “They said that the case isn’t publicly reopened, but you’re investigating anyway.

Levi tries to figure out how to handle this situation, unsure how to talk about this with a sixteen-year-old. He has a feeling that she’s smarter than she looks.

“I think I can help…” she softly says.

“Help how?”

“I-I know who did it,” she averts her eyes.

Levi’s hands freeze, hovering over the chessboard. He looks at Narcissa, who lowers her head at the confession. “Who do you think did it?” She hesitates, but she lifts herself on her feet, leaning over to cup a hand near Levi’s ear to whisper.

Words that bring chills down his body. She pulls back and returns to her seat while calmly making her next move.

Levi swallows tightly, staring at the young girl. What Hange wouldn’t give to hear this right now. “You got any proof?”

She sheepishly smiles, shaking her head.

“It’s a dangerous accusation. Why do you think that?” Levi tries to calmly make his own piece move.

“I accidentally eavesdropped on a conversation with a man about a seller of poison from the underground city.” She moves her horse, like she didn’t just drop a fucking bomb on Levi. “There’s a doctor in Shiganshina that used to brew poison, mostly for rats and pests as a side business back then. He stopped selling around a decade ago when his clinic was starting to be more successful.”

“And?”

“I think the poison used for Eve was copied from the doctor, without the doctor realizing that it’s being resold in the underground. Dr. Jaeger is a good man, though, he always screened whoever bought poison from him back then. Now, he just exclusively makes it for Vonnie for her… weird poison tolerance thing.”

“Why would the killer use the poison if they knew that Eve would survive?” Levi frowns.

“That’s the thing,” Narcissa raises a finger. “By the time of the poisoning, only father and Dr. Jaeger knew about Vonnie’s poison tolerance. It’s been their secret ever since she was my age. Not even Erwin knew, and they all thought it was a miracle that she was alive. Turns out, she just had a high tolerance. No one else would’ve survived.”

“Yeah, speaking of Erwin, why are you telling me this instead of him, huh?”

She purses her lips. “You arrived around a year after the incident. You couldn’t have been the soldier who poisoned Vonnie. Everyone else are possible suspects, so… I couldn’t trust anyone. Not even Erwin.”

“But it’s Erwin. You know he’s in love with your sister, right?” Levi frowns at her distrust of Erwin, but he guesses that when it comes to a sibling you love, nothing and no one else mattered.

“I know… but I trusted my gut. I-I thought you were scary at first, but… I have a good feeling about you,” she trails off with a quiet voice, and the view of her reminds him of Isabel when he first met her.

Levi softens. “I can’t do anything without proof.”

She lifts her head, eyes wide with determination. “You believe me?!”

“Sure, I don’t think you’re making this shit up, but I can’t do anything without—”

He is cut off by Narcissa’s arms wrapping around him for a hug as she giggles in relief, the chess pieces jumping from the movement. “I thought you would think of me insane! Will you promise you’ll look into it? I’ll help!”

From the last words, Levi pulls himself together and pushes her away. “No. You won’t do anything. You’re going to stay put and act like you don’t know shit. That’s how you’ll help me.”

She pouts but sits back down. “Okay.”

“Now, do you remember the name of the man they talked to? Any description at all?”

“I didn’t see their face… but it was definitely a man. I could just hear his voice. It was rough, like he’s old? He kept coughing, too. I think he was wearing a hat.”

“That’s… actually very helpful,” Levi takes mental notes. “And where did you hear this conversation?”

“In the balcony. It was night, and I couldn’t sleep so I went to go stargazing. I… heard them instead. They were plotting to poison someone, but I didn’t know who. I-If I did, I would’ve said something, but I was so scared of what might happen,” she whimpers. “I just never expected Vonnie to be the target…”

Levi falters, seeing the wave of regret across the young girl’s face. “Oi. We’ll fix this. Stop crying. You’re winning the game, I think,” he nods at the chessboard.

She lets out a little giggle, wiping her tears as she nods.

He forms a hesitant smile, unsure how to comfort her other than continue the game. “Thank you, Narcissa.”

“My name is way too long! You can call me Izzy instead!”

Levi feels an ache in his chest. He gives her a nod and continues to play the game with her.

Narcissa wins, but says that Levi isn’t so bad for his first time. They part once the rain stops, and Levi immediately goes looking for Erwin.

As he turns a corner, he almost curses and spins back around, but he was spotted. “Levi!”

He grits his teeth, but faces her. “Valeria.”

She walks up to him, a faint blush across her cheeks. “I… wanted to apologize about last night. I was carried away by alcohol, and made a complete fool out of myself. I’m so sorry.”

“…Oh. Well… apology accepted, I guess. Just don’t go around asking people to sleep with you. Especially people who work for your sister. It’s fucked up.”

Valeria turns a little sour at the mention of Eve. “Yeah. Perfect Eve always gets surrounded by the perfect men,” she chuckles as a joke, but the bitterness in her tone is there. “See you around, Levi.”

Levi says nothing, but once Valeria walks past him, he asks, “You seen Erwin anywhere?”

Valeria looks over her shoulder. “He’s probably inside Eve’s room. Down the hall, to the left.” With that, she walks away, which is good because Levi wasn’t going to thank her.

Levi follows the directions and knocks on the door, and Eve opens it, grinning. “Hey, you! We were just going to come get you. So, who won?”

“Your sister did. Easily.” Levi walks in, and sees Erwin eating a sandwich by the window.

Eve’s bedroom is neat, and very simple. Everything was cream colored, and it looks like she has a thing for yellow.

“You know, Narcissa is a chess genius. The fact that your game took an hour, kind of impresses me. Apple?” Eve offers him the fruit, and Levi wordlessly takes it. Eve starts talking his ear off, but his gaze goes to Erwin, who seems distracted by something outside the window.

The rain stopped earlier, but the gloomy weather was still present. Levi faintly catches Eve saying something about waiting until the mud hardens before they go back to HQ.

As Levi walks around Eve’s room, observing the various paintings around, he realizes that Eve must love art, even though she doesn’t have the talent for it like she says. Although, he catches sight of an instrument at the corner of the room.

“Do you play?” Levi nods at the case, and Erwin turns to give his attention to them.

Eve was writing a letter when Levi asked, and she looks at him. “Oh, well, yes. But it’s been years, so I’ll probably be rusty.”

“Is it a guitar? It looks too small.”

“It’s a violin, Levi.”

“The hell is a violin?”

“It’s actually a pretty new instrument when I first learned it. That one belonged to my mother.” Eve tells him, walking over to open the case. “See? It looks different from a guitar. You kind of glide this bow against the strings instead of strumming them.”

“And that makes good music?” Levi looks doubtful, since he was used to strumming.

“Yeah! I’ll show you one day,” Eve chuckles. “If you’re lucky.”

Levi is thinking of ways to get Erwin alone, and he crosses his arms. “You know, Narcissa told me that she missed your cooking. Don’t you want to cook something for her before we go tomorrow?”

“Oh, you’re right!” Eve shots up in alert. “You two should come, but I would suggest exploring my house a bit more. We won’t be back here for a long time,” she chuckles before leaving the room.

Erwin and Levi are left alone in Eve’s childhood bedroom, and Levi sighs a bit. “Erwin, there’s something I need to tell you.”

“Did she tell you who the culprit is?”

Levi freezes. “What?” It takes a moment for Erwin’s words to register. “Wait, you knew?”

Erwin shakes his head, looking back at Levi before letting out a sigh of relief as he sits down on a chair. “I’ve known for a while that Narcissa knew something, but she never disclosed anything to anybody. Not even her sister. She didn’t trust anyone.”

“So, you brought me here to fucking coax it out of her, is that it?” Levi couldn’t help the venom in his tone. He got invited here not because of Erwin’s friendship, but because of his plan?

“It was a gamble on my part, I… I had several doubts that it would work, but I still tried.” Erwin nods. “I knew that she would trust you the same way Eve and I do.”

“What the fuck was the point of our investigations for the past few weeks, huh?” Levi hisses. “Our lead was right here in Mitras and you didn’t think of telling me?”

“Telling you would compromise the plan. You gravitated towards Narcissa, and that was out of my control.”

“Yeah, because she fucking reminds me of Isabel!” Levi accidentally blurts out, and Erwin remains unfazed. Levi scoffs. “But you knew that, didn’t you? You’re fucking evil, Erwin.”

“I did what I needed to do,” the captain firmly speaks as he approaches Levi, “And we got what we wanted. So, tell me, who is it? Who dared to make an attempt on Eve’s life? What did Narcissa say?”

There is an air around Erwin, almost in a quiet fit of rage. As if he was ready to rain hell down on whoever tried to kill Eve. If Levi was a lesser man, he might’ve shrunk from how intimidating Erwin appears right now as he looms over Levi.

Levi controls his breathing first, frustrated over how he played right into Erwin’s hands. If he knew what the plan was, he would’ve been alright, but Erwin just had to keep him in the dark. Fucking bastard.

He repeats what Narcissa said to him, and Erwin softens, an unreadable glint appears across his face.

“So, what do we do now?”

“We go back to HQ and pretend like nothing happened. From Narcissa’s description of who the man is, I have a few suspects in mind.” Erwin leans back into his seat, looking quite stressed. “We can finally put this behind us.”

“Fuck that,” Levi frowns. “This will ruin Eve.”

Erwin nods, looking quite grim. “We mustn’t tell Eve anything just yet. This stays between us.”

Levi doesn’t feel too comfortable over keeping Eve in the dark either, but he’s deciding to trust Erwin’s judgement for now.

Later that night, Levi couldn’t sleep. Just thinking about the possible suspect is making him feel sick. He ended up cleaning the whole guest room within an inch of its life, until not a speck of dust can be found anywhere. The Zackly household maids was so incompetent. Levi keeps his mind focused on cleaning.

Even after doing all of that, he still couldn’t find himself being tired enough to sleep, so he leaves the room and tries to guess where the balcony was, where the alleged conversation took place.

When he reaches it, the balcony wasn’t empty. He recognizes the neatly tied brown hair from behind. The young woman turns around, and she is holding a small portrait. It was too dim in the balcony for Levi to make out who the person was in the portrait.

“Sir Levi.” Wilhelmina calmly greets, placing the portrait inside her pocket.

“Just Levi is fine.”

“Then, if I am allowed to call you by your first name, you may call me Mina,” she turns back to the view.

“I don’t have a surname anyway.” Levi waves it off. “I won’t bother you. Goodnight.”

Mina doesn’t feel judgmental, and she only gives him a brief glance. She has an air of elegance surrounding her, and her height compared to Levi makes him feel less dangerous in a way.

“I’ll be frank with you, Levi. I don’t trust you around my sister.” Mina says, keeping her eyes forward. Her words stop Levi from walking away.

Levi frowns. “I haven’t done shit.”

“You should be more careful with you gaze. A single look can give everything away,” her voice is soft yet determined. “You’ll never know who would be observing you,” Mina gives him a look. “You’ll never know who will see the way you look at Yvonne.”

“Don’t know what you’re talking about.” Levi wants to leave, but doing so would only admit defeat.

“We both know that you do, so heed my advice, Levi. Keep your distance from Eve, if you have ill intentions towards her. I may not look the part, but I can have you smothered in your sleep if I ever find out that you hurt her.”

For some reason, her tone sends an unwanted chill down his spine. Levi doesn’t scare easily, but there is something about Mina that tells Levi not to fuck with her.

“Noted.”

Mina stays quiet for a moment. “If my intuition is right, and you actually care about her, make sure she doesn’t do anything stupid. That girl can be reckless at times. It could get her killed,” she speaks about Eve as if she is the younger sister. “I can tell that you are close to her in a different way than Erwin. You seem like the type who wouldn’t tolerate her dangerous antics, unlike the captain,” whenever Mina says the captain’s name, her tone is slightly venomous. She sounds very protective over Eve, it almost makes Levi wonder if this is how he sounds like whenever he semi-threatened other people to be nice to Isabel or Furlan.

Levi has no idea what to respond with. Instead, he looks up to see the night sky, remembering how Isabel and Furlan would point out how different it is from the underground city’s ceiling.

While he observes the sky, Mina must have glanced at him and her eyes soften.

“Eve really admires you. She talks about you all the time, and how proud she is of who you’ve become.” Mina holds their gaze. “After what happened to her, which I assume you already know about, she found it difficult to trust anyone. There must be something special about you, and I’ll trust her judgement, so…” she turns to him, crossing her arms. “I’ll offer you a deal. I’m willing to grant you any favors, so long as you watch over her.”

Levi frowns. “Any favors? The hell does that mean?”

“It means, I can make anything happen. I have various connections across Paradis. Whatever you’d ask for, I’ll accomplish it for you. As long as you watch over my sister. I won’t ask for information, or government secrets. I just want my sister alive, no matter the cost. Do we have a deal?” Mina raises a brow.

“I don’t need a fucking favor in exchange of me protecting your sister,” he scrunches his nose. “I’ll watch over her even without a fucking incentive.”

Somehow, Mina relaxes. Was that a test? And if it was, did Levi pass?

“If you feel uncomfortable, then I won’t force you,” she makes her way to the door, and before she walks past him, she continues talking. “Just know, that if you need someone to do something for you, legal or otherwise, you’ll know where to find me. I can trust that you’ll watch over Yvonne anyway. Think of this as my way of showing appreciation.”

Levi says nothing in reply, and only listens as Mina walks away. “Who the hell are you?”

Mina stops in her tracks, and they both turn to look at one another. For the first time since Levi has known her, Mina offers a small smile without her eyes. Not a particularly warm one, but one that he finds on Eve sometimes. A smile that obviously hides a true agenda. Although, not a hostile one.

“I’m just a wife of a nobleman,” her answer is suspiciously innocent. “Goodnight, Levi.”

She leaves, and Levi remains in his place. He turns to look at the night sky again, and waits for the sun to come up. The Zackly sisters are all a bunch of fucking weirdos.

Chapter Text

Eve’s youngest sisters were the most affectionate, to Levi’s half-dismay. The six youngest sisters embraced Levi, smothering him enough to tint the tips of his ears. He has never experienced an affectionate family before. Physical affection makes Levi a bit uncomfortable.

Erwin on the other hand, embraces each of the girls, promising to visit next time. Most of them are empty promises of reassurance. The Scout Regiment is a busy military unit. Levi doubts Erwin can visit in the near future.

Valeria was eyeing Levi the entire time, and Eve narrows her own eyes at her sister. Both actions go unnoticed for Levi as he faces Narcissa.

The youngest girl hands Levi a box of tea leaves with a unique scent, and one other thing that nearly brought Levi to breaking his usual cold demeanor.

It was a ceramic mug, with the words, Humanity’s Strongest Soldier! painted across it, with a black horse chess piece next to it.

The gesture was one thing that Levi grew a bit emotional over. He hates how fucking easy it is for him to be so touched over something so mundane as a mug, and manages to hide it by saying a stiff thank you, and awkwardly ruffling her hair. Narcissa just giggles at the gesture, reminding him that he should use it every day. Levi says he will, but he probably won’t. It definitely deserves to be just put on display, he can’t fuck up this gift.

They reach HQ by the end of the afternoon, and Levi’s ass was numb from sitting. For the next few weeks, he lets Erwin take the reigns in investigating this case, it seems like Erwin knows way more than Levi, and Levi trusts that Erwin will ask for help if he truly needs it.

Levi’s routine goes smoothly again. Training in the morning, spending the afternoon in Erwin’s office to discuss everything and nothing, and ending the day in the laboratory, where he listens to Hange talk about a new invention or a sketch of possible weapons against titans. Sometimes, he would go to Eve’s office to help her with things she asks for. Other than that, he barely sees Eve around from how busy she seems.

During the next few weeks, Levi begins to notice something.

Some female cadets would stare at him while he sits in the cafeteria, eating alone while reading the book that Eve gave him. The book that Furlan used to read to him. Levi only reads it now so he wouldn’t forget his voice.

The cadets would linger their gazes on him, like he’s some fucking piece of meat. It reminds Levi that he hasn’t slept with anyone ever since joining the damn scouts. The last time he had sex was months before he even left the underground. Not that Levi can’t find someone to fuck, it’s mostly because he had no time to meet other people in that way. And there’s no fucking way he would ever resort to a whorehouse. Over his dead fucking body.

He can’t say that he isn’t frustrated out of his mind, though. Maybe a good fuck will fix him temporarily.

And that is exactly what he gets up to one night. He lets one of the female cadets talk his ear off before he cuts to the chase and tells her that he just wants to fuck. She flushed at his blunt words, but eagerly follows Levi to his empty quarters. As usual, Levi’s roommate is drunk somewhere with his own friends.

Levi doesn’t kiss the woman, but he fucks her until she couldn’t even make a coherent sentence anymore except for the occasional shout of his name.

After they were done, Levi tosses her clothes back to her and tells her to leave. She seems to get the picture, and doesn’t really mind. Levi can’t even remember her name, and can’t be bothered to as he quickly cleans himself up and goes to sleep, with the intention of changing the sheets first thing tomorrow.

As he sleeps, he realizes that even when the sex relieves him for only a fleeting moment, he grits his teeth when his mind begins to wonder if things would be different if the woman he was with tonight was actually Eve.

The monthly examination comes, and before every test was done, Eve continues with the usual questions while writing something down on Levi’s record.

“Have you drunk alcohol this month?”

“No.”

“Any drugs I should know?”

“No.”

“Do you have trouble sleeping?”

“No.”

“Do you have trouble breathing?”

“No.”

“Are you sexually active?”

“Yes.”

Suddenly, the lead on Eve’s pencil snaps. The sound of it cuts through the air around them, and it feels like it echoes in their ears. Eve lifts her gaze from the paper, looking at Levi with parted lips.

“Can you… can you repeat that? I think I misheard.” She clears her throat.

Levi blinks nonchalantly, but her reaction to his unhesitant answer makes his chest tighten. What’s it to her? “Yeah, I’m sexually active.”

Eve nods. She looks back at the paper. “Do you, um… have poor eyesight?” She asks while looking for a new pencil.

“No.”

“Any tattoos?” She keeps her eyes on the papers, writing with her new pencil.

“No.”

“Piercings?”

“No.”

“Okay,” she inserts the paper into Levi’s records, which was growing thicker and thicker as months pass by. As thick as the air is getting around them.

Eve tells him to step on the weighing scale, and she measures his weight and height. Apparently, Levi has put on some weight. That makes him a little glad. It was always the other way around when he was still back in that shithole.

When it was time to measure his blood pressure, Levi notices that she is slightly more aggressive with it. He frowns when she wraps a cloth around his upper arm, tying a ribbon before pulling it tightly around his limb, tight enough to make him briefly grimace and that’s already saying a lot.

“Too tight?” Eve asks, and her tone is a bit… empty.

“I can handle it.” Levi mutters, keeping himself expressionless.

She says nothing, and only stares at the blood pressure reading. Then, she writes it down. She measures his heart rate, and her movements aren’t as careful as she does before. Her touch on his chest as she tapes a wire into him wasn’t as gentle as before. It makes him knot his brows at her, but makes his body tense and firm so he wouldn’t be pushed around by her strength.

Sometimes, Eve just doesn’t know her own strength. Although, during the previous medical exams, Levi didn’t need to harden his body just so he wouldn’t be moved unnecessarily. He could relax and remain unmoved. Eve was just that gentle with him.

After Eve examines his teeth, she doesn’t teasingly comment on how perfect they are anymore as she usually does. She remains quiet, and just writes down anything. As she sits on her chair across the desk from Levi, she sighs, putting her pen down. Levi watches her reach for something in her drawer, and it was a few silver square packets and a small bottle. She places them on the desk before giving him a pointed look.

Levi eyes the unfamiliar items before glancing at her. “What’s that?”

“They’re condoms. Made in Mitras actually, the best of the best. One of the doctors in the academy developed them. Dr. Jaeger proposed the idea, though.” Eve tells him, folding her fingers together and resting them on the table, a stance that tells Levi she isn’t amused at all. “It’s for sex.”

And the air grows thicker.

Levi blinks. “Pills for me to get it up?”

“No. A piece of rubber that can prevent you from getting anyone pregnant.”

“Rubber? What, I wrap it around my dick or something?”

“Essentially, yes. Not only that, but you don’t need to worry about diseases from strangers.” Eve takes her pen and the familiar notebook to write something down. “And I don’t want to find out that a female scout is pregnant.”

“I’m not that careless.”

“I know. This just ensures that even more.” Eve gestures towards the packets with her pen.

“And the bottle?”

“Oil. In the case I’m assuming wrong, and you’re not just attracted to women. It’s less painful. Spit isn’t recommended.”

Silence, and Levi just stares back at her while she writes down on her notebook.

“Thanks.”

“No problem.” Eve mutters, still focused on her writing.

“Tch. You’re not even going to ask who it is?” Levi blurts out, before he could rethink what he said.

“I don’t have to. I know who it is. There’s only one other scout who’s sexually active this month. And considering how you rarely leave the premises of headquarters, I doubt that you’re seeing someone from the city,” her tone is casual, like she’s talking about the weather as she continues to write. “I even gave her the same things to keep herself safe.”

Levi clenches his jaw, unsure what to reply to that. Was this what she was thinking about while being silent earlier? She decided to go all detective shit on Levi’s sex life?

He simply reaches over and takes the packets and bottle before getting up. As he makes his way to the door, she speaks.

“If you need more of those, just come to me. I have a lot, and I give them to patients so they keep themselves safe.” Eve informs with her usual calm tone.

Levi doesn’t turn back to look at her, and just leaves the office.

Once Eve is alone, she slams her pencil down on the table and grips the arms of her chair. Not out of anger, or jealousy (maybe), but out of complete frustration.

The weeks continue, with Levi’s normal routine. And for some reason, he continues to sleep with the female cadet he had been sleeping with, using the things that Eve gave—which were surprisingly effective and less messy.

Although, he gets to see Eve less and less as days pass by. Whenever Levi isn’t around Erwin, the captain would be with Eve since they were all preparing for the next expedition. As captain and the only section commander during her time, they were both with Sadies the entire time.

This day was different, though. Everything was normal, and Levi felt a bit stupid not picking up the subtle signs of Eve actually losing her goddamn mind.

On the way to Erwin’s office, he sees Eve unlocking the door, for some reason. She slips inside, not particularly stealthy on her part, since Levi manages to catch her.

“What are you looking for?”

Eve flinches back at the voice, sharply turning to see Levi by the door with his arms crossed. How the hell did he manage to sneak up to her? She would’ve heard the door.

She stares at him in horror as Levi calmly closes the door behind him. “Levi? What the hell are you doing here?”

“In case you didn’t notice, I live in this building. I saw you walk in,” he frowns. “Why are you in the captain’s office?”

Eve knows there isn’t a point in lying to him. “He’s hiding something from me. I can feel it.”

“You can feel it.” His tone is unimpressed, and Eve turns back to the shelf of documents that Erwin keeps in store. Levi can feel his chest caving in. He doesn’t particularly enjoy making Eve feel paranoid this way.

“Erwin has been so secretive lately. He always tells me everything, but right now, he’s hiding something.” Eve sharply replies at him, glaring despite Levi not seeing her face. “Of course, you wouldn’t get it. Since you spend every waking hour with him.”

Levi raises a brow as he stares at her back. Is she jealous of Levi for being around Erwin all the time? “I could find him right now and tell him what you’re doing.”

Eve frowns, hesitating as her fingers pause against the spines of the books. “You don’t get it, Levi. Whatever Erwin is hiding, it affects me. It affects my future here in the Survey Corps, so excuse me for worrying.”

There is a pause, and the silence fills the room. Eve takes that as her cue to keep going through the documents to find some sort of letter or anything out of the ordinary.

Although, she steps back when Levi suddenly walks up next to her and copies her movements. Eve stares at him in astonishment while Levi opens a few books to scan and return.

Levi glances at her briefly. “What? Might as well be your accomplice for now, if Erwin finds the two of us here. When he gets here, I’ll tell the truth anyway.”

She clenches her jaw. “He’s with the commander right now. He won’t be for another hour.”

Levi lets out a quiet scoff, and continues to look through Erwin’s things, even though everything in his mind is against it. Levi has a need to keep Eve’s head at ease, and if this is the way to do it, morals be damned. Although, once Eve isn’t looking, Levi hides the truly important files by tucking them elsewhere.

“You could’ve talked to me about this.” Levi sighs.

“Oh, how can I? The person I was going to talk to you about is literally stuck to your hip for the whole day,” there goes her sarcastic tone again.

Levi rolls his eyes, shaking his head. “Stop being fucking jealous.”

Eve is mortified, eyes widening at him. “Jealous? Why the hell would I be jealous?”

Levi looks at her, expression bored. “Because pretty boy is in love with you, not me. I doubt he prefers my company over yours.”

Eve relaxes, looking back at the shelf with a seemingly saddened expression.

Levi spares her another curious glance, before sighing. “What is it now? You’re mad at me for actually being friends with the captain? I thought that’s what you wanted.”

“Don’t tell me you only became friends with him because you thought it was what I wanted.”

“Originally, yeah. Then I realized he wasn’t such an asshole.” Levi huffs. “But if he’s hiding something from you, don’t you think that he’d tell you if you need to know?” He mumbles.

“He doesn’t get to decide that.” Eve aggressively pulls out some documents.

Levi watches her. “Oi. Watch the attitude.”

“Aren’t I supposed to be the one saying that? I’m your superior.”

He grabs her wrist, stopping her movements while staring intently into her eyes. “The hell is wrong with you? Pulling the superior card? There’s something more to this than Erwin’s little secret, isn’t there?”

Eve pulls her arm away, glaring at him. “Leave me alone, Levi.”

“Then what? You’re just going to look for this piece of shit secret? Aren’t you even going to consider that maybe you’re just being paranoid?” Ah, more lies.

“Oh, you did not just say that to me.” Eve turns back to him, eyes fiery while slightly tilting her head upwards to meet his face. “I have been here in the Survey Corps for years. I’ve known Erwin for years. Don’t tell me that I’m being paranoid because my instincts are almost never wrong. And if Erwin is actually hiding something from me, it could potentially put other people at risk and that fucking includes you!” She jabs her finger into the center of his chest, and the impact makes Levi take one step back. “So, you watch your mouth when you talk to me, because I would never hesitate on going through extreme lengths like invading someone else’s privacy just to protect you.”

Levi’s lips part, and he finds himself being unable to respond. Eve dares to keep their gazes locked, challenging him to say something.

When Levi finally collects his thoughts, he takes a deep breath and is about to speak, when her hand suddenly slaps itself over his mouth. Levi frowns, observing the way her gaze suddenly goes to the left. Her eyes dart from side to side and Levi instantly knows what it means.

They both look at one another, and the first thing that Eve thinks of, is grabbing Levi by the collar and dragging him quickly to the dark closet.

She pulls the closet door close just when the office door opens, and the tight enclosed space of Captain Smith’s closet forces Levi and Eve to face each other in close proximity. The only light coming from the horizontal slits of the closet door gives them a chance to see one another at least.

“Sorry to move our talk to my office, commander. The weather was not on our side today.” Erwin’s voice can be heard inside the room. “What is it you wish to tell me so urgently?”

“I wanted to discuss with you my plans, in the case of my position.”

“Your position, sir?”

“I don’t think I’ve formally declared who my successor would be, in case I die, captain.”

Eve’s brows knot together, and Levi tries to peek out of the slits of the closet door. He can see Erwin’s figure standing in front of the desk, while Sadies walks around the room.

“Ah. Well… if it would be that topic, sir, why couldn’t we discuss this with the section commander and the squad leaders?”

“I’ve picked who I want to succeed my position once I die. And it is you, Erwin Smith.”

A quiet gasp comes from Eve, and it sounds inaudible unless one is in close to her like Levi is, he can feel their knees press against one another, and he glances at her. She is too focused on the conversation between the commander and the captain.

“But… what about Eve?” Erwin carefully asks. “She would befit to fill your position, sir.”

“Are you questioning my choices, captain?”

There is a pause, and Levi sees Eve begin to shake her head, protesting what she knows will happen next.

“Yes.” Erwin answers, and Eve closes her eyes. “I am, sir. She is the obvious choice.”

“She is not ready.”

“If she is not ready, how can you say that I am? Eve should be the next commander, sir. I urge you to reconsider.”

“All the burden I carry, I will pass onto her. Is that really what you want, Smith?”

“Sir…”

“These rumors even reach my ears, boy. I know that you care about her,” they hear the commander let out a long sigh. “Even I can get tired of all these responsibilities. I’m not sure if Eve can handle it all, while also leading the weapons and research division, and our healthcare. Because you and I both know that she will never leave those alone, even when she becomes Commander.”

“Eve is a strong woman, with a strong will. Being commander was what she has always aimed to become. I will not take that away from her. My apologies, sir.”

“It’s not up to you to decide, Erwin.” Sadies reminds. “You will become commander, should I die. We follow the chain of command. If I declare you to succeed me, then you will follow that order. Do not let your feelings for a woman get in the way—”

“This is not about that—”

“—Nor should your own personal opinions on a person’s strength and capabilities. I know how deeply admired the section commander is, and I could care less of what her father would think, if I ever chose her to become commander. I am choosing you because she fits other positions more than being commander. Just know that I believe that under your command, the Survey Corps will prosper.”

There is silence, and Eve’s whole body tenses up, in disbelief of what she just heard.

“I’ll accept, when the time comes. Sir.”

Levi watches the way Eve’s shoulders drop, and he isn’t sure if it was out of defeat or relief.

“But sir, may I request to choose my own captain?”

“You’ll become commander, won’t you? Of course, you’re free to choose.” Sadies says. “Do you already have someone in mind?”

“I do. Once I become commander, I will appoint Levi as my right hand.”

Eve’s eyes widen, and she tilts her head to look at Levi, who is equally shocked.

“Levi? The recruit from the underground city?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Is that wise? I was told that the reason he joined the scouts was to murder you.”

Erwin stays silent for a moment, and he lets out a soft huff of… amusement? “We’ve settled our differences already, and he has proven himself quite a number of times. He will assist me, and I know that he will be loyal to me, as I am to you. A true captain,” through the way he speaks, Erwin sounds like he is smiling. “I trust him with my life, sir. He and I will not disappoint you.”

Levi feels his chest sinking, listening to Erwin talk about trusting him while Levi is hiding in his closet to eavesdrop and avoid being caught with invading his privacy. He looks at Eve, and guilt is written across her face.

“I see. There must be a strong friendship between the two of you, then? I sense it from the way you praise him.”

“Indeed, sir. Levi is not only a more than capable soldier, he is also a good friend. My first one in a long while.” Erwin says with determination. “I am aware of his blunt and harsh reputation, but underneath all of that is a man who puts his comrades first. I promise you, he will exceed expectations.”

Sadies lets out a low chuckle. “I’ve never heard you praise someone like that before, especially not an underground citizen.”

“He is more than his birthplace, sir. I can assure you.”

“Hm. Well, that’s all I need to talk to you about. I will see you at the meeting tomorrow.”

“Yes, sir.”

“I trust that you won’t repeat any of this to anyone?”

“Of course.”

Sadies leaves the room, and Eve listens to Erwin letting out a long sigh once the door closed. Erwin can be heard sitting on his desk while flipping through a notebook, and writing something down from time to time. Now that there was a continuous silence, the air grew even more awkward between Eve and Levi, who are practically being pressed into one another due to the number of thick uniforms hanging inside the closet. She directs her eyes to Levi’s, who does the same. They didn’t look away for seconds upon seconds, just listening to the gentle rustle of paper, and the quiet scribbling of a pen.

Eve is the first to look away, so she could peek to see what Erwin is doing now. He stops writing and puts papers inside an envelope. Erwin stands, and goes to his shelf, and it looks like he noticed some things that aren’t arranged properly. He takes his time to rearrange them appropriately, and Eve tries to shift, but accidentally knocks off a hanger.

She grabs it immediately to stop it from falling off the horizontal pole inside the closet, and makes no movement or sound. Levi, finds himself freezing before he attempts to steady Eve. If he makes a move, it can definitely be heard, and it takes everything in him not to check if she’s fine. He clenches his jaw, looking back at Erwin through the closet door. He feels a chill down his spine once he sees Erwin eyeing the closet. Fuck.

Erwin takes a step forward towards the closer, and Levi immediately feels Eve’s hand grab his wrist, gripping him in dread. Her fingers are cold, terrified of being caught in Erwin’s closet right after the conversation that transpired between the captain and commander.

Before Erwin could take another step, there was a knock on the door. “Captain, your horse and carriage are ready.”

Erwin gathers his things instead, and leaves the room. Where the hell is Erwin going? Levi wonders. Whenever Erwin leaves, he always tells Levi first and asks him to join. Or so Levi thought.

The door shuts, and Levi looks at Eve to discern what her reaction is upon hearing all of them.

Eve has her brows furrowed, as if the information was still sinking in her. Levi almost reaches out to ask if she was okay, when she lifts her gaze to look at him. Her eyes… he didn’t know what she could be thinking, but the way she is looking at him renders him quiet, her hand slowly tightens around his wrist, but it doesn’t hurt him. Instead, it keeps him awake, with energy surging through him.

Then, she does something he was not expecting.

Eve glances at down at Levi’s lips, and it wasn’t a brief flicker downward. She eyes his lips, and her gaze brought some sort of heat on his mouth, and it makes him lick his bottom lip.

And she begins to lean in, with an intention that Levi knows, and makes him freeze up. Although, he finds himself inch closer as well, until he can feel the gentle impact of her small breath against his lips.

Is this really going to happen? Inside of Erwin Smith’s closet? Once that thought sinks in, it was difficult not to react the way she does.

Levi isn’t sure why yet, but suddenly, his head is turned to the side, and there is a slight burning feeling against the side of his face. He blinks, looking back at Eve with surprise. Eve’s eyes grow wide once she realizes what she just did.

Did she just—?!

“What the hell, brat? Did you just slap me?!” Levi hisses out.

Eve covers her mouth with her hands, but from the dim lighting, Levi can see the quirk of her lips to show a shocked smile. “I-I didn’t mean to! I swear!”

Levi opens the closet door and finally breaks away from the tight space, breathing in the fresh air while moving his jaw. “Fuck, Eve. Do you even know how strong you are?”

“I’m sorry!” Eve steps out as well, holding back a laugh as she approaches Levi, reaching up to his face. “Let me see, oh…” she hushes him, taking his hands to pry them off his face. “It’s not that bad.”

“Not that bad? You could’ve broken my jaw if that fucking closet was a little bit wider!”

“Don’t be so dramatic, Levi,” she snickers. “Don’t tell me this will make you regret what almost happened.”

Levi glares at her smug face, because she is so fucking cruel. Of course, her little assault won’t make him regret what could have happened, and she knows it.

“Not another word, Eve.” Levi makes his way to the door, when she speaks again.

“Come on, don’t go yet, captain,” her voice drops into a sultry tone, a voice that makes his blood pump quicker.

Levi grimaces as he looks back at her. “Don’t call me that.”

“What? It’s what you’re going to be soon, anyway.” Eve smiles fondly, looking incredibly proud of him, and not even saddened by the fact that she won’t be commander soon. “Captain Levi.”

He couldn’t lie. Levi didn’t find the title too horrible. He doesn’t voice it out, though. Instead, he stalks towards Eve, and the closer he got, the more her smile fades.

Levi stands in front of her, lowering his face to be in her level. “Hm? Do you like the sound of that, section commander?” He darts his eyes across her face. “When I first came to the Survey Corps, you were known to be the captain’s girl.”

He watches the way her eyes flutter, and it sends a surge of power through him. Seeing the always smug and fearless section commander be weak for him, and no one else. The hazy look in her eyes, Levi wasn’t unfamiliar with it. She wants him, desperately.

Levi never took her advances seriously, and all this time, they had all been genuine. Levi wonders how long this has been happening, and if it has been happening long, he admires how good she is at hiding it.

He reaches for her cheek, cradling her face in his hand. A shudder struck through his spine when she closes her eyes and nuzzles into his palm. Levi wanted to reach over and pull her back to him.

Although, the moment is short-lived, when Eve suddenly jolts as if she woke up, and looks back at Levi in surprise. Her face flushes, and the sight of it was so rare that it stuns Levi. Eve clenches her jaw and pushes past him, hurriedly leaving Erwin’s office.

Levi stood there alone, recounting the events in his head.

He couldn’t stop thinking about Eve. Especially her lips. Fuck, what he wouldn’t give to taste her lips.

Levi is losing his goddamn mind.

Even while being inside the cadet he was sleeping with for the past weeks, all Levi could think of was Eve.

It’s driving him insane how Eve is avoiding him, even just looking at him. Whenever Levi would come by the lab, Hange would say that Eve is busy and that he should come by next time. Hange has no idea what happened between him and Eve, and they seem oblivious over how Eve is deliberately ignoring Levi.

He would say, why the fuck would he care?

But, fuck it. He cares more than he is willing to admit. Being ignored by Eve is excruciatingly painful, after receiving her attention for days on end for many months. Not to mention irritating, because who does she think she is? She’s the one who almost kissed him, why the fuck is she the one ignoring him like a damn epidemic?

Finally, the time comes. His monthly medical exam. On the way to the laboratory, he sees a few cadets assisting a limping young cadet to building. Hange greets them, concerned. Levi keeps his distance, but listens anyway.

“What happened?” Hange asks, helping with the cadet’s weight.

“He fell from the nets in the training ground, and broke his ankle. Is the section commander in?”

“You could’ve taken him to the infirmary, you know. She’s not a little nurse that tends to broken ankles.” Hange sounds like they’re frowning but amused. They sigh. “But then again, she’ll have my head if I don’t take you guys to her.”

“No one knows about bones more than the section commander,” one of them chuckles. “Didn’t she say that she wanted to be dentist?”

“I’m not sure who your teacher was, but teeth doesn’t count as bones.” Hange laughs. “But now that you mention it, teeth are technically part of the skeletal system. The section commander loves teeth. In the most non-creepy way, though.”

The door closes, and Levi makes his way towards the building to enter it as well. By the time he arrives, Hange is already on their way out with Moblit talking about some research. Levi sees Eve’s door being wide open.

Hange lights up upon seeing Levi. “Hey there, strongest soldier!”

“Where’s Eve?”

“She’s busy right now, taking care of a broken ankle,” Moblit tells him. “We were just on our way… outside…”

Moblit stops talking when Levi walks past him without listening, making his way towards Eve’s office. Moblit and Hange share a glance, and Hange shrugs before leaving the building.

Levi peeks inside the office, seeing the other cadets surrounding Eve and the cadet with a broken ankle.

The boy looked terrified, but Eve is smiling at him from her kneeling position, talking to hold a comforting conversation with him. Levi watches as she massages the boy’s ankle, and with a swift shift, she pushes against his heel and he lets out a squeak. His ankle makes a cracking noise, and then a breath of relief is released by the cadet.

“Don’t get any ideas. It’s not fully healed, so I better not see you on the training grounds for at least the next two weeks, cadet.” Eve firmly commands, giving him a slip of paper. “Show this to your scout leader during training, so you could be excused from extensive workouts. Also, be careful next time. A scout who can’t walk, can’t maneuver.”

“Yes, section commander!” The group of friends all sound grateful, and they leave one by one. Each of them walks past Levi from the doorway.

Eve stands up, and sees Levi by the door. She doesn’t look surprised, and only waves goodbye to the young cadets. Eve stands next to Levi, watching as the teenagers walk away while laughing together.

Levi glances at Eve, who has a fond smile on her face as she watches them leave. Once they left the building, Eve’s genuine smile fades. He watches her the entire time.

“God, they’re too young to be part of the scouts.” Eve sighs, worry in her voice. “They just keep getting younger and younger.”

“Weren’t you and Erwin younger than them when you both joined?”

Eve gives him a playful glare before walking back inside the office. “Medical exam, right?”

“Why else would I be here?”

Eve says nothing, and continues what she usually does. Levi complies with any commands she makes, and he couldn’t help but watch her closely.

“You know,” she says after a long silence, and while she is preparing her equipment to listen to his heartbeat for his blood pressure. “We never got to figure out when your birthday is.”

“Does it matter?”

“Don’t you want to know what your age is? You’re the only soldier in the Scout Regiment without a birth date in their record,” she informs, and Levi stays quiet. “There must be something you remember when you were a younger.”

“I don’t celebrate birthdays. Even Isabel and Furlan knew that.”

“I meant like… during your childhood, or something.” Eve says, but after a while, she realizes what she just said. “Sorry. You don’t have to answer that.”

“It’s fine.” Levi mutters, and he goes through his memories to look for a specific one. “There… there is one memory.”

Eve doesn’t say anything, and just attaches some wires to Levi as she always does. Levi lets her.

“I don’t remember much…” Levi quietly says. “But… I remember my mother.”

He feels Eve briefly pause, before resuming. He takes that as a sign to keep talking.

“I remember one morning, she said it was my birthday. She used to make me drink this… hot drink. I don’t remember the taste of it anymore, but I just remember it was hot, and nice. She made me that drink because it was so cold, especially at night. It would be like that for weeks,” Levi narrates, almost feeling how cold it was in the underground city again. The iciness of the temperature making his skin tingle. “She would sing to me. Happy birthday. It was just so cold that time. She said that above us, there’d be ice that would feel soft. I forgot what it’s called. She would wrap me in the only sheet we owned. So, to keep me warm, she would go cold.”

Levi can’t see Eve’s face, not while she’s focused on measuring his pulse with the new heart monitor. The beeping was gentle, and calm.

He clears his throat. “Does that help?”

Eve meets his eyes, offering a small smile. She looks away immediately, and Levi tenses once he saw the way her eyes glistened for a brief second. “Yeah. It’s very helpful. There’s only two months where it gets that cold. December and January.”

Levi averts his eyes while Eve removes the wires from him. December and January. “I don’t know the specific day, though.”

“How about we decide in the middle?”

“Would that work?”

“Of course. We just need to decide which month, but if you ask me, you definitely feel like a December baby,” she flashes him a smirk, the watery eyes are long gone.

Levi snorts noncommittally, rolling his eyes. “Whatever.”

“Hm… so, twenty-five to thirty-one, coldest week of winter. Which day do you want?” Eve softly asks.

“I don’t want to decide about this shit. Just pick the first one.”

“Twenty-five, it is.” Eve smiles, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder, announcing with an exaggerated voice. “Levi, of the Scout Regiment, I hereby pronounce your date of birth to be the twenty-fifth of December. The coldest month of the year. It suits you.”

Levi smacks her hand away. “Shut up. I’m not cold. If anything, you are.”

The air grows silent, and Eve turns away to put her equipment to their rightful place, being so damn slow about it too. It was excruciating, the amount of time passing between them without anything else happening.

“That thing you mentioned. Ice that was soft to the touch,” she gently begins. “It’s called ‘snow’ and it appears during winter. It’s very beautiful.”

“Snow…” Levi tests the word, finally remembering the way his mother would say the word.

She finally turns to him, offering a smile. “All done. You’re dismissed, cadet.”

“Is that it?” Levi deadpans, pulling himself up from the chair, staring directly at her. “We’re not even going to talk about it?”

“I thought you came here for an examination—”

“You know damn well I didn’t. Stop acting like you’re dumb, when you’re not.”

Eve inhales, shifting her weight from one foot to another. “Look, Levi. We don’t have to talk about anything because there’s nothing to talk about.”

Levi shakes his head. “Don’t act like I’m stupid.”

“What do you want me to say?”

“I need you to fucking explain what you were going to do inside that closet, you damn brat! Is that not obvious?!” Levi slightly raises his voice.

Eve lets out a dry laugh. “Why are you talking like I acted alone? You forgetting what happened after?!“

“Yeah, you fucking slapped my face!”

“That’s not what I meant! Y-You were—ugh! We’re not going to discuss this. Get out, Levi.”

Levi fumes. “No. I’m not leaving until you make shit clear with me. You don’t get to keep doing this shit to me, Eve.”

Now, she looks mortified. “Keep doing what?”

“Oh, don’t play dumb. You keep flirting with me every chance you get. You touch me, you try to humiliate me by saying shit that should cross the line, you say that I look better without my clothes, you fucking check me out all the time, you—don’t give me that look, don’t fucking deny it, Eve. You fucking know what you do to me—”

“Levi—”

“Not to mention the fact that you get jealous when female soldiers are even within a one-mile radius around me. You almost strangled your own fucking sister for making a damn move on me. When I told you that I’ve been having sex with someone, I felt like my skin was going to fall off from how roughly you treated me during my last exam. And then, you pretend like nothing happened, like you don’t care if I was with anyone. You even gave me rubber shit so I can keep doing it! What the fuck is wrong with you?!” Levi clenches his fists. “You’re a goddamn piece of work, you know that? Fuck! You make me lose my fucking mind, Eve! What the fuck is this? What is this?!” He aggressively gestures between them, eyes wide.

Eve stares back at him, shocked by his outburst. It was the first time she had seen Levi lose his cool, ever since that fateful day. His first expedition. It makes her take a step back, not out of fear, but out of astonishment. Levi breathes heavily, and he forces himself to even his breathing. The last thing he wants is to seem like this is bothering him so much, but the thing is, it is. It’s fucking him up.

“You better fucking say something, you brat, or I might do something I’ll regret.”

He probably shouldn’t be threatening the section commander like this, but he couldn’t help the words being blurted out.

“You would hurt me?” She asks, breathy yet firm.

“No. I’d do something worse.”

Eve stays still, unsure what to say. As she stays quiet, her chest thumped when Levi begins to stalk towards her. A chill runs down her spine, and she widens her eyes at him, his face remains determined as he paces towards her with heavy footsteps.

Startled by the way darkening way he is approaching her, she stammers. “L-Levi—”

Her breath catches in her throat, eyes wavering as Levi grabs her shoulders. His grip was tight, and his hands were slightly trembling. Eve stares back at him, startled.

“Fucking say something, damn it.” Levi says through his teeth. “Tell me to stop. Tell me to fucking let you go. Tell me to… just… just fucking speak, damn it, Eve!” His voice is borderline near desperation.

Eve opens her mouth, but no sound comes out. She blinks at him, and this was the first time Levi has seen her speechless. Gone was her smug expression, accompanied by her confident aura, and it was now replaced by bewilderment that can be compared to cornered wild animal.

Her lips part, and Levi watches the movement. “Levi…”

At that moment, Eve observes the way his eyelids droop only a little, as if in a trance. He tightens his grip on her shoulders, and there was a brief flash of blind rage in his eyes. Like he was infuriated with her. Eve half expected Levi to continue yelling at her face, not pull her in to crush his lips against hers.

Eve lets out a quiet noise in surprise, and instinctively, she pulls her hands to his chest to try pushing him away. However, Levi presses harder, and one of his hands leave her shoulder to wrap around her waist, pulling her flush against him. He was wordlessly telling her, let this happen, as he keeps their lips pressed together. Eve almost gasps from the harsh way he gripped her, and unwillingly trembles against him. Eve practically melts when Levi pushes his soft lips into hers, moving them to kiss her even when she doesn’t return it.

When Levi’s tongue swipes across her bottom lip, Eve weakens and kisses him back. The movement makes Levi grunt into her mouth, and the remaining hand leaves her shoulder to press against her back, pulling her chest close to his. They were equal in every sense of the word. Eager, forceful, aggressive, angry yet desperate. Like all the months of build-up has unraveled at this very moment, and they both had enough.

He feels her trembling slender hands snake themselves upwards his chest, gripping his collar to pull him close, their mouths sinking into one another. It seems to never end, and feels never enough. Levi wanted to be part of her. Inside of her, and never fucking leave. He has never been this way to anyone in his goddamn life. To feel the need to be within her, and not only in a sexual way, but to have every part of him be molded into her. The feeling was terrifying, like what the fuck? Has he lost his mind? Who the fuck thinks like this?

As terrifying as it is, Levi wants to never feel anything else ever again.

It was unclear who pulls away first, or if they both did and somehow knew when it was over, but once they finally got their wits together, Levi breathes heavily as he stares back at Eve. Her pupils are dilated, with a thin ring of brown surrounding them. It was unnoticeable, due to the dark color, unless you truly focus into it. Levi can only imagine what his silvery eyes would look like right now.

The pair still held onto one another from their previous position, and only their chests had distance from one another. Eve blinks, trying to snap herself out of the daze she is going through.

Levi is the first to speak after a long silence. “…I should go.”

Tell me to stay. Tell me to fucking stay, you damn brat.

Eve only nods, averting her eyes before pulling herself away from his arms. She says nothing, but her entire body and face says everything. She wants Levi, and has been showing it from the very beginning, but now that she has him, she has no idea what to do. And she needs to figure that out.

Levi adjusts his collar, pursing his lips to feel how swollen they’ve become. His skin is still flustered, and he slowly makes his way to the door. Eve listens to him leave, and once she was alone, her lungs push out a breath she had been holding. She slumps into her chair, eyes wide as she stays unmoving.

Chapter Text

“Are you even listening to me, Eve?”

Those words make her blink multiple times, and her gaze becomes focused until she is now looking at Hange, who was frowning while holding up the recent findings of their weapons development research.

“Oh. Um… sorry, I was spacing out.”

“You’ve been doing that a lot for the past week. What’s gotten into you?” Hange frowns. “Is it because of your proposal? Sadies is going to approve it, you know. I mean, capturing titans for research isn’t easy, but it will definitely help us!”

That’s not exactly why Eve is so upset, but she still forms a weak smile at Hange. “You think so?”

“Yeah! I mean, you’ll never be as excited as I am, but you’re the one making this happen! No other scout officer has ever dreamed of capturing titans for research!” Hange grins, clasping their hands together under their chin. “Oh, I can’t wait to study one up close! I even have a few names in mind!”

“You know, I’m only doing this because I have you in this department, Hange,” Eve smirks. “If I didn’t have anyone as insane as you, proposing to capture titans would be the last thing in my mind right now. Thank you for being here.”

Hange tears up, and their lips wobble while they smile, a blush on their cheeks. Being appreciated by their mentor was just something Hange needed to be encouraged to keep working, gathering their documents to start discussing the plan with Yvonne Squad in the meeting room. Eve is left alone in her office when there was a knock on her door.

She opens it, and sees Erwin, who offers a kind smile of greeting as she lets him in.

“I heard from the other scout leaders that you’re pushing for the next expedition to focus on capturing titans.”

“Well, you heard right,” Eve sighs. “I hope Sadies hasn’t heard yet. Damn, the news spread fast. I wanted to tell him myself.”

“I doubt that news hasn’t reached him,” Erwin smiles apologetically. “Don’t you think this is dangerous? Many scouts may die from this. It is unavoidable.”

“There is always a war outside the walls, Erwin. As long as we don’t know what we’re up against, the war will always be man versus nature. Man versus the unknown. That’s not something I’m comfortable with.” Eve raises a brow at him, daring Erwin to challenge her views.

He doesn’t, and merely chuckles as he sits on the chair. “I’m mostly concerned about what Sadies would think about this. Willingly letting a titan inside the walls? It’s unheard of. Not to mention, it could pose a serious threat to the people delivering it inside.”

“There’s a plan already, and I’m putting my own team on the line here. This is all on me.” Eve takes her own seat. “Hange is out there to tell the others of the plan.”

“You haven’t even received approval from the commander, and yet you’re already discussing the plan?”

“Better to be ready early than late.” Eve shrugs. “Besides, you know me.”

Erwin chuckles at her confidence, having complete faith in her. “I have no doubt in you. Which is why I’m here to offer my own squad as help. You need all the assistance you can get.”

Even is surprised, but not really in an unpleasant way. A smile tugs on her lips, and she gives him a softer look. “You know I won’t refuse that offer.”

“I don’t want you to. I’ll even urge Levi and his squad leader to let him assist us, if needed.”

Eve feels her throat tighten, but she keeps her smile. “That won’t be necessary. He should focus on his own team’s mission.”

Erwin nods, not even noticing the shift of her demeanor. If he did, he comments nothing. “What will you do if Sadies disapproves?”

“I convinced him to start a physician division in the scouts, I can convince him to greenlight titan research.” Eve waves off, smiling a bit. “It’ll be fine.”

“Sadies, we need to do this!”

“The answer is no, section commander! Allowing a titan in our midst is simply dangerous! I would allow it if it remains outside the walls, but inside is too much.”

“All the equipment needed are here,” Eve frowns. “We don’t even have a base outside yet. And realistically, that can’t be built even in the next ten years!”

“Which is why we put it first, and titan research second.” Sadies firmly says. “I’ve made my decision, section commander. Respect it.”

“But sir, more people will die if we don’t study them more—!”

“Eve.” Sadies repeats, a warning tone. “My word is final.”

She inhales, gathering her plans to place them inside the envelope and leaving his office. Erwin was right outside, and he seems like he surmised what happened in the office. They both return to the lab, and when Hange goes up to Eve to greet her with a happy smile, it fades when Eve simply walks past her own squad to retreat into her office. Erwin follows quietly behind her, shutting the door as Eve stands in the middle of the office.

Erwin glances at her, and lets out a sigh. He grabs the two nearest vases, which seems to be a gift from two of her many suitors. Erwin calmly hands it to her, and she grabs it before throwing it to the wall with a grunt, her forceful hurl makes the vase shatter apart against the wall, falling to the ground with clatter. As Eve pants in complete fury, Erwin calmly lifts the other vase towards her, and she grabs it to repeat what she just did.

Only this time, once the vase shatters against the wall, the door opens. Levi doesn’t flinch when a vase hits the wall next to him, but he moves away to avoid any porcelain shards about to hit his leg.

Once she finished the throw, she doesn’t even wait to see the door open. Eve screws her eyes shut, turning away while gripping her hair. Levi looks at Erwin, who shakes his head at him, as if to say to let her be.

“Fucking Sadies! He has no idea how this can fucking help the development of humanity. He’d rather stick to killing titans instead of finding out why they exist and where they came from!” Eve yells, and even while she speaks, Erwin is calmly picking up another vase. Levi watches him approach Eve, offering the vase again. Eve grabs the vase in her hands, and thrusts it into the wall again with a grunt. Only this time, it doesn’t hit the wall.

Once there wasn’t any shattering noise, Eve turns around, only to see Levi holding the vase with his usual expressionless face.

“Tch. What a damn waste.” Levi slightly kicks the shattered pieces on the ground. “People work hard on making this shit, you know? They’re not just shitty gifts from guys who want to get in your pants.”

“I really don’t need a lecture right now, Levi.” Eve exhales, rubbing his head.

“What, so you can keep having this shitty tantrum? I don’t think your sixteen-year-old sister can do this shit.”

Eve just sends Levi a glare, hands on her hips as she breathes heavily out of anger.

“You know what? Take your anger out on me.” Levi opens his arms, one hand holding the vase. “Let’s spar, Eve.”

“Fucking hell, Levi. I don’t need—!”

“I think that’s an excellent idea.” Erwin nods, briefly looking at Eve. “Come on. Let’s get you two geared up.”

“Erwin, you can’t be serious.”

“It’s this or more wasted vases. I pity the hardworking pottery industry.” Erwin tsks, almost amused. “I’ll prepare the training grounds.”

He leaves, much to Eve’s protests. Eve looks back at Levi, who frowns at the mess on the ground. He wordlessly grabs a broom to clean it up, and Eve just watches. The longer he cleans the office, the more Eve softens, relaxing to the sounds of him moving around to clean not only the broken vase, but the rest of the room until it was spotless.

Pretty soon, Levi is untying the mask around his head and dusting off his hands. “Come on. Erwin is probably done by now.”

“You sure about this?” Eve frowns. “I won’t go easy on you.”

“I don’t want you to. You know anyone else who can handle your shit better than me?”

Eve huffs, but doesn’t deny it. Even in combat, Eve can beat Miche, who is arguably the best scout before Levi arrived. She chooses not to utilize that often, since she prefers science-related work within the regiment.

“You know, before you came to the picture, I’m actually the strongest here.” Eve mutters as they walk out the office, seeing the way Yvonne Squad immediately straightens up, tensed due to fear. They must’ve heard the commotion inside the office, and they even tried to stop Levi from entering.

It seems like this isn’t the first time Eve got angry, judging by the way her team stiffens as she walks by. It’s truly amazing how she can strike fear and comfort into people, depending on the context.

“What, you jealous I took your spot?”

“If anyone had to take my spot, I’m glad it’s you.”

“Stop complimenting me when you’re about to beat the fuck out of me.”

“It’s because I’m going to beat the fuck out of you, that I’m complimenting you.” She mirrors his monotone voice as they walk to the training grounds.

Levi rolls his eyes. We’ll see about that.

He has to admit, while he is actually surpassing Eve most of the time, he hasn’t had a challenging spar in a while. It certainly doesn’t help that Eve is a doctor. She knows the weak spots of people. If Levi was just any other cadet, he would’ve been knocked out during the first round.

Erwin wasn’t wrong when he said it would be an interesting match. A lot of the other cadets have crowded around them, whispering to themselves as they watch the section commander spar with the strongest recruit among them.

Levi observes that Eve’s movements are graceful, while his were brash and born from being a street rat in the underground. He had a few dirty moves in his sleeve, but somehow, Eve contrasts and counters it with an elegant move that can be misinterpreted as dancing.

He falls to the ground, propping himself up with his elbows as Eve stands over him, a triumphant grin on her face from the adrenaline rush this hand-to-hand combat has given her.

“You holding back for me, cadet?” She teases, bending down while propping herself up by placing her palms on her knees.

Levi spits out some blood to the side. “Too obvious, section commander?”

“Very obvious. You can do better than that.”

“I could seriously hurt you.”

She smirks wickedly. “I wouldn’t worry too much about that if I were you.”

Levi mirrors the smirk, wiping the blood from his mouth before swiping his leg across the ground to try to outbalance her, but Eve jumps immediately to avoid it. However, anticipating her leap, Levi hooks his knee around her thigh and pushes her to the ground with his other leg. Eve falls with a groan, shifting herself on her back as Levi gets up.

“How are you so good with your legs?” Eve groans in between laughter, as if enjoying this. “You could kick me without even lifting an arm.”

“That’s how kicking works, idiot brat. Had enough?”

“Not even close,” Eve laughs freely now, much to everyone else’s shock. She stands up, and bends her knees, situating her arms in front of her in a defense form. Levi mirrors her, but his fists are closed while hers are as open as her heart.

They continue to spar, while onlookers cheer and let out surprised awes from time to time. The brashness of Levi’s moves contrast Eve’s balletic motions. Erwin watches the pair of them with a smile on his face, his arms crossed as hollers surround him.

Finally, Eve was flipped on her feet, taking her by surprise and she finally had enough when she taps out, defeated for the very first time in her life. Erwin steps forward, reaching for Levi’s arm and raising it as the winner. Levi lets himself grin as everyone cheers for him, even reaching for him to excitedly congratulate him by shaking his shoulders and jumping around. He basks in the cheers for his name, when Erwin and Miche hoists him up on their shoulders, parading him among the excited crowd of cadets. Levi’s eyes are wide, face flushed with exhaustion from dueling with their dragonesque section commander.

As he looks over his shoulders, he sees Eve watching him with proud eyes as Hange wipes the sweat from her forehead with a cloth, and Hange was laughing with flushed cheeks. Somehow, Eve’s pride for Levi was worth more than the crowd of scouts being amazed that someone has managed to beat the unbeatable soldier among them.

For a whole day, Eve forgets about her failure to convince Sadies to consider her proposal. When she sees Levi’s grinning yet tired face as he was celebrated by the scouts, who once considered him as a hostile individual due to his birthplace; he was finally one of them. Levi was now accepted among the scouts, and the pride on Levi’s face makes him look younger than he already does, happy to have found the place where he truly belongs.

Later that night, Levi walks through the halls of the headquarters, and he would be greeted with admiration and respect as he passes certain scouts. He would sometimes overhear people discussing his titan kills and assists during the last few expeditions, and how he surpasses most of the scouts who had been members for an even longer time than Levi is. He has never heard so many people discuss him before, like he’s a fucking celebrity. That little sparring session really prompted people to look more into Levi than before.

Yes, people were scared of him before, and they still are. However, along with that intimidation, there was respect. And Levi knew which one he preferred.

He knocks on the door, and no one answers it. So, Levi pushes it open, and finds the room being barely lit. The only light comes from the next room with a slightly open door, and he walks over. Levi pushes the door open, and sees Eve sitting in bed, and she is treating her own wounds. She is wearing a casual sleeveless top as she wraps a bandage around her arm.

She blows on her arm, and lifts her gaze, surprised to see Levi. “Oh. Hi.”

It finally sinks into him that he is inside Eve’s bedroom, which was slightly more intimate and used than the fancy one she had back in Mitras. There were numerous old textbooks inside shelves. Documents that suggest extensive research. She has handmade knitted clothes that tells Levi they are gifts from the youngest sister, who talked about practicing knitting the last time Levi saw her.

There were a few opened letters with elegant handwriting, and Levi even manages to read Mina’s name, suggesting that Eve receives letters from various sisters. In fact, her whole room had hints of each sister, which is how Levi can tell that Eve adores each and every one of them.

“Why are you doing that shit alone? Where’s Hange?”

“At the party, I didn’t want to disturb them…” Eve frowns. “Why aren’t you at your own party? Shouldn’t you be getting smashed drunk right now?”

“I don’t drink.”

“That’s odd. I seem to recall you giggling your ass off on the floor outside this building with Erwin before passing out on my sofa.”

“I don’t giggle.”

Eve just chuckles, continues to patch herself up. Levi watches her from the door, leaning his shoulder against it.

“I didn’t mean to be so rough. Sorry about… that.” He nods towards her.

Eve waves him off. “It was a spar, Levi. This happens,” she suppresses a smile. “Although, this is the worst I’ve gotten. Well done.”

“…Did you just compliment me for hitting you so hard?”

“Bask in it. You are officially humanity’s strongest soldier.” Eve chuckles again. “Isn’t that what they’re chanting at the mess hall? I wish I had a cool title like that,” she sighs exaggeratedly, giving him a playful look.

“The hell are you talking about? You’re the one that came up with that stupid title.”

She just laughs, fond and light. “I’ll meet you at the mess hall after I patch myself up. You should be there celebrating.”

Levi almost grinds his teeth together, and his boots stay glued on the floor. He doesn’t know how to say that he doesn’t care about celebrating. He only cares that she finally got to let off some steam. However, while he doesn’t know how to word his thoughts, he also doesn’t want to remind her of her rejected research proposal when she clearly seems relaxed right now.

“Let me do that.” Levi offers as he closes the door, walking over to take the bandage from her hands, but she jerks her hand back so he can’t reach it.

“Hey, I know what to do. I’m a doctor.”

“Exactly. When was the last time you let someone take care of you?” Levi mutters, snatching the roll from her without waiting for a response. Levi sits down, not even seeing the astonished expression on Eve’s face. “Used to do this a lot for Isabel. She was clumsy as fuck. I know what I’m doing.”

Levi didn’t want to say that he actually learned to do this for his mother, too. When men were too careless with her.

Eve says nothing and waits for Levi to finish patching her up. When he finishes, he puts everything back into Eve’s tiny box, and gives it to her before he makes his way to the door.

“Wait, you have a little cut on your cheek.” Eve stands up, making her way towards him.

Levi lets Eve dab a small cloth against his face. He eyes her while she makes featherlight touches on his skin. Her lips slightly part as she blows gently on his cheek, focused on preventing an infection on him. When she was done, she raises her gaze directly to his steel eyes.

Their eyes lock, and Levi finds himself soften. His arm raises, and he gently takes hold of her elbow, tugging her forward to gently press his lips against hers.

It wasn’t aggressive as before, and Levi doesn’t feel her fight it this time. Instead, she leans fully into it, kissing him as if he hadn’t just been the cause of the bruises on her body an hour earlier.

Gentle, was the word to use. Levi tilts his head, deepening the way their lips press together, and she lets him. He feels her hands on his chest, soothing and familiar. Their lips move, syncing as if they had always known what to do, how to kiss the other’s lips. As if they had been doing this for decades, even before they were both born.

When Levi wises up, he pulls back, astounding her as she watches him blink rapidly.

“No, I can’t do this,” he quietly says, shaking his head as his hands gently grips her elbows, bowing his head down low in front of her. “I can’t… we can’t…”

“Levi…”

She feels him tighten his grip on her, not enough to hurt, but enough to hint his desperation of letting her go and his frustration over the fact that he wants this, but thinks he is undeserving. “I don’t want to need you. I can’t need you, Eve…”

Eve’s eyes soften, shaking her head. “Levi, what are you talking about?”

“Isabel, Furlan, Kenny, my mother,” he trembles while rambling out the names, his breath shaking. “Everyone I’ve…” he pauses, not wanting to bare himself like this to her. He swallows, taking a step back and releasing her.

Eve reaches for his arm, frowning with concern. “Levi, please. Don’t just leave after this. Don’t… don’t do what I always do. Please.”

The softness of her voice, desperate for Levi to tell her what he needs to tell her. It makes him close his eyes, swallowing tightly.

“I’m fucking cursed, Eve. I lose everyone I care about, I don’t want that with you.”

“You’re not going to lose me. I won’t let that happen.”

“You may be smart as shit, Eve, but even you can’t tell the future,” Levi lifts his head, looking back at Eve with the rare display of emotion across his face. He was terrified.

“Neither can you…” she says, but he barely heard.

“Who’s to say when any of us are going to fucking die? I don’t know about you, but I’m not going to stand by and watch you die—”

“Levi, what are you talking about?”

“Isabel, Furlan, my mother! I watched all of them die, Eve!” Levi grabs her arms, and his hands are still trembling. “I can’t fucking bear you dying. No, I wouldn’t be able to take it. I don’t think I can watch you die—”

“I’m… I’m not going to die, Levi.” Eve stares at him with concern and disbelief. “Stop thinking about that.”

“It’s sometimes all I think about, Eve,” his voice shakes.

“Do you think I’d die easily?” Eve indulges him, but musters a small, concerned smile. “You already know that I’m not easy to kill.”

“But I still… I don’t know what I would do if… if you die.”

Eve stares at him, before pursing her lips and giving a single accepting nod. “Do you know what you would do if you we lived, but with distance between us? Because I know what I would do. Do you want to know?”

When he meets her eyes, she was given an answer.

“There won’t be a single moment that I won’t regret stopping this before it even started.”

Those words wreck at Levi’s core. No regrets, the words echo in his head. No. It’s wrong. Having no regrets should be wrong. People should choose the decision that they’ll least regret the most.

“It won’t scar,” she reaches up to touch the cut on his cheek. “We’re lucky it was brief, and not deep enough to leave a scar. I’ll be careful next time. I don’t want you getting unwanted marks on yourself.”

Her voice is so frail, that it makes Levi rethink if she was ever referring to the cut on his skin.

One last look at Levi, and she gives him a genuine smile. Like she respects his decision, even when it gives her so much pain. It makes Levi narrow his eyes into slits and grind his teeth. She pats his chest before going to the door to leave the room, probably to attend the party. She doesn’t close the door, and leaves Levi standing in the middle of her bedroom.

Levi steadies his breaths, wondering if he made the right choice.

He returns to the party, and everyone cheers for him. He tries to smile, greeting everyone with a nod, but his eyes scan the mess hall for a certain redheaded woman. He finds her next to Hange, and the whole Yvonne Squad is sat on one table.

As the crowd cheers for Levi, there she was, a smile of admiration on her face as she claps for him along with the crowd. The cadets all chant Levi’s name, and Levi only watches as Eve raises a celebratory cup of wine towards him while Hange howls out a joyful laugh around her, holding up their drink. She was so good at masking her true emotions, that any outside eye would never assume how Eve was in pain, if she is anyway. Even Levi found it difficult to tell if Eve is affected by the events that transpired mere minutes ago.

He wonders how many times she has done this without Levi noticing. How many times has Eve put on a sweet smile that gave nothing away?

The only thing that suggests how she feels is the way she seems to be downing every single cup of ale.

At that moment, he comes to an unsurprising realization that he made the biggest mistake of his life.

Chapter Text

Levi wakes up with a throbbing headache. He groans the moment sunlight hits his eyes, a grimace appearing on his face once he smells the scent of beer in his breath. Fuck, why did he let everyone make him drink one beer after another?

He freezes, once he realizes, the sun never hits his face whenever he wakes up in his quarters.

Then, he realizes, this isn’t my fucking quarters.

He sits up, rattling his brain from the movement and he looks to his left, feeling his own heart drop to his stomach upon seeing a mess of red hair spilling across the white pillows, the skin of her shoulders peeking above the sheets wrapped around her torso as she sleeps soundly. No, no, no, no, no—

“What the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck—” Levi chants repeatedly under his breath as he looks down at himself, realizing that he was fully nude under the white sheets. His face flushes, noticing his discarded clothes on the floor, possibly thrown carelessly over shoulders.

His eyes practically bulge wide once he realizes, he doesn’t remember shit from last night.

Levi desperately tries to remember. He thinks he remembers walking to Eve’s office when the party was over, drunk and barely on his feet. Levi thinks that Moblit and Hange were there, Hange was drunk and singing something about titans to Levi, trying to get him to dance, while Moblit worriedly tries to take Hange back to their own quarters.

The images were blurry, but he thinks he knocked on Eve’s door and the moment she opened the door, Levi grabs—

“Levi?”

A sleepy voice from behind him makes his entire body rigid. Fuck, he was so busy trying to remember what the actual fuck happened last night, that he forgot to get dressed and leave before she woke up.

He slightly turns, looking at her over his shoulder. Eve is rubbing her eyes, making sleepy noises that Levi would find fucking adorable if it weren’t for the fact that he was in terror right now.

Eve opens her eyes, and her hair was messy as they stick out in various directions. Her eyes focus on Levi, and as the reality sinks into her, her brown eyes widen as she grabs the sheets to cover herself. “Levi?!” She repeats louder as she kicks against the bed to push herself backwards.

They stare back at each other in horror.

“What the hell? Did we—What in the Walls, Levi?!”

Levi looks scandalized. How fucking dare she? “Why the fuck are you yelling at me?! I don’t even—”

“G-Get out!” Eve throws a pillow at him. “Get out right now!”

Levi catches the pillow by pure instinct, brows furrowing at her. “Eve…” Eve, fuck, th-that’s good, don’t fucking stop, Eve— “Fuck!” Levi screws his eyes shut when a sudden memory of his own voice fucking shoots through his head.

“Levi, get out!” Eve hisses as she gets up, taking the sheets with her and Levi widens his eyes, grabbing the sheet to cover himself as well.

“Oi! Stop fucking moving!”

“Get dressed and get the hell out, then!”

“Why are you being such a fucking—”

A knock on the door. “Eve?”

Levi and Eve’s eyes widen at the voice, and they look at one another in terror. Without another word, Levi quietly but quickly pulls on his clothes, grabbing them from random places in the messy room.

A knock again. And Eve quickly gets dressed as well, with Levi averting his eyes. “Just a minute! I’m… I’m naked!” She blurts as she finishes buttoning up her shirt.

Levi gives her an unimpressed look, and Eve frantically shrugs.

Once they were both dressed, Levi hides behind the door as Eve opens it, smiling brightly at her untimely guest. “Good morning, Erwin. What brings you to my office?”

Erwin looks concerned. “You disappeared last night. Hange said you passed out in your room.”

“Oh… yeah, I think I drank too much. Wild unplanned party. But I’m better now.”

It was an unfortunate image. Erwin is separated from a barely dressed Levi by a door as Eve talks to the captain.

Erwin sighs, rubbing his own forehead. “Yes… an extremely wild yet needed party last night. Might even made history among the scouts,” his voice is filled with amusement.

Eve laughs casually, as if Levi isn’t staring at her side profile with his tensed shoulders. “Well, it’s not a common thing for me to be bested during a fight.”

Erwin smiles. “I’m glad that you feel better. I was worried that after Sadies, you would still feel disappointed.”

“I still am, but… I guess I’m feeling a bit fine now.”

“Good. Join me for breakfast? I’m on my way to visit our strongest soldier to invite him.” Erwin chuckles, and there is a hint of pride in his voice as he talks about Levi.

Levi couldn’t help but hold his breath the entire time, and Eve just waves Erwin off. “It’s okay. I can go talk to Levi. Wanted to see him anyway. I’ll meet you in your office.”

Erwin nods, reaching over to squeeze Eve’s shoulder before leaving through her office door. Levi lets out a breath and starts pacing across the room.

“This is demented—”

“Big word. Want a gold star?” Eve glares, grabbing the jacket of her uniform, that was thrown in the ground. Thrown by his hands.

Levi grits his teeth, mirroring her glare as he pushes out all perverted thoughts from his head. “Fuck you, Eve.”

“Well, evidently, you already did.” She spits out, unable to stop herself even when Levi’s eyes fill with rage.

He leaves the room after furiously tying his shoes. He doesn’t bother putting his jacket and straps on, since he just grabs them and slams the door close.

Eve slumps into her bed, screaming into her pillow.

Levi grips his fork tight, trying his best to remember anything last night. What makes it worse is that Erwin sits across from him, eating elegantly like he usually does. Hange came by earlier to say that Eve won’t make it, since she doesn’t feel as well as Erwin thought she did earlier. But Levi knew better.

She has some nerve. Eve’s acting like she’s fucking innocent? She knew what Levi feels about this, about her.

But then again, Levi went to her office. But was that a real memory? Or just one of his fantasies? Levi can’t remember shit, and it was his worst nightmare when Erwin chuckles.

“Levi, are you okay?” He asks, amused as he eats.

He tenses up, but looks at Erwin anyway. “I’m good. My head just fucking hurts,” he takes his cup of tea and drinks.

Erwin smiles. “You deserved a great night, Levi.”

He chokes as he drinks his tea, cursing once the boiled liquid hits his hands. He places his cup back down, blinking rapidly when her moans echoed in his head this time.

“Are you okay?” Erwin asks, this time, with concern.

“I’m fine,” Levi says through his teeth. “My head, it’s just fucking me up. For a moment there, I forgot the tea is hot.”

Erwin huffs a laugh. “You really had a great time last night, huh?” He smiles. “I have good news for you, Levi.”

“Oh, yeah? What is it?”

“Sadies. He told me this morning that he’s considering you to become a squad leader.”

Levi widens his eyes in brief surprise. “What?”

Erwin looks proud, smiling gently at Levi. “I talked to him about your accomplishments, and he said you were one of the candidates for the next squad leader. I think the celebration last night truly nailed the hammer.”

“You saying that me beating the crap out of the section commander is what convinced the commander to make me squad leader?”

Erwin lets out a soft laugh, but shakes his head. “No, Levi. He’s actually been eyeing you for a while, even before I broached the subject.” Erwin looks proud, it makes Levi sick knowing what he did last night. “I have high hopes that by the end of the week, you’ll be leading your own squad, Levi.”

Levi doesn’t know what to say. This was a start. He’s climbing the ranks by skill and determination alone, and he deserves to be proud of that. But as he thinks of his sheer stupidity during the night before, Levi doesn’t think he should make the cut.

He forms a grateful look towards Erwin, not wanting the man feel like his efforts are wasted. “Thank you.”

“No need for that. I’m excited for you, Levi. You’ll reach very far within the regiment. And I’ll remain by your side as your main supporter. You have my unwavering faith, Levi. You’ll be a great addition to the Survey Corps’ officers.” Erwin smiles, continuing to eat as if his words didn’t bring a certain warmth in Levi’s stomach. Both the feeling of comfort and guilt.

Fuck, Levi can’t believe he slept with the woman Erwin loves. What the actual fuck is wrong with him? Why is he letting Eve drive him insane like this?

Erwin was right. By the end of the week, Sadies announces Levi as the newest squad leader. Within a few months of being part of the scouts, Levi has finally become a leader, which is a step into the chain of command. Levi was slightly glad that Erwin told him a week before, because now, Levi was prepared. Sadies introduces him to his team, now known as ‘Levi Squad’. All of them are men, all except one girl.

Shit.

Levi stares back at the woman, who he sleeps with every other night for the past month. Sadies introduces her as Petra Ral, and it was the first time Levi found out her name. Levi shakes her hand as if he hadn’t been fucking her stupid for the past weeks.

The rest of the team is introduced. Edgar, Millen, Olyvar, Eld and Gunther. Levi Squad.

Levi wonders when all of them will die on him, it was only a matter of time. Scout leaders lose members all the time during expeditions, what makes Levi any different? Although, deep down, Levi knows that he will do everything in his willpower to prevent that from happening.

Their monthly expedition comes in a few days, and as Levi gears up his horse, he can hear footsteps approaching him.

He turns, seeing Petra come over with a bucket of water for Levi’s horse. Levi watches her for a moment before continuing to brush the horse.

“Levi,” she softly says, and he listens without facing her. “I’m sorry.”

“What are you sorry for?” Levi frowns.

“I didn’t know the commander was going to assign me to your team.”

“How is that your fault? Don’t apologize for shit.” Levi bluntly says.

“If… if I had known, I would’ve said something to the commander.”

“Like what? I can’t join this team because I fucked the squad leader?”

Petra flushes. “I-I wouldn’t phrase it like that if I had to explain things.”

“Relax, Ral. What we do, it doesn’t mean anything.” Levi admits. “We use each other. That’s all there is to it.”

“R-Right.” Petra meekly says, and it makes Levi glance at her.

He analyzes her from head to toe. Levi’s frown deepens. “Don’t tell me you have feelings for me? Seriously? I treat you like shit.”

Petra’s eyes widen, but the flush on her cheeks are still evident under the moonlight. “Th-That’s not—! I didn’t—!”

Levi just sighs. “Why do you brats always seem to end up liking the person who treats you like shit the most?” He grumbles, turning to face Petra this time. She is as rigid as a statue, and braces herself for his next words. “I have to be honest with you, Petra, but I didn’t know your name until the commander introduced us.”

She looks like she knew, but the hurt on her face was still evident.

Levi gives her a hesitant look. “Look. If you’re uncomfortable with me being your squad leader, I can talk to Commander Sadies for you.”

“It’s not like that. It’s… it’s an honor to be working with you. It’s just…”

“It’s just what?”

Petra ducks her head a bit, almost in a shy way. “Will this get in the way? Of what we do?”

Levi blinks at her. Does he still want to sleep with her? After what happened between him and Eve? Does that even matter?

“We stop.” Levi answers simply.

Petra nods, agreeing with him. They work in silence, and Petra gives the horses some water. Afterwards, they walk together back to headquarters.

Fucking great.

Across the hallway, he sees Eve and Erwin walking. Levi knows that Eve saw them before Erwin did. Fucking hell, Erwin. I’m begging you. Don’t stop walking, damn it.

“Ah, Levi,” Erwin stops walking as the four of them approach one another. “I see that you and one of your team are preparing for the expedition. How’s the promotion?”

Petra offers a polite smile towards Erwin, greeting him with respect. Levi just looks as he usually does. “Still getting used to being called ‘Sir’,”

Erwin looks pleased, patting Levi’s shoulder. “Glad to hear it. And Ral, how is Levi as a squad leader? No unnecessary commands so far, I assume?” His tone is laced with amusement, just as Levi’s eyes meet Eve’s. Neither of them look away from one another, like a silent conversation. Or argument. The spectrum is quite blurry.

“He is brilliant, captain.” Petra couldn’t help but gush, and the tint on her cheeks are evident. “Although, the others were confused at first because his first command was to clean our quarters.”

Erwin chuckles. “Why does that not surprise me?”

“Oi. Watch your mouth,” Levi tells Petra, who almost lets out a nervous squeak. “Tell the others to take your gears to maintenance. I’m not about to let your first expedition as a squad be a complete failure.”

“Yes, sir!” Petra salutes, before scurrying off.

Erwin hums, smiling as he watches Petra leave. “Aren’t you a natural?”

“That, or Miss Ral just enjoys being bossed around,” Eve finally speaks, to which Erwin grows amused with. However, Levi just narrows his eyes at her.

“Where are you two going anyway?” Levi asks instead, ignoring her remark.

“Dr. Jaeger’s clinic. We’re going to check if the heart rate monitor is still working. Hange made some adjustments.” Erwin says. “Join us?”

Levi glances between him and Eve before walking past them. “No.”

“Alright, then.” Erwin looks at him from over his shoulder.

Levi doesn’t reply and just continues walking, a behavior that Erwin doesn’t find unusual since he has always been that way. However, it makes Eve frown as she walks from next to the captain.

Why can’t Levi fucking remember? This is driving him insane. A week after that night and Levi still can’t remember what the fuck happened.

He slept with Eve. Eve. And he doesn’t remember? What the fuck is that about? How can he not remember important shit like that? What kind of an idiot is he?

“Sir!”

Levi blinks, glancing down at his hand and sees the teacup crushed in his hold. He stares at the seeping blood, dumbfounded. Petra immediately grabs his hand to wrap it with her handkerchief, stopping the bleeding as the rest of the team watches in surprise.

They were all having breakfast while making light conversation, when suddenly, their squad leader shatters his teacup out of nowhere.

Levi jolts on his feet, rising from his chair with a sudden move that stunned his team. His eyes are a bit wide as he stares at the table, the shattered ceramic teacup has droplets of blood on them.

Petra looks cautious. “We should take you to the infirmary, sir…”

Levi doesn’t respond, and only grabs his jacket to walk away. He simply says, “Don’t follow me,” to his squad and they respond with an obedient “sir!” on his way out of the cafeteria. Petra looks worried as she sits back down, cleaning up the mess.

He finds himself marching towards the laboratory building, where he sees Hange. They light up when seeing Levi, and they seem to be carrying documents. “Hey, Levi! Congrats on the new squad! You know, it’s really impressive! No one became squad leader in such a short amount of time—!” Hange’s own gasp cuts them off from talking, when Levi grabs their shoulders to hold them still.

“What do you remember during the night of that celebration? Tell me everything you know, damn it!”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Hange gapes, feeling Levi’s hands tighten on their shoulders. “Can you calm down? Jeez!”

“Tell me, Hange!”

“You mean your little party? How should I remember? I was shitfaced by the end of the night!” They laugh, not even minding that Levi is glaring at them, since it’s pretty normal by now. “I think Moblit was the one who was more sober than the rest of us, he can tell you.”

Levi grits his teeth, but releases Hange. They fix themselves without complaint.

“What’s this about, though? Something happened that night?” Hange excitedly asks, but it fades and is replaced with worry. “It’s… nothing like the issue during Eve’s celebration, right? Is that why you’re so worked up?”

Levi and Eve having drunken sex is not really as groundbreaking as multiple cadets being poisoned with wine. He doesn’t bother telling Hange that. “No. You seriously don’t remember shit?”

“Hm…” Hange rubs their chin to think, and they light up. “Oh! I remember when the party ended. I think you came here to talk to Eve.”

Shit. That was a memory, and not some jumbled up images in his head.

“What else do you remember?” Levi presses.

Hange looks at him, squinting their eyes for a moment before laughing. They laugh until they needed to wipe their eyes. Levi just stares, not wanting to say anything that might give something away. Hange sniffles, almost as if what they remember was something incredibly funny.

“Mm… not much after that.”

“The fuck? What’s with the fucking laugh, then?”

Hange snorts, shaking their head. “Just my brain making stuff up. You won’t find it hilarious, though. I’d rather not end up with my head bashed in!”

“How tempting.”

“All I remember correctly is that Moblit took me back to my bed so I can pass out.” Hange smirks. “Did you pass out here in the lab again, and you’re too embarrassed to admit it?”

“Tch.“

“You here to talk to Vonnie? She’s in her room. Hasn’t come out yet, I think she’s still sleeping.” Hange laughs. “You should wake her up! You did it before! She didn’t seem to mind.”

“Uh… no, I’m good.” Levi grimaces. The last thing Eve needs is to see Levi’s face first thing in the morning again.

Fuck, he can’t believe he remembers nothing. This is just fucked up.

The expedition comes, and there were more casualties than usual. Levi Squad was the only one that remained intact when they got home. Not even Erwin’s team was complete, suffering two casualties in it.

Eve, on the other hand, lost half her team.

And they found nothing about titans.

As the body bags were being piled in carriages after yet another expedition, Levi has found himself growing number to the sights of fellow scouts being devoured left and right. He has been on many monthly expeditions now, and survived each one. Only because he follows the chain of command while also balancing out his own instincts. He isn’t a horrible leader, either.

He sees Eve standing over a few body bags, and she kneels to rip out the badges from their uniforms. Probably to give to their families and friends. If they even have one. Most of the scouts had no families and therefore had no one to miss them.

But as Levi observes Eve from afar, it seems like someone will miss them after all.

They return to base hours later, and it was already dark outside. Scouts were drained of energy that some went straight to bed, crying over lost comrades and mulling over the horrors they’ve witnessed.

As Levi finishes drying his hair after his shower, he notices that his roommate is missing, and realizes that it might be because he was dead. Not that Levi talked to him for more than a few minutes. Still, there was a strange ache in his chest when he realized that.

A knock on the door pulls him out from whatever trance he was in, and he half-expected it to be his roommate, but he wouldn’t knock if it was. When Levi swings the door open, he reels back upon meeting the familiar brown eyes of Eve.

Even in her grief, she still looked like she was at her best, as always. Beautiful. Levi hated it so much. How can she look like that and expect Levi to just ignore the fact that they actually slept together?

His body goes rigid, and he couldn’t say anything. So, she goes first.

“I couldn’t focus today, and it cost me half my team.”

Levi stares back at her. “You blaming me that half your squad is dead?”

She shakes her head. “Actually, I blame myself.”

“There wasn’t anything you can do. Being a leader only takes you so far. It’s still always down to your people how they’re going to fight.” Levi states. “Don’t give me this self-pity crap, Eve. Don’t cry over their deaths. Make their deaths count. That’ll actually do something.”

“How is it that you always manage to say the harshest truths?” She musters a weak smile.

“Tch. Got nothing else to say other than the truth. Coming up with a lie is way harder.”

Eve hums, leaning her head against the doorframe as her eyes instinctively wanders across Levi’s quarters. It was neat, and organized. She can even smell the hint of cleaning materials around them.

“Got anything else to say? I’m fucking exhausted. I just want to sleep.” Levi tells her, but his palms are beginning to sweat. He can’t be in her vicinity alone like this, or he might remember something.

What the fuck? A minute ago, he’s complaining he can’t remember, and now that there’s a chance he will, Levi wants to run from it? Make up your damn mind, you idiot.

Eve clenches her jaw, and Levi observes the way she… wait, is she fucking nervous?

She fiddles with the silver ring around her index finger, eyes casting towards the ground. “I want to talk about what happened to us that night, Levi.”

Should he feel relieved that he’ll finally find out what the fuck happened? Levi isn’t sure what he feels. “What about it?” Fuck, that was dumb to say.

“I… I wanted you to leave because I was… I was…”

Levi’s eyes burn through hers, anticipating her next words.

“I was embarrassed, okay?” She tells Levi before sighing. “To tell you the truth, I… I don’t remember anything. I still don’t. I only know one thing. We… didn’t really go all the way,” she offers a weak smile. “If we did, I would’ve felt it the morning after.”

That’s a fucking relief. Somehow, only a small weight from Levi’s chest is removed. He doesn’t show it on his face. Even if they didn’t actually go all the way, they must’ve done everything else. Fucking hell.

“But anything else, I don’t remember. Not even flashes or… anything you said to me, or did to me. Nothing. And I’m embarrassed because I didn’t want you to feel like I used you. Especially not after the conversation we had. We know how we feel about each other, Levi. So, sleeping with you for the first time and not remembering it, would just be a slap on your face.”

Levi blinks at her, half-mortified and half… relieved.

“And what kind of person does that make me?” Eve grimaces. “Getting drunk, sleeping with a person I care about without considering the consequences, acting like a complete arsehole about it the next morning… and it’s you, Levi,” she gives him a pained expression. “How can I not remember something so important with you? That night should’ve been the best night of my life, and I ruined it by not having any memory of it. I’m so sorry, Levi. I… I understand if you want nothing to do with this, with me, but I just wanted to tell you what’s on my mind.”

Her apology makes his stomach twist. Why is she sorry? They were literally thinking the same goddamn thing.

Before Levi could even control himself, he grabs Eve’s arm to pull her inside the room. He shuts the door and pushes her against it. Before she could gasp, he leans in and presses his lips into hers. Eve lets out a muffled noise of surprise, but her hands go to Levi’s shoulders to seemingly pull him closer. Her lips are soft, and there is a hint of salt that tells Levi she had been crying earlier before coming here. The last time he saw her crying was the day before his first expedition. What he wouldn’t do for her not to cry for the rest of her life again.

The hands that once pulled him close, are now pushing at his chest. He complies, pulling away to see the look of incredulity on her face.

“Don’t,” she breathlessly pants out, shaking her head. “Don’t kiss me if you don’t mean it. That’ll only make this worse,” her voice breaks at the end, and Levi is stunned by the hint of tears in her eyes. “Please… I just came here to explain my side because it’s been eating me alive the past week. I didn’t come here for this.”

Her voice is barely audible, as she presses herself against the door to at least keep some distance between them, and Levi feels his chest sink. How did he manage to fuck this up again?

He releases her, and Eve immediately grabs the doorknob, exiting the room quicker than Levi is with his blades. Once he was alone, Levi paces for around for a minute before he tightly grips his own hair. “Fuck!” He growls, and without a second thought, he sprints through the door and looks for Eve through the various scouts walking around.

Levi grits his teeth. Damn it. How is she so fucking fast with walking?

He makes his way to the laboratory building, going behind it to sneak inside the window of her office. He can’t have Hange seeing him on the way in. Levi goes to the bedroom door, frantically knocking until his knuckles burned.

It opens, and reveals a confused Eve, and she widens her eyes upon seeing Levi, whose face is filled with stress and defeat, but with an underlying emotion she can’t figure out. She looks like she was ready to go to sleep, from how she is no longer in uniform, and only wore pajamas.

“I don’t remember shit either.” Levi blurts out.

A beat, and there is silence between them. Steel grey eyes locked with brown ones, a pair that Levi wanted to sink himself into. His hands could almost shake in desperation to reach out and hold her. He barely recognizes himself… or is this who he truly is the whole time, and Eve coaxed it out of him?

“But I’ll make sure you won’t forget this time.” Levi marches towards her, cupping her face in both palms before pressing his lips into hers.

Her body goes rigid, but after a few seconds, she softens and kisses him back with equal eagerness. Levi pushes the door closed with his boot, grabbing Eve’s waist to hoist her up on his hips before walking to her bed. He sprawls her across the sheets, not wanting to let go of her lips from how fucking divine it feels to kiss her.

Levi never kissed anyone during sex, but at this moment, he feels like he would lose his goddamn mind if he doesn’t indulge himself with kissing her.

Levi pulls away to start kissing down her jaw and neck, all while unbuttoning her shirt. Levi pushes the clothing off her shoulders and throws it behind him. He can hear Eve panting, and it mixes in with his blurry memories in the back of his head. Memories he can’t pick apart from reality and fantasy, because God fucking help him, he has dreamt of having Eve sprawled underneath him like this a thousand times.

He pulls his own shirt off before throwing it to the floor and leaning down to press their mouths together again, his tongue sliding wetly against hers to make her moan into his lips. Levi reaches for her brassiere and unhooks it, pulling it off her so he can lick across her nipples and blow against it. Eve squirms under him, throwing her head back into the pillow.

Levi watches her with hooded eyes, gently pinching and twisting her nipples with his fingers. “You’re so fucking beautiful, especially like this.”

“Levi—” she gasps when he starts flicking his tongue against her nipple, feeling it stiffen under his touch.

How can Levi not remember this? He fucking hates himself so much, because there is no way he didn’t do this even in his drunken state.

He slides his hands under the waistband of her pajamas, hooking his fingers so he can pull them down her legs. Now, Eve is only wearing her panties, and Levi tosses her pajamas to the floor. He has never seen a more attractive sight than Eve being almost nude, with her skin flushed and her chest heaving with breaths.

He reaches for his belt, unbuckling it before taking his own pants off. Eve eyes him the entire time, her cheeks flushed red as her hair.

Levi climbs between her legs, spreading them until they dangle from his sides. Levi kisses her ankle, trailing his mouth upwards to make his way towards the dampness of her panties, but skipping over it in order to kiss the skin of her other leg. He listens to her uneven breaths, and she whines. The complete opposite of how she always asserts herself as the dominant and commanding person in the room. Levi almost couldn’t believe his eyes and ears.

“Levi, please,” she begs so sweetly as he continues to kiss her skin. “Please, I need you, please do something.”

“Shh,” he reaches up to gently swipe his thumb across her lips, and almost groans out when she wraps her mouth around his finger while giving him this look. “Eve…” fuck, fuck, fuck.

Levi pulls his finger out just so he could use both hands to yank her underwear down her hips and legs. He throws it over his shoulder before spreading her legs. Levi’s throat bobs at the sight of her glistening wet pussy, twitching under his gaze as her legs squirm from how much she is desperate to be touched. Her pale skin is now completely bare to him, and his eyes raked all over it until all the tiny spots he notices have been engraved in his mind.

He leans, littering marks on her skin to signify that she was his. This woman is mine, he thinks to himself as he leaves a mark on her hipbone. His nose nudges against the crease where her thigh meets her mound, and he couldn’t help but dart his tongue out to taste her pussy. The wail she lets out makes Levi groan, grabbing her hips to press his mouth against her, flicking his tongue against her folds until he feels her hands treading in his hair. Eve is torn between moaning and losing her breath, prompting Levi to continue until she’s damn near stupid.

She tastes like nothing he has ever tasted before, and he starved for it, like he was near death. Levi reaches up to rub the small nub hidden between her folds, and it makes Eve gasp. He circles his tongue around her entrance, with his other hand creeping up her thigh to press two fingers inside of her. Eve’s wet, warm and velvety walls wrap around Levi’s fingers, and he couldn’t help but move his fingers until Eve could no longer control her own hips from fucking herself into his fingers. As he slams his fingers into her, he tongues her clit in a way that drives her insane. Fucking hell, Levi could do this every single hour. He couldn’t help but grind against the mattress to relieve some pressure on his cock, but it wasn’t enough.

He feels her trying to push his head away, and he understood immediately. Levi doesn’t want her to come yet, not until she was around his cock. God, he wants to feel her come around him.

Levi can feel his cock straining in his pants, and he had to slip them off himself. His hard shaft is wet with precum, and it smacks against his lower stomach. Eve wraps her legs around him, and with grace in her movements, swivels them around until Levi is on his back and she straddles his hips.

His breath was knocked from his chest when his back hit the mattress, and Eve towers over him. The light from the lamp casts shadows over her face and body, making her look damn ethereal. Levi isn’t so sure if he’s dreaming this all up like he always does, but when he feels her warm hands curl around his cock, he realizes that this was real.

He screws his eyes shut, pressing his head back into the pillow as her expert hands twist around his cock. How is he already like this without her ever using her mouth?

“Oh, fuck, Eve,” Levi grunts, unable to stop himself from thrusting up into her fists. Levi is reminded by her strength when she pulls her other arm to restrain Levi’s hips, pressing him back into the bed. “Eve, come on, just… fuck, I need more.”

Eve has a wicked smile on her face, and Levi is momentarily stunned yet excited for what comes next. It was like she was about to say something filthy enough to send shivers down his spine, but she holds back. Gives him a look that says, not tonight.

Levi has a small inkling on what she was thinking about, though. He wasn’t stupid. He had an idea of what Eve wanted to do with him. Or to him.

When his legs begin shaking, she releases him from her fists, and he falls limp into the bed again. Fuck, all that from just her hands. Levi has no idea how he’ll survive being actually inside her.

And he was about to find out. Levi pants on the mattress, catching his breath while Eve reaches for her drawer to take out a familiar silver packet. She tears it open with her teeth, and Levi hisses while she slips it onto his cock. Eve smiles at him, a sweet smile that would contrast her next words.

“If you weren’t such a fucking whore, I wouldn’t be letting you wear this,” she taps her slender finger against his twitching cock, wrapped with a rubber material. Levi lets out an embarrassing noise, and his eyes close with bliss when she grabs his cock to line him up with her entrance.

As Eve slowly slides down, Levi grunts and grabs her hips, his nails digging into her skin while he enters her. The head of his throbbing cock slips inside her all of a sudden, and it makes both of them gasp out. Levi’s toes curl once he continues to slip inside of her, the heat of her body is just unbelievable.

Eve’s rear is now flushed against Levi’s hips, and she grinds on top of him. Fuck, he can feel everything, even her tiniest little movements. Levi can feel her pussy clenching around him, and he couldn’t help but curse under his breath.

“Eve, fucking… god,” Levi’s hands tremble on her hips. “You feel so—ah—so fucking good,” he whimpers, not finding it in himself to care about how fucking dumb he sounds, now that he was inside her.

She starts lifting her hips slowly before slamming herself down, and the action knocks the breath from his lungs. Eve rakes her fingernails on his chest, scratching his skin and mixing the pain with the heat he feels from her riding him. Eve finds a pace of her own, and it has Levi grunting from underneath her. She takes control of his own pleasure, and Levi would usually hate it with anyone else, but he would surrender to Eve at any given moment.

Eve leans down to press her lips against Levi’s, her breasts pressing against his chest as they share a messy kiss while Eve swivels her hips against his cock. Not exactly fucking him, but making him feel every single ridge inside her, as if she was looking for a specific spot.

Levi assumes that she found it when she breaks their kiss to sigh, and her legs shake from straddling Levi. He takes that as his chance to grab her waist, flipping them over to take charge this time. Surprised, Eve lies down, letting Levi take her legs and have them dangle over his shoulders. He wraps his arms around her thighs before thrusting into the same spot she found. Eve’s mouth opens with a soundless scream, and the sight leads to the smirk on his face.

She grabs the sheets around them, fisting them from the pleasure he was giving her. She chants his name like it always belonged there, and Levi reaches his hand over, filling her mouth with his fingers. She moans around them as Levi slams his hips into hers, the room echoes with the filthy and obscene wet sounds of where they were joined.

He lowers her legs, doing the same thing she did with leaning down to kiss her gently while he thrusts relentlessly into her. Eve cups his face, their tongues brushing against one another. He feels her fingers playing with his hair, and he smiles against her lips. How can she be so fucking cute while having his cock inside her?

“Levi, fuck, go faster. Please,” she moans into his lips, and he complies with the request. His hips drill into hers, his cock hitting that spot that makes her sight blurry. Levi groans when he feels her clench around him.

“Eve, f-fuck you, fuck you, shit, s-stop doing that,” he pauses his movements, eyes screwing shut. “G-Give me a second, shit. Fuck you.”

Eve holds back a smile, watching as Levi tries his best not to cum on the spot. She reaches up to slide her palms up his arms, stimulating him even further. “Aw, is humanity’s strongest soldier about to cum?”

Levi glares at her, but his face flushes with embarrassment. “Yes, and it’s your fucking fault,” he reaches down to rub his fingers against her clit. With his movements, he feels her grow wetter around him. Levi watches the way her eyes falter from the pleasure. “Can’t believe I can’t remember this pretty pussy. God, I bet I fucking lost my mind when I saw you like this.”

Eve moans at his words, spreading her legs wider. She gasps whenever she feels his cock twitching inside her, but otherwise stays still. At Levi’s lack of movements, she can feel his cock pulsing inside of her.

Levi brushes his nose against her jaw. “Wish I could feel you. Hate this stupid condom,” he grumbles, but doesn’t truly sound angry. More like annoyed in an amused way.

“Yeah, but like I said earlier,” her lips twitch into a smile when feeling Levi tense above her, as if reminded by what she called him. “If you weren’t fucking someone else, I would’ve let you fuck me bare.”

Levi groans into her neck. “What, you jealous?”

Eve chuckles into his ear, shifting her hips. The movement makes Levi whimper quietly in pleasure. “You know what I think? I think you were just trying to get my attention, you little slut.”

Levi shakily breathes in, and begins thrusting into her again. “D-Don’t call me that,” he quietly says, hiding his flushed face as he buries it into her neck, kissing her skin there.

Eve just hums noncommittally as Levi starts fucking her again, regaining his composure. He grunts, finally pulling back to watch the look on Eve’s face as they chase their highs. Levi couldn’t look away, even if he wanted to, and he couldn’t want to. Eve looks so divine yet filthy when she comes around him with a wail of his name. Levi reaches his high and spills inside her, before he collapses on top of her. His body fills with overwhelming euphoria, all because of Eve and her warmth.

They pant in equal exhaustion, and Levi feels her arms wrap around him, accepting him against her chest. He feels the vibration of her heartbeat, erratic and dizzying. Levi nuzzles into her, eyes closing. He was too tired to clean himself up, something he always does after sex no matter what.

Fucking hell, what has she done to him? Levi wonders that question with a smile on his blissed out face.

Chapter Text

When Levi wakes up, he can immediately feel eyes on him, even before he opened his.

“What are you doing?” He grumbles, sleepy yet still firm. The warmth of her body is so close to his, it makes his arm lazily slide up her waist, feeling her soft skin against his own.

“Nothing,” comes her gentle voice, and Levi can practically hear her smile. He lets out a hum, eyes still closed.

Minutes pass, and Levi feels like her eyes never left his face.

“Stop it.”

“I’m not doing anything,” she giggles out, quiet, as if her voice being any louder will disrupt the morning—something Levi can’t even begin to imagine to be true.

“Stop looking at me,” Levi scolds, eyebrows knotting together in disapproval, but still pulling her closer.

“I don’t want to.”

Levi takes the sheets, covering his tinting face, and Eve chuckles as she tries to pull on them.

“Oh, come on,” she playfully complains, tugging on the sheets. “You’re pretty. I like looking at you.”

“Fuck you.”

“Potty mouth!” Eve laughs teasingly.

Eventually, he gives in and reveals his face again. This time, his eyes are open. For half a second, he regrets opening them, because he doesn’t ever want to blink.

Eve’s cheeks are slightly flushed, and her brown eyes twinkle underneath the rising sun from the window. Her dark red hair spills across the pillows, contrasting against her pale skin. She looked like she walked straight out of Levi’s dream, it was so fucking annoying how beautiful and perfect she is without even trying. Annoying enough for Levi to reach over and tuck a stray strand of hair behind her ear.

“Morning, handsome,” she smiles, leaning in to press a brief kiss on the corner of his lips. “What do you want for breakfast?”

Two sentences he never thought he would ever hear from Eve’s mouth. It makes him blink, wondering if he’s still in a dream or something. The feeling of her fingers tracing the faint scars on his chest makes him think that he’s indeed awake.

“Unless you want to eat in the cafeteria,” Eve says when Levi stays quiet for a long time.

“No. Whatever you have is fine.”

Neither of them move, too comfortable in their positions to get up.

“Is everything okay? You look like something is bothering you.” She looks anxious all of a sudden, and Levi knows that she thinks it’s because of last night. But it wasn’t.

“I feel like I barely know you,” Levi mutters. “But at the same time, I feel like I know you better than anyone.”

Eve smiles. “What do you want to know about me?”

“Everything,” he whispers. “I want to know about your parents. How you grew up with eleven sisters. How you became a soldier. Why you wanted to be a scout. What your dad thought of that. You know. Everything.”

Eve suppresses an even wider smile as she gently taps on his collarbone. She tells him about how her parents met at her father’s inauguration party. Her mother was the chef, freshly graduated. Zackly was instantly charmed by her, and chased after her for a year until she finally fell for him as well. They were married, and had Eve a year later.

“Sounds like a happy family.”

She chuckles, nuzzling closer to him. “We were, for a time. My mom died when I was three.”

“Oh. I’m sorry to hear that.” Levi quietly says, finding himself caress the skin of her back with his fingers. “How did it happen?”

“My mother… was ill. And there wasn’t any cure that can help her. That’s what my dad told me.”

Levi stays quiet, connecting a few dots. “Is that why you decided to be a doctor?”

He feels her nod against him. “I wanted to figure out how to help people who were like my mom. Dr. Jaeger helped me. He said that my mom’s illness was treatable, but we don’t have the right tools to treat it,” she tells him. “It’s still not treatable now. But I’ll always be grateful for Dr. Jaeger’s guidance.”

Levi says nothing, but Eve is relaxed by the way he is touching her affectionately. Eve talks about her sisters, and how she is thankful for her stepmothers for giving them to her. She held no ill feelings towards her stepmothers, even when her first stepmother chose to divorce her father due to individual differences. Levi can see how much Eve loves her family, no matter how complicated it is. Especially her sisters. Eve practically has stars in her eyes as she talks about each of them, and how proud she is of the women they’ve all become.

“Yeah, but you definitely have a favorite. And least favorite.”

“I do not!”

“Come on. You can trust me. Tell me who they are.”

“I don’t have a favorite!”

“It’s Mina, isn’t it?”

Eve hides her face. “Shut up. She isn’t.”

“Mina is the favorite sister. Got it. Least favorite, should I still guess? Rhymes with malaria, fucking pest.”

“Levi!” Eve scolds in between laughter. “Stop it!”

When she hides her face, it reassures Levi that she can’t see his. So, he allows himself to smile at the sound of her laugh. He did that. He made her happy.

Eve playfully swats his naked chest, and he huffs a chuckle before burying his nose into her hair to inhale her scent. There is a hint of a distinct scent that was wholly her. Levi closes his eyes, letting himself breathe her in.

“Tell me more,” he quietly requests against her hair.

Then, Eve talks about her time at the cadet corps and how difficult it was to have her father’s support. When she proved herself to him by ranking first at the cadet corps after vigorous training, Zackly finally approved. Although, he still had some reserved opinions about her joining the scouts instead of the MPs, but all that mattered to Eve was how he supported her choices.

She speaks of how she met Erwin and Hange, and how they all joined the same cadet corps batch. They were Eve’s first friends there, along with a Nile Dok and Roth, who are both MPs now. Levi knows who Roth is, recalling him to be the commander of the MPs and also a man who tried to kill Levi once.

And as much as Levi is enjoying having her like this, the guilt still seeps through his bones when he remembers what Erwin looked like back in the party, when Eve was flirting with the commander of the MPs, who was apparently also a childhood friend of hers.

What would Erwin feel if he finds out about this?

“You okay?”

“What do we tell Erwin?”

Eve blinks, shifting her head to view him clearer. “Erwin? What do you mean?”

“You know what I mean, Eve. Do we tell him about this?”

Eve looks a bit amused, not exactly what Levi is looking for right now. “Do we even know what this is?”

“What do you want this to be?” He quietly asks, anticipating her answer, but not showing it on his face. He doesn’t want to look too eager, or that might scare her off.

Eve smiles, a genuine one, and she reaches up to brush her knuckles against his cheek. Then, she pushes herself towards him, and their lips press softly together. Levi’s eyes flutter shut, and his stomach twists into knots. A foreign feeling he doesn’t dislike.

She pulls back, and Levi couldn’t help the dazed look on his face. Eve suppresses a smile, returning to her position and cuddling up to him. Levi never knew he liked being cuddled. If two years ago, someone tells him that this is what he’ll be in the future, Levi would’ve killed them on the spot.

“Oi. That doesn’t answer my question…” Levi quietly says, nudging her a bit.

“Do I have to spell it out for you, Levi? I want you. I want to wake up next to you every day, and kiss you before I start my morning,” she says, hiding her face into his chest. “I want everything to be the exact same as it was, only that I get to touch and hold you in ways that friends shouldn’t do.”

“You saying you want me to be your boyfriend?” Levi asks, trying to ignore the way his skin is heating up from the words she said.

The warmth in his body was difficult to brush off, and he has no idea how to minimize his pulse rate. From the way Eve is pressing herself into his chest, he has no doubt that she can feel his rapid heartbeat.

“Boyfriend. Significant other. Partner. They’re just labels,” she mumbles, her voice a little breathy. Her fingers softly graze against his skin, leaving bumps along their trail. “You… you’re an extension of me, Levi. And I finally found you.”

An extension of her. Levi feels tingles down his spine at the thought of that. Even just imagining other people associating Levi as Eve’s extension, it brings him an overwhelming feeling of contentment.

“You’re an extension of me, too.” Levi quietly says, almost inaudible. Eve wouldn’t have heard it if she wasn’t so close. His words make her nuzzle herself into him even more, until nothing can ever fit between them anymore, like he is molded into her.

A few seconds pass, and Levi feels her hand wrap around his shaft, making him breathe out a sigh. He presses his forehead against her hair, moaning softly once she begins to pump her hand.

“That’s it, Levi,” she sweetly coos, pressing a kiss on his cheekbone and temple. “You’re so pretty like this…”

“D-Don’t say shit like that,” Levi hisses, but the tips of his ears turn red as he tries to hide his face from her.

She hums, a little amused as she swipes her thumb across his slit, making Levi jolt as precum dribbles from his crown. “But you get so hard and wet when I compliment you. I like seeing you like this.”

“Fuck, Eve,” he holds back a whimper, not wanting to surrender so quick because that’s so embarrassing. He starts to buck his hips into her fist, and he absentmindedly kisses her shoulder and neck.

“You’re so good to me, Levi,” she softly says while her other hand reaches for his lips, where she inserts her fingers into his mouth. Levi moans, sucking on her slender fingers while fucking her fist like a desperate whore. What the fuck does Eve do to him? She renders him into a speechless slut, something he never thought he could be. “Good boy,” she smiles wickedly while pulling her fingers out.

“Eve, sh-shut up,” Levi turns his head away again, embarrassed by how much he enjoys being controlled by her.

“Hm? Are you telling me what to do?” Eve teases, twisting her fist around the tip of his pulsing cock, making him pant heavily while the flush on his face deepens. He can feel his knees shaking from how good it feels, and it’s just her hand. “Is that what good boys do?”

“No…” he mutters.

“Exactly, now don’t hold back those noises for me. I want to hear you, Levi,” she gently pumps her fist on the length of his cock, coaxing out a moan from him.

“Eve, Eve… Eve, fuck, please,” he whimpers, and the sound of it makes her so wet. Levi is so perfect, she can’t believe she’s being allowed to see him like this.

“Please, what, honey?” Her voice is so sweet, Levi would think she’s a fucking angel instead of the demon he was so used to being around with. Although, the cruel way she asks him that question while fully knowing his answer, reminds him that she’s fucking evil.

“Please, let me fuck you. I want… I want your fucking pussy,” he drags his lips across her skin, desperate to feel her.

Eve chuckles, almost in a dark way that makes his cock twitch. She releases him, and his shaft bobs a bit while twitching from time to time with need. “You’re so fucking needy,” the way she swears makes Levi let out a breathy moan. Eve grabs a new condom from her drawer and slips it into him. She adjusts herself on her side, and grabs Levi’s cock before sliding her wet pussy against his tip. He couldn’t help but grab onto her hip with a harsh grip, too needy to care what he looks like now as his mouth opens. Eve sinks into him, and Levi screws his eyes shut.

They move together, lying on their sides while passionately moving their hips. The wet squelch of their joined selves fills their ears. Eve grabs Levi by the chin, and presses their mouths together. Their tongues mingle, panting from time to time as they lazily fuck into each other.

Her walls clamp around his cock, rendering him into a mewling mess.

Levi grows more desperate, addicted to her body as he lifts himself without pulling out. He drags Eve’s body to lie on her back, making her gasp before he starts to thrust into her. Eve moans unabashedly, gripping onto Levi’s shoulders as he fucks her while rubbing her clit.

He quietly chants her name like it was the only thing he could say, and he leans down to kiss her sweetly while slamming her hips into hers.

“Come on, you feel so good. You’re so good to me,” she coos, her voice being shaken by his thrusts.

Levi’s breath hitches at her words, and as her legs shake around her hips from her own peak, she feels him fill the condom with his seed. Levi pants, immediately dropping down on top of her, curling himself into her body as she holds him close. Levi’s eyes flutter shut as he feels her fingers run through his sweaty hair. Levi nuzzles into her neck.

Eve kisses his forehead. “Come on, honey. Shower.”

How the hell is she still able to have any energy? Even a clean freak like Levi can’t be bothered to get up from how tired he is. Eve notices, and she chuckles while pushing him off to walk to the bathroom. He watches her through half-lidded eyes, the way her bare body looks enticing as she smirks at him over her shoulder on the way to the bathroom. Levi sighs, smiling to himself while rubbing his face. Later on, he follows her into the shower.

Acting like nothing happened was surprisingly difficult for Levi. To be able to look at Eve without being reminded of the night before or the morning after… it was fucking impossible.

What was more difficult was looking directly at Erwin in the eye, knowing well enough that Levi has heard Eve’s moans, seen the way she comes undone, felt her hands all over his body. There was a feeling of guilt that he can’t help but feel. Erwin has become a dear friend to Levi, and Levi just had to choose the same woman Erwin loves.

It goes on for a few weeks, just keeping things secret, kissing in her office, sleeping in her bed sometimes. Eve once even gave him a haircut before an expedition, when his hair was getting longer.

“I used to do this for my dad back then.”

“Can’t imagine the commander-in-chief having the same haircut as me.”

Eve chuckles. “Not the same haircut. Sorry, honey. I’m just going to hope for the best.”

“Tch, you better not fuck this up,” he scoffs, secretly enjoying the nickname. “…Why do you call me honey?”

Eve smiles. “In my mum’s diary, she calls my dad ‘honey’. I think it’s really nice. I can’t see you as any other pet name,” she leans down to kiss his cheek while combing his damp hair. “And it fits you. You’re just as sweet.”

“Fuck off.”

“Case in point,” she laughs, and resumes her work, carefully cutting his hair while he watches her in the mirror.

During the latest expedition, by some miracle, Sadies finally greenlit the titan operation. It was a dangerous mission, and over twenty soldiers were taken in the process. None from Levi Squad, though. His team remains intact, unlike the rest. Eve has no idea how Levi does it, but it makes her so proud of him.

The scouts took hostage of two titans, and they were now trapped inside an enclosed area, pinned to the ground with ropes and huge metal nails. When the mission was a success, Eve celebrated by pulling Levi to her office and forcing him to sit on her chair, where she rides him while clamping her hand over his mouth to keep him quiet, keeping him down with her thighs. She has a sadistic smile on her face as she watches Levi whimper against her palm, eyeing her with plea to make him cum. They were so beautiful in each other’s eyes.

Levi can’t recall the last time he had smiled this often, unprovoked sometimes. He would just find himself thinking of Eve, and his lips would form an uncontrollable smile. It was beginning to feel annoying, since he sort of enjoys being feared by other cadets for his unapproachable demeanor. A smile on his face wouldn’t make him look intimidating.

Whenever Levi would see Eve anywhere outside the laboratory building, they would always share a discreet gaze, and something unspoken is exchanged between them.

Eve truly was the extension of himself. It always feels like she already knows what he was thinking, as if his mind was just a complement of hers. They were not two halves that made a whole. They were two wholes that were extensions of one another, separated by their two bodies.

This must be the honeymoon phase that Isabel always gushes about. Fucking annoying, this phase. Levi grows frustrated from just thinking about Eve all the damn time.

He’s probably insane or obsessed, but his mind always ends up wondering about Eve. Levi can barely recognize himself. Just months ago, he was killing MPs left and right. Now, he’s wondering what Eve’s favorite flower is, so he can go get her even just one of it, and make her smile. The annoying smug smile that Levi has come to crave in seeing.

“Oi. Hange.” Levi knocks on their desk, since Hange is so focused on their microscope. “You buy flowers from the market, right? For Isabel and Furlan’s grave?”

Hange looks surprised as they look up. “Yeah?”

“Where do you buy them?”

Hange lights up. “You’re buying flowers for Furlan and Isabel? That’s great! Wait, you can come buy with me and we can go visit together! Come on!” They take their jacket before grabbing Levi’s wrist to drag him outside.

Levi protests, and struggles at first, but follows Hange anyway. They go to the market and Hange gleefully greets the flower shop owner. It was obvious that Hange is a regular.

“So, Levi! Take your pick! It’s my treat!” Hange declares as she looks through the flowers.

“Shut the fuck up, four eyes. I’m not taking your money. I have my own,” Levi glares, and the shop owner raises his brows at his language. Levi ignores him. He’s a paying customer, right?

Hange just laughs. “Well, there’s all sorts here!”

“What, um…” fuck, how does he do this? “What would you pick?”

“Oh, I love these roses! I’m from Wall Rose originally—”

“Actually, I don’t care about your opinion.” Levi takes it back, before smoothly transitioning to a new question. “What about your boss? What do you think she’d say?”

“Vonnie? Oh, she doesn’t care about flowers!” Hange laughs, and Levi tries not to pale.

“Right.”

“You know what she would put on Isabel and Furlan’s graves? Food. She would offer a plate of food.”

“Wouldn’t that go to waste?”

“Yeah, well, people deserve to taste Eve’s food even in the afterlife.”

Levi rolls his eyes. “Don’t tell me you believe in that shit.”

“I do!” Hange proudly says.

“You’re fucking weird.” Levi sighs, almost in relief. “So, which is it? Eve likes flowers, then?”

“She does, she just doesn’t give it in cemeteries.” Hange muses while going through the flowers. “Flowers aren’t ugly, so…”

“Does she have a favorite?” Levi asks, before cringing over how obvious he sounds. Fuck.

Hange doesn’t notice, since they just hum exaggeratedly. “You know, I don’t think she has a specific favorite. It depends on how they smell, for her,” Hange says before they laugh. “I remember when she brought the ugliest flower to the lab, and she said that she got it just because it smelled nice. Do you remember when random guys sent pretty flowers to the lab? Eve had them thrown out because she got dizzy from how dry they all smelled.”

Levi remembers, since he was the one who threw those flowers out. Hange doesn’t seem to know that. They leave the flower shop, and only Hange carried the usual flowers they would bring.

As they walk, Hange eyes him in a suspicious way, making him glare. “What?”

“Did you take me here for advice on what to gift to Eve for the successful titan project?”

Levi widens his eyes. “The fuck? No!”

Hange doesn’t seem convinced, and they poke Levi’s side while grinning wildly. “You are so mean, Levi! Using Furlan and Izzy? Naughty, naughty! What would they say!” They cackle, knowing that Isabel and Furlan would definitely tease him about this.

He hardens his glare, but the flush in his neck might give him away. “Shut up, Hange.”

They gasp. “You and Eve?! There’s something going on, right?” They brighten up, and Levi averts his eyes. “Oh, my walls! There is, isn’t there?”

“Hange.”

“I knew it!” Hange claps, and Levi looks mortified. “Finally! I knew I wasn’t hallucinating that night!”

“…what are you talking about?”

Hange laughs, slapping their hand against Levi’s back. “You know! After your party, you went to Eve’s office. Moblit and I were there!”

Levi stops walking, turning to face her with a grim expression. “What did I do?”

Hange smirks. “You just grabbed Eve’s shoulders and just went for it! You know, I think seeing that kind of riled me up—”

“What exactly did I do, Hange?”

Hange tries holding back a wider smirk. “You and Eve made out in front of me and Moblit! I think you were already trying to take her clothes off. You two didn’t even notice us being there so we kind of just left an hour after you pushed her inside her room and locked the door.”

Levi’s face flushes red, eyes widening with humiliation. “And… Moblit saw that?”

“Yeah. He was kind of sober, too. So, he remembers.”

“Wait, wait, you left an hour after Eve and I went inside her room?” Levi sounds mortified.

“Yeah…” Hange scratches the back of their head. “That was kind of my fault, since I was apparently rolling around the floor laughing. Moblit didn’t want to leave me.”

Why isn’t Levi surprised about that? Of course Hange would laugh after seeing Levi and Eve kiss. The two of them just doesn’t seem possible, there’s no way Hange wouldn’t crack up.

Levi’s first problem though; Moblit probably remembers more about that night than Levi does. Levi can feel the wave of embarrassment when he realizes that Moblit probably heard everything that transpired that night. He knows more about Eve and Levi’s night together more than they do. Fucking hell. Fuck. Fuck!

“I really thought I was imagining things, and Moblit wouldn’t even confirm it to me the next day! He kept saying I was crazy! I think he was protecting you two, but whatever. At least I know I wasn’t crazy.”

“H-Hange—”

“So, how is it?! I’ve never seen Eve act like a girlfriend! Is she nice?! I bet she is!” They tease while poking Levi’s cheek, smirking at him.

Levi grabs Hange’s shoulders, a bit surprised that Hange caught on before Erwin did. Hange widens their eyes. “Shut up, and stay shut up, Hange. Erwin can’t know, alright?”

“…okay.”

He releases her and continues walking. “And yes, I’m… asking for advice on what gift to give her,” he changes the subject, because if Levi thinks of Moblit any longer, he might lose it.

Hange grins, putting their arm around Levi’s shoulders. “Well, let me tell you this! Eve loves jokes!”

“…jokes?”

“Yeah! A good laugh will be the perfect gift for her! I just know it!”

“I don’t know if you’ve realized, but I’m not exactly a funny guy.” Levi says in a monotone voice.

Hange cackles, holding their stomach. “Are you kidding? You’re the funniest guy I’ve ever met!” They pat Levi’s back, making him huff. “And if Eve is dating you, then she probably thinks you’re funny.”

Levi feels a wave of warmth in his body upon Hange saying that he’s dating Eve. He clenches his jaw, preventing an uncontrollable smile of joy to remain his stoic self.

“So, what would funny people gift to their significant other?” Levi asks, masking his curiosity in his voice.

Hange adjusts their glasses, and their eyes are shining with excitement.

When Levi walks in the laboratory building with Hange, he sees a few familiar faces surrounding the outside of the entrance. Hange brightens up. “Heeeeey!”

They turn around, and relax upon seeing Hange apparently. Levi follows Hange in walking up to them, going rigid once he sees who decided to visit. Well, shit.

“What are you four ladies doing here?” Hange grins.

Mina looks calm as usual. “Hange, hello. We’re here to see our sister.”

Levi stares back at Mina, Xyra, Valeria, and Ursula. The women are all carrying a basket each, and from the smell of it, they were fresh pastries.

“Mm! Smells good!” Hange’s mouth practically waters, and the women just chuckle. Mina glances at Levi, but gives nothing away from her expressions. “Hey, where’s Ursula?”

“I’m Ursula, you idiot,” Ursula swats Hange’s arm, Valeria and Xyra chuckle. Hange laughs nervously, claiming that they knew that. Twins are difficult to tell apart sometimes. “Tati is busy at the farm. She wanted to come, though!”

“We heard of your accomplishments all the way from the capital. We thought this would be a good day to surprise her!” Xyra happily grins, holding up her basket. “We could have a picnic, all six of us! Sir Levi, please, join us!”

“No, thanks.” Levi simply answers. “I’m just here for my monthly exam. And don’t call me sir.”

Xyra chuckles sheepishly. “Sorry. But the offer still stands! There’s plenty of food to go around.”

“I’m fine.”

“Well, I’m not refusing good food from the capital!” Hange cackles, leading the women inside.

Levi waits until Hange and all the women walk in, before he lets himself in and closes the door. They find Eve spraying water on the houseplant outside her office. Once she looks up, she is taken aback by the sight of her sisters next to Levi. A wide grin spreads across her face and she immediately goes to embrace her sisters.

Mina embraces Eve the longest, and even fusses over Eve’s eating habits and health—to which Eve groans at while suppressing a smile. As usual, Mina acts like she is the eldest.

“What are you four doing here? Must’ve been a nightmare getting on a boat.” Eve worries, but Ursula waves her off.

“That doesn’t matter. What matters is that we’re here to celebrate the success of your research! We heard that you finally caught two titans for study!” Ursula excitedly says. “Can we go see them?”

Before Hange could join Ursula’s dark excitement, Eve just laughs. “Like hell I’m going to let you anywhere near a titan. Anyway, I still have a patient to tend to, so we’ll come meet you at the table by the tree. Come on, Levi.”

Levi nods, following Eve inside her office. Hange leads the other women to the tree around the corner from the lab. Once they were clear, Eve pulls Levi towards her, smiling brightly as she presses a kiss on his lips, taking him by surprise. He leans into it, closing his eyes to focus on the softness of her lips.

She pulls away, but still holds onto the cravat around his neck. “Hi, honey,” she practically purrs towards him, smirking since she knows he likes the pet name but doesn’t want to admit it.

Levi’s cheeks flush hot, and he looks away. “Shut up.”

“What do you have there?” Eve asks, curious about the box he was holding.

“It’s… a present.” His teeth grit against one another, forcing the words out. God, it was so humiliating.

Although, it was worth it to see the way her eyes light up and her grin widen. “A… a present?”

“Yeah. Congratulations on your, uh… research.”

Eve slowly takes the box, eyes trained on it as if it was fucking made from the most fragile material ever. She opens it, and gasps at the sight of a mug. A very familiar one, although, it seems to be modified.

“It’s not much.” Levi immediately says. “And I know it’s a little unoriginal. It’s basically a duplicate. It’s… shit, I don’t know.” He has never felt insecure in his life.

It looked like the exact same as the one Narcissa gifted to him, but this one had one little detail that sets it apart from the one Levi received.

Eve’s eyes are filled with amusement, as she reads the painted words on the mug. Humanity’s Second Strongest Soldier! With the word ‘second’ being in Levi’s handwriting—written and inserted as if it was added last minute even though it was obviously painted by a professional.

Blinking at the mug, Eve then lets out a fit of laughter. Her laugh echoes inside the room, and Levi watches in brief shock, but he smiles eventually. Eve wipes the corner of her eyes as she clutches the mug to her chest.

“Oh, my walls, Levi!” Eve says in between chuckles. “This is the best gift I’ve ever had! I didn’t know you could joke around like this.” Eve smirks, nudging his shoulder with hers.

“What can I say? I’m a funny guy.” Levi monotonously says.

“I love it.” Eve ignored his self-deprecating tone, and only leans forward to kiss him again. “I will drink every single poisoned tea every morning with this mug.”

“Disgusting.” Levi mutters, leaning in to press a final kiss on her lips, his hand wrapping around her waist.

Eve chuckles, spinning while holding the mug close to her chest before placing it on her desk, where it looks like it belongs. Levi’s eyes soften, seeing his gift be among Eve’s belongings, standing out as it does.

“Come on, those pastries aren’t going to eat themselves.” Eve starts walking to lead them to the table underneath the tree nearby. Levi decides, fuck it, he’ll come along.

They find Eve’s sisters and Hange, and they were all discussing the captured titans at Shiganshina.

“Aw, come on, Eve! Practically no one in Mitras has ever seen a titan!” Ursula complains. “Just one peek. You and Levi will be around anyway!”

“Okay, major flaws in your brilliant plan. If the titan tries to kill you, not only does that put our lives in danger, but it puts the research in danger. It’ll take another decade to catch one, I’m not about to kill the first ones we’ve ever caught.” Eve looks amused, seeing the pout on Ursula’s face.

“But can I at least name them?!” Hange grins, arms clasping together in prayer hands. “Oh, please, oh, please, oh, please!”

“Hange?”

“Yeah?”

“Calm.”

“Yeah…”

They all sit down, and Eve pulls Levi to sit next to her. Although, that makes Valeria be positioned in front of Levi. Why did he agree to this again?

“So, any important findings?” Mina asks, opening one of the baskets to prepare their picnic.

Eve starts talking about how the titan responds to no verbal words, and they always try attempting on killing the nearest human. No obvious reproductive organ anywhere. Hairless, except for their heads and faces. Blood evaporates seconds after it’s exposed to air. They’re surprisingly light, despite their size. Mina listens to Eve with interest, and something makes Levi tense up as he was pouring some tea.

Eve’s hand creeps into his knee, kneading his flesh once as she continues talking. Levi doesn’t react, and only continues to pour tea for everyone. Hange excitedly digs in before anyone else does, eating two pastries simultaneously. Levi grimaces at the sight.

Although, Levi genuinely doesn’t want to do shit in front of the Zackly sisters. It feels too dangerous, and since Eve has no idea that Hange knows about them, it was too risky to do anything in front of them… as tempting as it is.

He doesn’t move her hand, and only feels her inch upwards slowly.

“And how about you, Sir Levi? How are you faring?” Mina stirs her tea.

Levi furrows his brows. “I’m alright. Why do you ask?”

Mina offers an innocent smile, something that Eve also does. It makes Levi’s stomach twist, not in the same way Eve does it though. “Well, Eve sent me a letter about your promotion.”

“Oh, yeah!” Ursula nods. “Congratulations, too, Levi! This truly is a day of celebration. For the two of you!” She raises her cup of juice.

They all join in, clinking their cups together before they continue eating. Hange and the girls are talking about whatever. Eve feeds herself in one hand, and the other was kneading Levi’s knee.

The way she grips him under the table as she laughs with her sisters, it makes Levi feel like she owns him. And he finds that he doesn’t mind that. In fact, he fucking loves it. He can feel his toes curling in his boots the longer he feels her possessive hand around his knee.

Although, the stare that Mina would sometimes give Levi, kind of feels disturbing. It was like she wanted to say something to him once they were alone, but Levi isn’t so sure if he wants to know.

“Come on, Eve! Just one peek! Even Val wants to see what they look like!” Ursula whines.

“Don’t drag me into this!” Valeria gasps.

“Oh, hush! You’re curious, too.” Ursula smirks, looking at Mina and Xyra this time. “Guys, back me up.”

“This is your problem, dear sister. Not mine.” Mina calmly says as she raises her cup of tea to her lips.

Xyra bites her lip, and scrunches her nose. “I kind of want to see, too.”

Ursula gestures towards her, grateful. “Yes, thank you, Xy. Eve? Please?”

Hange gives Eve a pleading look, making Eve frown at them all. Another second later, Eve rolls her eyes and flails her hand. “Alright.”

Ursula grins widely, getting up to pull Eve on her feet, and it makes her let go of Levi before anyone notices. The ladies get up, but Mina stays seated.

“You’re not coming, Mina?” Valeria nudges her by the shoulder, and Mina shakes her head.

“No. I’m not interested.” She says, looking at Levi. “You all go ahead. Sir Levi here can show me around headquarters.”

Eve frowns, but her lips form a small smile. “You’ve been here countless of times for your lectures. You know your way around.”

Lectures? Levi glances at Mina. He didn’t know that Mina was the teacher who holds the language classes for the illiterate soldiers.

“I know. But it will be interesting to see headquarters in Sir Levi’s eyes,” she gets up, looking towards Levi before turning back to Eve. “You wouldn’t mind, would you?”

The air is suddenly… different. And Levi briefly glances at the other sisters and Hange. They all looked confused, except Hange. Hange looks a bit worried.

Eve forms a smile. “Not at all.”

“We’ll go visit Erwin, to let him know that we’re here. Is he busy?” Mina asks, and her voice is normal, but Levi can tell there’s something underneath.

Eve doesn’t give away anything on her expressions, and it was as if Eve and Mina are having their own conversation without the others knowing. Even Levi doesn’t understand shit.

“No. He’s not busy.” Eve replies.

“Oh, that’s a relief. I thought that maybe me, Levi and the captain can take a walk while the rest of you go to your titans.” Mina smiles kindly at them, which somehow convinces the other sisters other than Eve.

“Okay, Mina!” Xyra smiles, linking her arms with Valeria and Ursula. “We’ll see you later. Come on, Evie!”

Hange cheers and walks with the ladies, while Eve looks a bit reluctant. She sends Levi a discreet look, as if to say everything will be fine. Levi shrugs and just follows Mina to the opposite direction. He can hear the other sisters chuckling together with Hange. Once they were out of earshot, Levi grabs Mina’s arm and pulls her to corner.

“The hell is your problem?” Levi hisses towards her.

“My problem? What is your problem?” Mina makes a complete turnaround, and the kindness in her face from earlier fades away, revealing the coldness in her intelligent green eyes.

“What the fuck are you talking about?”

“Oh, do not pretend as if I cannot see through you,” Mina crosses her arms, raising her perfectly lined brows. “I told you to watch Eve. Protect her. I never said you should sleep with her.”

Levi’s eyes widen, and he starts stammering. Never in his life has he ever been caught stuttering by another person. “What… what are you—”

“Not to mention the fact that Narcissa told you who tried to poison Eve,” Mina shakes her head. “And neither of you are doing anything about it.”

“…How the hell did you know that?”

Mina gives him a calm glower, narrowing her eyes. “Who do you think told Erwin that Narcissa possibly knew something? I saw the way Narcissa kept looking at you. Itching to tell you. Then suddenly, she looked relieved.”

“Look. Erwin is doing something about it. He told me that he is, and I shouldn’t worry. I trust him, alright? Erwin’s got this handled.”

Mina steps forward, almost towering over him due to their height difference. “How dare you tell me to calm down over the possibility that whoever tried to kill my sister is among my own family? Over the fact that you know who it is, while I don’t?”

Levi briefly closes his eyes. “Mina…”

“Does Eve even know? Hm? That while you’re sleeping with her, you know who among our family plotted her death?” Mina shakes her head, clearly disappointed in Levi. “I didn’t trust you when we first met, but I still thought that you would never hurt Eve. Now? I think you are the only person who will hurt her more than anyone.”

Mina takes a step back, surveying him from head to toe while his steel eyes remain on hers.

“Unlike you, I honor my word. Which is why any favors you’d like from me, I’d still grant them with no strings attached. But remember this, Levi. Once Eve finds out that you and Erwin hid this from her, she won’t be lenient as me.”

Levi says nothing in response as Mina calmly walks past him.

“You’re not even going to ask?” Levi’s voice makes her stop walking, but she doesn’t turn around to face him. “Don’t you want to know what Narcissa said?”

Mina doesn’t respond, not for a few seconds. “I don’t know.” She quietly says, and Levi sees the way her shoulders slightly tense up. “No. I don’t want to know.”

“Why?”

“…Maybe a part of me still trusts Erwin, regardless of how it makes me angry that you two decided to hide this from Eve. A part of me still thinks that he knows best.” Mina softly says, slightly turning to the side. Not turning away from Levi, but not truly facing him either. “He has that effect on people, you know.”

“Yeah. I know.” Levi sighs, stressed out of his life as he leans against the wall of the building they were hiding behind. “Look, I’m not doing this to hurt Eve. Fuck, if Erwin told me to tell her right now, I’ll tell her right now.”

Those words make Mina turn to look at him, tilting her head. “So, that’s it? Erwin’s word goes above your lover’s sanity? You can’t have it both ways, Levi.”

“It’s not like that.” Levi glares. “Like you said, Erwin seems to know the shit he’s doing. I’m letting him do this. You can’t talk either, because Erwin was the first person you went to when you found out that Narcissa knew something. Not Eve.”

Mina’s eyes waver, and Levi knew he got her. She stays quiet, eyes locked on Levi as they engage in a heated stare down. Then, Mina is the first to look away, closing her eyes and looking to her side while cursing under her breath.

“Look at us,” Mina mutters, rubbing her forehead. “Scared to death for the same woman. Irrationally loyal to the same man.”

Levi snorts humorlessly. “What a pair.”

Mina gives him a brief look. “Do you want a beer?”

“Yeah.”

Meanwhile, as Ursula gapes at the titans while Xyra and Valeria tightly held onto one another’s hands, Eve calmly stays by their side while Hange demonstrates how their usual tests go. Apparently, the titans are now named Chikatilo and Albert.

“This… is what you face monthly during expeditions?” Xyra asks, eyes transfixed on the titans with clear terror on her face.

Eve shrugs. “I mean, these ones are relatively small compared to the ones we take on. The commander only allowed four-meter titans inside the walls. Any higher would be a no, so… these little midgets were all we can get.”

“These are midgets?” Valeria has a hand on her chest, eyes wide with worry as she watches Hange poke one of the titans with a huge stick, and Moblit is yelling at them to be careful.

Eve chuckles. “If you think these ones are big, wait until you see a fifteen-meter titan,” she smiles gleefully as they walk down the steps. Hange waves at them with enthusiasm, and Eve nods, as if to say they’re doing a great job.

Ursula, Valeria and Xyra walk next to Eve as she leads her sisters through the corridors leading to Erwin’s office. She knocks, and hears Erwin’s voice telling them he’ll take a second.

The door swings open, and he looks pleasantly surprised to see the ladies. “Hi, Erwin,” both Xyra and Valeria giggle. Ursula waves kindly. Eve’s eyes wander around his office.

Erwin offers a kind smile. “Hello, ladies.”

“Where’s Levi and Mina?” Eve asks in confusion.

Erwin mirrors her puzzlement. “Levi and… Mina? I… haven’t seen them.”

“They said they were coming to see you.” Xyra says, glancing at Eve who goes into deep thought.

“Hm. Is that so?” Erwin looks at Eve, frowning a bit. “I’m sure they are within the grounds. Levi wouldn’t allow Mina to leave, and she is safe with him.”

“Yeah, for now, you should come walk with us, Captain Smith.” Valeria smirks, stroking Erwin’s arm and making him chuckle. Xyra and Ursula both laugh, while Eve grows more concerned by the second.

“I would love to entertain you ladies, but I’m afraid I have work to do.” Erwin says apologetically.

“Oh, come on. We’ll be leaving in an hour anyway. It’ll be a while until the next time we visit the scouts,” Xyra grins.

Erwin looks at Eve. “You’re all probably right, should I accompany them while you go look for Wilhelmina and Levi?”

Eve gives him a grateful look. “Yes, thank you.”

Erwin nods, and the other ladies smile excitedly as Valeria and Xyra take each of his arm while Ursula talks his ear off about life in Mitras. Erwin gives Eve a final glance, seeing her grateful expression as she walks away.

The sky is dimming a bit once the sun has set, and Eve still hasn’t found Levi and Mina. There is a growing feeling in the pit of her stomach. Surely Mina wouldn’t do anything unpleasant with Levi. She isn’t like that. Mina would never do anything like that. Especially now that she caught on to Eve and Levi.

Damn Mina and her unbelievably smart brain. Eve’s scared that her sister might scare Levi off from ever being with her. Mina can be a bit intense sometimes.

Eve practically turns the headquarters up and down, until she finds Mina and Levi drinking beer from bottles under a tree. It was an entertaining sight since Mina is wearing an attire that makes her look like a proper noblewoman, but she holds an ale bottle that scouts would drink from.

“What are you two doing?”

Mina raises her bottle. “Sharing war stories.”

Eve looks amused, crossing her arms. “And what war stories would you have?”

“You wouldn’t believe the shit Mina told me.”

“Oh, yeah?” Eve chuckles. “Come on, soldier. The boat leaves in half an hour, remember?” Eve helps Mina back on her feet. Levi stands as well. “I thought you two went to Erwin.”

Mina waves her off. “We didn’t want to bother him.”

“Hm. Right.”

Eve and Levi escort Mina to where the boat departs. Erwin apparently just left after walking the ladies to the boat, and Mina waves at Eve and Levi as goodbye before joining the girls inside. Eve watches the boat depart, and Levi stands next to Eve. They were alone, other people were far away from them.

As they observe the way the moon shines over the water where the boat sweeps through, Levi’s voice makes Eve sigh.

“Mina’s in love with Erwin.”

Eve briefly closes her eyes. “Yeah.”

“And it’s not like your other sisters. They all just innocently flirt with him,” Levi looks at her. “But Mina… she loves him.”

“Mhm,” she agrees, nodding her head. “She’s been in love with him even before she got married. She thinks I don’t know, but… I see things.”

“So, what is it, then?” Levi turns to her with a frown. “You didn’t marry Erwin because of your sister? Is that it?”

“What?”

Levi takes a step towards her, eyes filled with the rare unsureness he shows. “Is it because of Mina? Why you and Erwin never happened? You knew how she felt about him?”

“Levi, that’s not how it is,” she gives him a look of incredulity, and Levi doesn’t buy what she’s saying. “I wouldn’t lie to you, Levi.”

But he would. He has been lying to her. “Are you sure? I’m not some sort of… fucking rebound or some shit like that?”

Eve gives him a frown, looking incredibly saddened by the fact that she made Levi feel this way. Eve approaches him, raising her hands to cup his face. “Levi… you are never a rebound. Erwin and I didn’t happen because he and I have different priorities. We wouldn’t work as lovers, the way we work as friends. And if we did get married, we’d just fight every single day of our miserable lives, and I don’t want that. It doesn’t matter if he and I loved each other. Hell, it doesn’t even matter if he still loves me. Erwin and I will never work long-term.”

“What makes me any fucking different? I’m a scout just like Erwin.” Levi shrugs.

Eve offers a genuine smile, thumb stroking against his cheek. “You’re different because you see me for who I am. There’s no bullshitting with you. I can’t even lie to you because I know you’d figure it out, so I don’t need to lie at all. It’s… refreshing. You’re not afraid to say what you actually think or feel, even when you know it’ll hurt me. You never lie or hide anything from me. Levi, you’re the only person who has ever been real and upfront to me. I value your honesty, which is why I’ll always value your thoughts.”

Levi softens, and there is a twist in his gut upon hearing those words. She is with him because he is honest with her, like no one else. That’s fucked up for Levi. He closes his eyes, leaning his face against her palm to seek her warmth. Levi reaches for her hips and leans in, pressing his lips against her cheek.

He loves her so much. Fuck, Levi is so in love with her. Levi won’t tell her yet, but if she asks, he doesn’t think he’ll be able to lie. Not that he intends to.

He inhales the scent of her hair, pulling her closer. Mina’s words echo in his head. Levi is going to be the only person who will hurt her the most.

Eve comes closer, embracing him so she can lean her head on his shoulder while wrapping her arms around his back. “I want to sleep,” she mumbles into his shoulder.

Levi caresses her red hair. “Yeah, come on. Let’s sleep.” I love you. I love you so much.

Eve smiles, pulling back to press a quick kiss on his lips. It feels nice to kiss her in an open space like this, even despite the dimness of night. Anywhere outside the four walls of Eve’s bedroom was better. Levi almost gets carried away and mumbles those three words into her hair.

Levi wakes up in Eve’s bed, his body is bare underneath the sheets. He groans sleepily, rubbing his eyes as he rolls to his side, attempting to seek Eve’s warmth. When he finds none, he opens his eyes, and the view that greets him instantly makes him sigh in content.

On the chair in front of her small table, she sits while writing down on some documents. One hand holds a pen, the other holds a slice of bread. Eve’s hair is free from the tight ponytail she would always wear every single day. Dark red hair spills over her shoulder freely, light around her face. She wears Levi’s white button up shirt that he would use as his uniform, but her legs are bare. One of her legs are folded, and her thigh is pressed against her chest, and the position in which she sits gives Levi a view of her red panties between her thighs.

God, Levi has no idea why he is lucky enough to wake up to such a sight.

He slowly props himself up with his elbows, and the creaking of her bed catches Eve’s attention. She lifts her gaze from the papers and smiles softly at Levi.

“Morning, honey.”

Just like that, the papers are forgotten when Eve crawls back in bed with him to straddle his hips. He sits up, wrapping his arms around her to kiss the skin his lips could reach. Levi was still sleepy even as Eve rides him, but he was still eager to feel her despite the headiness of his mind. Her hips move vigorously, and together with his sleepiness, everything felt overwhelming to Levi. He pants into her shoulder, and they cum together with a groan, head dizzy with pleasure.

Eve lifts herself off him, chuckling when Levi collapses back in bed. “Fuck, Eve. You wear me out every fucking day, you know that?”

Eve gives him a smirk, and she stands up as if she didn’t just give him the most earth-shattering fucking orgasm to start the day. “Mhm. And I can do so much more.”

“Oh, yeah?” Levi raises his brows, still catching his breath. “You planning to do them to me anytime soon? Or you’re just talk?”

Eve snickers, giving him a sultry expression that makes Levi’s legs tense up a bit. She reaches over to cup his cheek, almost in a teasingly condescending way. “I have a very long list of what I want to do with you. My imagination is very interesting. But I don’t think you’re ready for my fucked up mind yet, honey.”

The nickname makes Levi want to curl up in her arms and stay with her forever. He turns his head to the side, pressing his lips gently against her palm. “Try me.”

A smile grows on her face. “I’ll think about it.”

Levi’s blood feels like it’s pumping through his veins in incredible speed, and a smile forms on his face too. He looks relaxed, and just the way Eve wants him to be. She noticed him being so stressed lately, and it bothers her. Levi doesn’t deserve to be like that. He deserves to look like this. Happy, contented, relaxed. Levi deserves to be kissed in the morning and night. And he deserves to be fucked until he’s fucking stupi—

“What are you thinking about now?” Levi grumbles, looking sleepy again.

Eve suppresses a smile before shaking her head. “Nothing.”

“Yeah, right.” Somehow, it’s possible to roll your eyes with them closed, because Levi seems to do that. It makes Eve double over with laughter. “You know, it’s still hard to believe you’re the eldest of twelve sisters.”

“Really?” Eve smirks.

“Yeah.”

“Do you want to know why there’s twelve of us?”

“There’s a reason for that other than your dad’s insane stami—”

“Oh, shut up!” Eve grimaces in disgust. “No, seriously. There’s a reason why.”

“Why then?”

“Because he wanted to have a son, too. So he kept trying and trying, and didn’t stop having kids until he gets a son. Someone was bound to take his place, you know.”

“So after twelve daughters, he finally stopped?”

“Yeah, he was kind of sad, even when he says he’s proud of having twelve girls.” Eve chuckles. “I think he still wishes that there’s someone who’ll continue the Zackly name.”

“What does that mean?”

“Well, when women get married, they take the husband’s surname.”

Levi frowns, and stays quiet.

“And all my sisters are married now, so they don’t really carry the family name anymore. They all have different surnames after marriage.” Eve says, glancing at Levi with a smirk. “So, you are now looking at the only Zackly left.”

Levi looks at her, and his eyes were grim. It makes Eve waver for a moment.

“Levi?”

“I don’t have a surname to give you.”

Eve’s smile falls a little, and she knots her brows at his quiet words. “What?”

“When we get married, I won’t have a surname to give to you.” Levi tells her with a disappointed frown.

Although, despite his frown, her eyes flicker. Her face fills with amusement, and it makes Levi backtrack his words, and his own face fills with horror. Before she says anything, Levi groans, covering his flushed face with the sheets.

Eve laughs in disbelief. “When we get married?”

“You know what I meant, you brat!”

“Oh-ho, I think I do know what you meant!” Eve is full on grinning now, propping herself on her elbows and lying on her stomach to face Levi as he covers his face. “When we get married, I wouldn’t care about a surname. Hey—” she grabs the sheets and forces him to reveal his face again, and he is glaring at her while his cheeks are flushed red. “I don’t care about a surname. When get married, we can… well,” she trails off, unsure how to remedy the possibility.

Then, Levi gets an idea. “I can take your surname.”

Eve’s brows shoot upwards in astonishment. “Seriously?”

“…Yeah. Is that bad?”

“No, it’s just… I’ve never seen a marriage like that before,” she lets out a soft laugh. “You don’t think it sounds a bit… effeminate?”

“Tch. Who cares about that? You’re the one with a surname between the two of us. It makes sense.” Levi glares, but it was so amusing how they were discussing this while Levi looks grumpy. It makes Eve’s smile widen. “I’ll take whatever name I can. Who cares?”

Eve presses her lips together, staring at Levi with so much affection. “Yeah. Who cares?”

“…Besides, Levi Zackly doesn’t… sound that horrible, I guess.” He grimaces, and Eve snorts. “At least now, your dad will have someone to pass down the fucking family name. If, you know… you decide to have brats in the future. Just a thought. I don’t know what I’m saying anymore. Fuck, ignore me.” Levi mutters, averting his eyes.

Eve lets out a laugh, and she realizes that she has never been this happy in her life before. Eve is laughing as she presses kisses all over his face, and he grunts like he’s annoyed, but the smile on his face says otherwise.

“You’re fucking annoying, get off of me.” Keep doing this every morning. I love you.

“You say that, but you want to have babies with meee~” Eve sings while she wriggles her brows, and her hair tickles his face.

Levi grimaces, but his face heats up. “Oh, please. Don’t you have midget titans to prod on today?” You smell wonderful. I love you.

“Yeah, but I have my favorite midget titan right here,” she scrunches her nose, smirking as she leans down to kiss him.

He hums through the kiss, eyes droopy from sleepiness. “Call me a midget again, I’ll break your arm.” Stay in bed with me all day instead. I love you.

Eve laughs, kissing his forehead. “You know what, you’re right. Hange is probably waiting for me in the field.”

Levi holds her hand, and when she gets up, his hold slips away and he watches her go to the shower. Levi watches Eve get dressed, and the silence is comfortable. Afterwards, Eve leans down to kiss him again before leaving the room to go to work.

He stays in bed for another half hour to doze off before he takes a shower and gets dressed as well. He sneaks through the office window and makes his way to the mess hall.

Although, before he gets there, he bumps into Erwin. He usually has a smile on his face, but something feels different today. Erwin walks up to him. “We need to talk.”

Levi frowns, but follows him to his office. He closes the door and Erwin goes to the window to check if someone followed them. Levi grows a bit concerned. “What is it?”

“It’s about the investigation.” Erwin turns to him, still a bit tense as he looks at Levi. “There’s more than meets the eye. I’ve gathered intel that it goes beyond just Eve’s family.”

“And that means what?”

“I have reason to believe that the unidentified figure that Narcissa spotted in the conversation she eavesdropped on, it was the person the MPs were investigating in the underground city.” Erwin hands him a folder filled with papers, and Levi goes through them.

Suddenly, there is a sense of dread in his bones.

“Who was investigated?” Levi doesn’t want to believe what he’s fucking reading.

“A man dubbed as Kenny the Ripper,” Erwin sighs, rubbing his forehead in a rare expression of frustration. “He is deemed as an urban legend, which is why it took me so long to figure this out, I didn’t truly believe that this man had some involvement in our case.”

“What does he have to do with Eve?” Levi lifts his head towards Erwin, a look of incredulity on his face.

“Before Eve became section commander, she was the captain. And before that, she was a squad leader.” Erwin nods. “During her days as squad leader, her team was offered to assist the MPs at the time. The scouts were seeking some proper funding from the capital, and in exchange for that, they needed assistance from the best team of scouts. No surprise there that it was Eve’s team.”

Levi had to sit down, sighing before briefly closing his eyes. “Then what?”

“When we first picked you up from the underground city, that wasn’t Eve’s first time being there.” Erwin tells him. “Eve led the investigation against this… Kenny the Ripper. Unfortunately, she was pulled out due to an incident. Her team and every single MP that was brought along with the mission were killed, and she was the sole survivor. She barely made it out alive.” Erwin frowns, remembering what Eve looked like when he visited her in the infirmary. “The investigation was closed, and whoever was behind the killings is still out there.”

“When was this?”

“Five years before you first came.” Erwin answers. “I’m beginning to think that our culprit has connections in the underground city and managed to get a hold of this hitman, and that he was paid generously. Whoever this Kenny person is, he must’ve slipped the poison himself. Not a scout.”

Levi clenches his jaw, tossing the documents back on the table. Erwin watches him, and Levi meets his gaze. Levi bites the inside of his cheek. “I know him. Kenny the Ripper. I… I know who he is.”

Erwin nods. “I assumed so. Please. Tell me what you know.”

Levi bares his entire story to Erwin. Telling him how Kenny knew his mother somehow, and how Kenny taught him everything there is to know to survive the underground. How Kenny taught him to be a killer just like him. How Kenny abandoned him at a young age. And he explains that Levi never found him again. Erwin just listens in silence, with no judgement in his eyes.

When Levi finishes, Erwin is in deep thought. “It’s a shame. If my best soldier cannot locate this Kenny, then it will be difficult to find and question him,” he gives him a teasing voice, as if to lighten the situation.

Levi snorts, shaking his head. “Fuck off.”

It was nice to tell someone about his past, but he imagined himself telling Eve about it first. Still, he was glad it was Erwin at least.

“Our best option now is to tell Eve of our findings. Even without the aid of Kenny the Ripper’s testimony, we can still incarcerate the true mastermi—”

“Wait, we’re telling her today?” Levi frowns. “She’s out there poking some titan asshole right now.”

“We tell her tonight. She’ll understand why we had to keep this from her. It was needed, so she can focus on her work and nothing else.” Erwin sits down on his chair, sighing before looking back at Levi. “We will both sit her down and tell her the truth. It must be the two of us. She trusts both of us the most. There will be a moment where she won’t believe us at first, so we need to be ready.”

Fuck. Levi didn’t anticipate doing this so soon. He doesn’t want to ruin shit with Eve this soon, and he doesn’t want to ruin shit with Erwin either.

You can’t have it both ways, Levi. Mina’s words echo in his head. Fuck, it really is going to bite him in the ass.

“Do I… have to be there when you tell her?”

Erwin tilts his head. “What do you mean? Of course you should be. She assigned you to assist me.”

“Yeah, but I barely did anything. You did all the work.”

“No. We wouldn’t be here if Narcissa never trusted you. She was our first biggest lead. And if this case breaks open, Narcissa is the first to testify. We have enough evidence now to cover an arrest. Tomorrow, we send this to Premier Zackly—”

“Oi, hang on just a minute, Erwin. Fucking hell.” Levi’s eyes are a bit wide. “Zackly? You want Zackly to be the first to know about this?”

“Well, he cannot be the judge for the trial, there will be a conflict of interest. He will pass this to someone else, and they will take care of it. Zackly will send for us once we are needed.”

“I get that, but, fuck. Can we think this through for a minute?

“What is there to think through, Levi?” Erwin frowns. “Do you doubt the premier’s partiality? He will treat this case as professional as he could. He will not falter. Zackly is commander-in-chief, Levi. He won’t break because of this, if that is what you are worried about.”

“What about Eve’s sisters?”

“They’ll be fine.” Erwin nods. “I’m more concerned over Eve. She has the tendency of, you know… shutting people out. We need to be careful with our words later. For now, you should tell Eve to join us for dinner tonight. And it’s about the investigation.”

Levi didn’t want to refuse Erwin. For some reason, he… he can’t fucking say no to Erwin. So, he just nods, giving him a salute before leaving the office. He finds Eve where they keep the titans, and she wears her usual neat and tight bun at the back of her head.

She lets out a maniacal laugh when Hange was almost bitten by one of the titans. Levi almost rolled his eyes, if it weren’t for his stomach rolling with dread. Eve sees him, and waves. Levi nods towards her before walking down the steps.

When Eve removes her gloves, Levi approaches her and she offers a smile.

“Levi, what brings you here? Want to see Hange in action? You know, we’re going to test decapitation next.”

Levi isn’t fazed by her excitement for that prospect. “It’s Erwin. He’s inviting us to dinner tonight.”

“Oh? What’s the occasion?” She chuckles.

“He wants to tell you about the investigation so far,” was all Levi could say.

Already then, she looks like her eyes filled with dread, and she lowers her head. “Right. I… completely forgot about all of that.” Eve looks at him, tilting her head before crossing her arms. “What’s happened? Is everything okay?”

“Yeah, no, everything’s good.”

“What did you find? Did you find the scout who did it? Are they still alive?”

How the hell is Levi going to explain that some guy who raised him was the one who killed people she worked with, and was also responsible for her near-death experience? Fucking hell. Levi just shakes his head. “Erwin will explain everything tonight.”

Eve slowly nods, forming a small smile. She doesn’t look too assured. “Okay.”

Levi nods, looking at the other people around to give them nods of acknowledgement before he leaves the area. Eve’s eyes follow him for a brief moment before going to Hange to continue the experiments.

For the rest of the day, Levi trains. He pushes himself to his limits until he was drenched in sweat and his muscles were aching. Anything to get his mind off what is about to happen tonight. Fucking hell, he hopes Eve won’t be that angry at him.

…Who is he kidding? Of course she will be furious. She made a whole big deal about Levi’s fucking honesty and shit, why is Levi hoping she won’t be angry? Eve is going to fucking murder him.

Or worse. Be disappointed in him. God. He’d rather be beaten to fucking death.

When the time comes for dinner, Levi couldn’t help but bounce his leg as he sits opposite Erwin. They were waiting for Eve, and Levi keeps glancing at his pocketwatch while Erwin calmly reads through various reports as if he isn’t about to ruin Eve’s whole night.

The knock on the door prompts Levi on his feet to answer it, but the person behind it wasn’t who they were expecting.

Hange adjusts their glasses and waves at them as a greeting. “Hey, captain. Hey, Levi. Uh, sorry about this, but Eve can’t make it for dinner tonight.”

Erwin stands from his seat, looking concerned. “Is everything alright?”

Hange nervously chuckles. “Well, uh… don’t freak out, you two, but Eve kind of, um…”

Levi glares. “Spit it out, four eyes.”

“She fainted just a few minutes ago.”

Levi feels his heart drop to his chest. “What? What the hell happened?” He doesn’t wait for their response as he grabs his uniform jacket. Erwin does the same and the three of them speed walk with Hange.

Then Hange goes into a rant about their titan experiment on decapitation and how some scouts may have accidentally sliced through the napes, killing their test subjects prematurely. The pressure and stress must have crashed down on Eve and resulted to her passing out in the scene.

When Levi and Erwin arrive in the infirmary, her unconscious body lays on her bed with sheets wrapped around her. Her face looks pale, but her breathing is normal.

“Fucking hell,” Levi mutters under his breath, watching as Hange checks her pulse and blood pressure. “Does this shit happen a lot?”

“Not a lot, but it does happen.” Erwin sighs, taking a seat nearby Eve’s bed. “I’ve told her many times that she doesn’t need to do all her job on her own, and yet she continues to do so.”

Levi feels paralyzed. Just seeing Eve like this and being unable to reach over and hold her hand, it felt excruciating. He sits on the farthest chair, not wanting to cross boundaries in Erwin’s eyes. Levi doesn’t see the frown that forms on Hange’s face when they see him.

“Although, this has been the longest it hasn’t happened to her. It usually happens every three or four months. Last time this happened was a month before you got here,” Erwin nods. “She must’ve been getting good sleep lately. Eve is the type to stay awake for long periods of time. She’s very stubborn.”

And yet she sleeps early when Levi stays in her room.

Hange places another sheet over Eve’s sleeping body, giving Levi a brief look. “And she gets cold easily. You’ll see the way she keeps shivering during winter in a month, even in the thickest coat,” Hange chuckles quietly.

And yet she holds Levi to keep him warm at night.

Levi feels a deep ache in his body as he observes the way she sleeps soundly. “When does she wake up?”

“It usually just takes half an hour or so.” Erwin looks deeply concerned, though. “She must be devastated. The titan project was a failure.”

“N-Not a total failure,” Hange chuckles anxiously. “We did discover a lot, during the short amount of time…”

“You never reached the communication stage. Or the energy consumption stage. Or finished the regeneration stage. Even the reproduction stage. The project is a failure, Hange. Eve must have realized that, and resulted into this.” Erwin looks disappointed, and Hange’s shoulders droop with disappointment as well.

Why the hell are they disappointed over some shitty ass titan project when Eve is laying there, knocked out and pale as fuck? Levi almost got irrationally angry, but reminds himself that Erwin and Hange are probably used to this.

“I can watch over her. You two got jobs to do.” Levi tells them. “I’ll make sure to stuff her with food and water when she wakes up.”

Erwin looks grateful. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah, captain. Besides, I don’t think she wants both of you to keep seeing her like this all the time.”

Hange frowns. “You’re right. She hates it when this happens.”

Erwin gives Levi a cautious yet worried look. “You won’t tell her just yet, Levi. Her health is our priority. We’ll postpone it.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Tell her what?” Hange asks with curiosity. Erwin just tells Hange that he will explain to them after Eve knows.

Levi watches Hange and Erwin leave the infirmary, and he looks back at Eve. He draws the curtains around them just so he could reach over to take her cold limp hand. “You brat. Why didn’t you never mention shit about this? Gave me a heart attack for a second.”

He traces his fingers on her hand, hating the way it feels cold to the touch. One look at Eve and you would never guess that she is the strongest scout in the regiment, who barely uses her strength in order to fulfill the role of leading the weapon and research division of the Survey Corps.

Around half an hour later, she stirs awake, and Levi has been watching over her the entire time. Minus the two minutes where he went outside to get her some proper food and water.

She hums, blinking slowly as she looks to her side. “…Levi?”

He lets out a shaky sigh of relief. “I got you dinner. Can you sit up?”

Eve nods, but struggles for a moment to get up. She clutches her head as if it was pounding, her eyes briefly closing. “What happened?”

“The titans were accidentally killed. You passed out.”

“Oh.”

Levi nods, taking the bowl of hot soup. “Come on. I promised Erwin that I’ll feed you when you wake up. I’m not about to fucking disappoint the future commander.”

Eve lets out a weak huff of a chuckle. He feeds her with a spoon, and after some protests, Eve gave up trying to argue with Levi and just took the spoon into her mouth whenever he brings it full in front of her. Eve watches as Levi would lightly blow onto the hot soup on the spoon, and feed her. This goes on until the bowl is half empty and Levi helps her to drink water from a cup. He assists her to lie back down, and sits next to her bed.

“Thank you,” her voice is quiet, and she reaches over to take his hand.

“Don’t thank me for some small ass shit. You’d have done the same. Hell, you’ve already done way more shit for me.”

She barely used her voice, and her words turn into a whisper. “I’m sorry for worrying you.”

“Yeah, you worried the fuck out of me. What is this? Are you… are you sick or something?”

She shakes her head. “No. It’s nothing permanent. I just… sometimes forget to take care of myself. The mind doesn’t notice, but the body does.”

“Fuck, Eve.” Levi gives her a look of disapproval. “You know what? Fuck you. From now on, I’m going to keep track of your meals and sleeping schedule. I’m going to make sure you fucking eat every day, sleep every night. You better brace yourself. I’m going to annoy the crap out of you for this. You scared the shit out of me, you know that?”

After he finishes talking, she just gives him this look. A small smile forms on her face and Levi can see traces of tears in her eyes.

It startles him a bit, and he has no idea what else to say other than, “Shit, what did I do? What did I say? I’m sorry. Fuck.”

She just shakes her head, making him shut up. His hand that she was holding tenses up when she lifts it to her lips, kissing the skin where his wrist meets his thumb.

He feels his chest fill with ice and fire all at the same time, and yet he remains calm. “You brat.” He softly says, scooting his chair closer to her bed without letting go of her hand.

Eve smiles at him, eyes drooping a bit from exhaustion. Levi reaches over with his other hand, tracing his index finger on her rosy cheek. The warmth of her skin is returning, and she isn’t as pale as she was earlier. He gnaws at the inside of his lips, before parting them. “Next time you pass out, I’ll beat the shit out of you.” I’m never going to love anyone the way that I do with you.

Eve lets out a chuckle, and she somehow got the message. She just nods. “I’d beat you next time. Watch,” she breathily whispers, exhausted.

“Keep telling yourself that.”

She was discharged the next morning, but during her whole stay in the infirmary, Levi just watched Eve sleep, making sure she gets the correct hours tonight. There are times where she would shiver from the cold, and Levi would immediately tuck her in. He would rub his own sleepy eyes, but remains awake as the sun rises.

The very next day, Eve can already walk with no assistance, and in the afternoon, she looks as if yesterday never happened. Levi found it a bit disturbing, because it only hints to him how much Eve is used to this. Levi doesn’t want her to be fucking used to this.

So, during the next days of the next weeks, Levi would bring her food whenever he swings by her office. Even when she already ate, he would insist that she should save the food he brought for later. Whenever he stays in Eve’s room, he would hold her close. Sometimes spooning her, and listening to her breaths to make sure she was asleep. Once he does, he dozes off afterwards.

Of course, Levi can’t sleep in her room all the time, or it will look suspicious, but he tells Eve to tell him how many hours she would sleep. And knowing Levi, Eve can’t lie to him. So she never attempted to do so.

Eve is doing better than she ever has, and she looks healthier than ever. She was happy, too, and the way she expresses that to Levi was certainly always welcome.

It was weeks after Eve’s little incident, and now, she lays in the comfort of her bed. Her legs are spread, with Levi’s hands keeping her thighs down. His tongue languidly licks across her clit as he eyes her blissful face hungrily, and she lets out a soft moan.

“Fuck, Levi. Y-You’re so good.”

He hums, pulling back to rub his fingers against her wetness. His lips glisten with her arousal, and his cheeks are flushed with his own. “Hm, am I good, section commander?” He asks, hinting a bit of innocence in his tone before he licks his lips to taste her. “I-I want to be good.”

Her eyes loll backwards, and he ducks back down to tongue her clit again, wanting to be good for her. Then, he feels her fingers sink into his hair, not exactly guiding him, but gripping to tell him she’s close. Levi gives her his all, desperate to please her until her legs are shaking around him.

Eve reaches her peak, her body thrashing around from her climax. Levi holds her down, grabbing her hips while he licks her through it. When she collapses back into bed, Levi gently cleans her up with his own tongue. He carefully swipes his tongue against her clit, and her body slightly jolts. Fuck, he wants to make her cum again.

And so he does. Levi wraps his arms around her thighs again, burying his face in between her legs. She must’ve picked up on what he was about to do, and despite the overstimulation, she pushes against his tongue with a grunt. “You fucking whore. You want to make me cum again? You’re so greedy, Levi.”

He moans against her, sucking on her little clit and making her body shake again. His name falls from her lips in a way that makes Levi grind himself against the mattress. She cums quicker than before, and he licks her through the orgasm. Before Levi pulls another orgasm from her, she closes her legs and pushes his head away, making him sigh in mock annoyance.

“You are very greedy, squad leader.” Eve chuckles, grabbing Levi’s hips to pull him above her, until he was straddling her thigh. Levi wraps his arms around Eve’s back, hiding his face into the crook of her neck. “You want to cum?”

“Y-Yeah… I want to cum. I was good. Please, tell me I’m good.” Levi quietly begs, and he starts grinding himself on her thigh. “Please.”

Eve coos at him, kissing his shoulder while gripping his waist to encourage him to keep fucking himself on her thigh. “You’re a good boy. You’re so good to me, Levi. Fuck yourself on my thigh, that’s it. You’re my little whore. You’re mine.”

Levi breathes heavily. Fuck, he has no idea why those degrading words make his cock twitch. If they were said in any other situation, Levi would’ve murdered someone on the spot by now.

But now, right now, Levi was Eve’s sputtering mess. He was all hers. And fuck, Levi likes being hers. He likes belonging to her as if he was just her object, her little plaything.

Levi rocks his hips back and forth, grinding his wet cock against the muscle of her thigh until he was spilling all over their skin. Eve moans along with him, and the wicked smile forms on her face. Levi’s body goes limp, and he collapses back in bed. Eve, despite her shaky knees, still gets up and gathers a basin and a towel. In Levi’s hazy state, he barely notices that Eve is cleaning him up and slipping his underwear back into his legs. Eve crawls behind Levi, wrapping the sheets around both of them before she starts spooning him.

Eve stays awake as Levi comes down from his high. Once he collects his wits, he realizes how her arm is around his torso, and her lips are pressed against his nape. She must think he was still asleep when she kisses his nape and nuzzles her nose against it before whispering, “I love you,” so quietly that he wouldn’t have heard it if it weren’t for the silence in the room.

The truth is, Levi has never felt this loved in his entire life. Yes, he had Isabel and Furlan, but their love was different. As much as Levi cared about them, he knew that their love was born from their dependency on Levi. Levi was their so-called big brother, of course love will be birthed from that sort of reliance.

But with Eve… she didn’t fucking need Levi. If anything, even if Levi never came to her life, she would’ve been alright. She would still be section commander, and she would continue to thrive even when Levi isn’t there. She doesn’t need him.

However, she wants him in her life. Eve thinks that Levi is someone important. Someone who can improve her life. Someone worth her time and effort. In a way, Eve is choosing to need him in her life. Eve loves Levi in a way that she believes he deserves to be in her life. She chooses to love him, and Levi feels his chest ache from that realization. The realization that someone like Eve would think that Levi is important enough to love, even when he was never a basic necessity in her life.

So, with his eyes stinging with tears over the pleasure he felt during their intense lovemaking earlier, he softly whispers it back to her. The words she just said. He knows she heard it, because of the way her arm around his torso tenses a bit. After a few seconds, she tightens her hold around him and lifts her head to press a heavier kiss on his shoulder.

Saying it to her has finally put his mind at ease, and he can feel his body relax. She knows now. She knows about how he feels for her, and things are good. God, he wants every single day to be like this.

“You know, it’s your birthday in two weeks.” Eve softly whispers, her voice holds a certain tenderness to it.

Levi hums, eyes closed. “Oh, yeah?” He slurs out, a bit sleepy as he feels her hand caress his own against his chest.

“Yeah. I think it starts snowing tomorrow. Do you want to go to the market and buy some winter clothes?” She asks, and the question brings so much warmth in his body, it gives his spine some tingles.

Domestic. That was the word he read from that book Furlan used to read to him. Domestic.

Levi nods, and he twists his body around to face her. He snuggles into her neck, kissing the skin there while embracing her. Their legs tangle together, and the cold weather of the month is forgotten by their warm bodies.

Chapter Text

“It’s really fucking cold.”

“Yeah, well, it’s snow.” Eve buries her hands into the front pockets of her huge coat.

Apparently, the scouts don’t do expeditions during the snow since it was too dangerous. There are only two months where no expeditions happen; December and January, the coldest months of the year.

Levi adjusts the coat around himself and grimaces. He has never worn anything like this, and there wasn’t any adult coats in his size, so… he got the ones in the fucking teenage section. Teenage. It’s fucking dumb. Eve couldn’t stop laughing, which was the only thing that made Levi feel like the humiliation was worth it. She got the same size as him as well.

Hange yells in enthusiasm as they scoop snow in to their hands and throwing them overhead with a gleeful ‘yahoo!’ Moblit frantically trails behind them, ready with a warm blanket and hot tea.

“Can’t believe people in the underground city dream of touching this shit,” Levi kicks at the snow. “It’s not even fucking soft. It’s just… tiny ice. Ice isn’t soft.”

“It’s pretty, though.” Eve grins, tilting her head and sticking her tongue out. Her red hair peeks through the side of her hat, and Levi watches her with soft eyes.

“That’s fucking disgusting.” Levi slightly pushes her. “Cut that shit out.”

Eve laughs, opening her arms and sticking her tongue out even more. Levi almost tells her he’s not going to kiss her mouth if she keeps doing that, but his eyes meet Moblit’s from a few feet away. Moblit immediately looks away, nervous. It makes Levi roll his eyes.

“Hey, we should do something for your birthday soon, Levi!” Hange announces, their boots crunches the snow underneath them as Hange walks to Eve and Levi. “Let’s have drinks! Your squad, Eve, Erwin, me and Moblit. Come on!”

Levi hesitates. “I’m not a party person.”

“It’ll be nice to celebrate your birthday for the first time.” Eve smiles. “Why not?”

Levi stares at her for a moment, and it was difficult to say no. “Alright.”

Hange pumps their fist in the air and declares that they’ll take care of everything. Levi just sighs, deciding to trust them, but making a point that he doesn’t want anything extravagant or he’ll leave.

Later that afternoon, it was still snowing, and Levi goes to Erwin’s office after he was summoned. “You called?”

Erwin chuckles. “What, no salute?”

Levi glares at him before closing the door. “What is it?”

“I thought that now Eve has recovered, we can tell her about the investigation.” Erwin holds up a few files. “I’m planning to send these to the premier tonight. Trial can proceed, now that we are free for two months. We can go up to the capital and finally settle this.”

Levi frowns. “It can’t wait?” Not even for two fucking weeks so Eve can relax during Levi’s birthday celebration?

“Well, it’s already been postponed once, and I thought we should tell her now. She has recovered, I checked in on her earlier.” Erwin tells him. “I already told her that we will all be meeting here tonight.”

Levi slowly nods. “Right. Yeah.”

Erwin observes him for a moment. “Are you… worried about Narcissa?”

Truth is, Levi hasn’t thought about her in a while, which makes him feel like a complete dick.

“She’s growing a lot faster than our latest recruits,” Erwin chuckles. “And don’t worry. I’m planning to pull a few strings, talk to some trusted MPs. Keep Narcissa safe from the commotion that will happen in the coming future.”

“Right.” Levi nods, not sure what else to say. “And Mina?”

Erwin softens at the mention of the third Zackly daughter, and averts his own eyes. “She will be taken care of.”

Levi watches him for a moment, but he narrows his eyes while crossing his arms. “Not that it’s any of my business, but…”

“It isn’t.”

Levi holds up his hands in mock surrender. “Alright. I won’t pry.”

“Yes. You won’t.” Erwin says with a very final tone, but still offers Levi a smile.

Levi is dismissed, and all he needed to do was wait for tonight.

The time comes, and all three of them are seated on Erwin’s table inside his office. The light from the lamp was the only thing letting them see each other. The air is silent and cold from the weather, and as Eve chews on her food, her eyes dart between Erwin and Levi. The latter seems to be avoiding her eyes while the former is just calmly eating.

Eve had enough, and she slams her utensils on the table, looking at the two men with incredulous eyes. “Just tell me who it is. Why are we having dinner?”

Erwin sighs. “Eve…”

“No, the two of you have been getting on my nerve for the last few weeks. You’ve been stalling, right? Just lay it on me. Who was the scout that tried to kill me?” Eve asks, desperation in her voice. “Is it someone I know? Someone I trust?”

Levi frowns, wondering if he had already been hurting her, since she has been thinking about this every day for the last few weeks.

Erwin wipes the corner of his mouth with a napkin. “It wasn’t a scout, Eve. It was the hitman you were tracking down in the underground city years ago.”

Eve tilts her head, confused. “Kenny the Ripper? He… tried to poison me?”

“Yes.”

Poison isn’t exactly his style, but… she stays quiet, blinking as the information sinks in. “Alright. Well, that settles it, then. We can’t exactly build a case against him.”

“You’re not going to ask how we reached that conclusion?”

“I asked you both to find out who did it.” Eve shrugs, picking up her utensils again. “You did what I asked, so I don’t have any more questions.”

Erwin glances at Levi, who takes the initiative this time. “Narcissa was the one that pointed us to that direction.”

Eve pauses, looking at Levi. “Narcissa?”

“Yes.” Erwin nods. “She withheld information about the case, because she was concerned of her own safety.”

Eve says nothing, and Levi adds to what Erwin said. “She accidentally eavesdropped on a conversation between Kenny the Ripper and… another person involved.”

“Who?” Eve immediately asked.

Levi hesitates, but doesn’t want to hide it anymore. “It was Xyra, Eve. Kenny was talking to Xyra about some illegal underground poison, which we discovered to be a copy of Dr. Jaeger’s. The poison that you take to build immunity.”

Eve falters, eyes filled with confusion as she stares at the table. Her first sister?

Erwin can see that Eve is beginning to grasp the situation. “At the time, no one but you and your father knew about your poison resistance, which is why they thought that the poison would work on you. They didn’t expect you to survive, or the deaths of young cadets in your team. Since there was no evidence or trace, and with you closing the case, they simply just… moved on. Narcissa kept the secret because she thought that she might get hurt.”

Eve remains calm, and she meets Erwin’s eyes. “Is that all? Xyra’s behind all of it?” When two men stay quiet, Eve shakes her head. “What else?”

Levi sucks in a sharp breath. “When I asked Narcissa who did it, she didn’t just say a name, Eve.”

“Tell me her exact words, Levi.”

“Every…” he pauses with reluctance. “Every sister except Mina.”

Eve draws in a shaky breath and leans back on her seat, as if the words pushed her backwards. Her calm demeanor from earlier is rapidly changing to a chaotic state, bordering on hyperventilation.

Then, she pushes her chair backwards in an abrupt manner, and her feet carries her to the floor, where weak knees send her squatting down, and start gagging. Her throat threatening to vomit the food she just ate. Levi is quick to approach her, placing a hand on her back as she covers her mouth to muffle the sounds of her retching. She shakes her head, not wanting to believe her ears as she holds herself back from vomiting on the floor.

After her coughing fit, her chin trembles as she holds back the tears. “And when did Narcissa tell you this, Levi?”

He couldn’t answer for a few seconds, but he forces the words out. “During the chess game back in your father’s mansion.”

Eve scoffs, and it almost sounded like a humorless chuckle. “You’ve known ever since my father’s fiftieth?”

Erwin briefly looks at Levi, concerned, before looking back at Eve. “It was necessary to keep quiet about this, Eve. We had no evidence, so going around accusing people will not help.”

Eve gives Erwin an almost dangerous glare. “But she was your first lead. That means you knew that Narcissa knew something about this prior to my father’s birthday. Didn’t you?”

Erwin nods. “Yes, Eve, but as I said, we couldn’t do anything without evidence. Which is why I asked Levi to keep this a secret.”

Eve tilts her head to look at Levi, her smile hinting a ghost of a smile but her eyes were manic. “So that’s how it is? Erwin tells you to do something, and you follow him around like a lost puppy.”

Erwin’s brows knot, while Levi averts his eyes with tension in his jaw.

“Now hold on, Eve. This is not Levi’s fault. I am the one who told him that the best course of action was to wait until we’ve gathered enough evidence so we could tell you the truth.”

“You didn’t think that I could take it?” Eve asks, slamming her fist on her chest as she stands. “You think I was too weak to accept the fact that every single one of my sisters are traitors?!” Her voice breaks at the end. “Did you two stop to wonder that maybe I’ll be more hurt over the two of you teaming up against me, than me finding out my sisters plotted to murder me?!”

Erwin is on his feet as well. “Eve, we are not teaming up against you. Listen to yourself. We needed evi—”

Eve pushes on Erwin’s chest. “Shove your fucking evidence up your arse, I can’t believe you waited months to tell me this huge discovery of yours. I don’t care about evidence! If my sisters were any way involved in my attempted murder, you should’ve told me the minute you found out! I… I only let you both make me wait because I thought whoever tried killing me was a scout! A scout that was possibly dead! And now you invite me to dinner and tell me that Kenny the Ripper teamed up with nine of my sisters to fucking murder me on my own birthday—do you even realize how ridiculous this all sounds?!”

Levi reaches over to take her arm. “Eve—”

She pulls herself back from him, giving him an expression he never wished to see. The betrayal and disappointment across her face were detrimental, it made his stomach twist. “And you,” she almost sobs out, pushing against his shoulders to make both of them stumble backwards. She continues to hit his chest with her arms, and she was close to sobbing. “You selfish prick, arrogant, arsehole, fucking—I trusted you!” She stops hitting him, and her face twists as she lets out a sob.

Levi could feel himself break apart, once he realizes that he is the reason why she is crying. It’s him. Mina was right.

“Eve, I thought…” he swallows. “I thought I was doing what was best for you.”

Eve chuckles darkly, tired. Humorless. “What was best for me was for you to never lie or hide anything from me. Because I love you. I love you for your honesty. Your bluntness. The way you believe that I’m strong enough to handle anything, it makes me believe the same.” Eve shakes her head. “Now I’m starting to think if you ever believed in me at all.”

Levi stays quiet, helplessly staring at Eve. He knows that he was in the wrong here, and he couldn’t say anything else. Eve wipes her cheeks and keeps her chin up.

She turns to Erwin, who looks a bit in disbelief of what he just heard. “Handle the case. Make the arrests if possible. Send the files to Mitras, my father would know what to do. Don’t give special treatment to any of them. They deserve the cold floor of prison cells. I don’t care if they have kids to take care of. Husbands to sleep next to at night. I want them all in prison. No exceptions.” She speaks slowly, as if to make her intentions clear to Erwin. Her eyes are as cold as the weather outside, and her voice sent a chill down Erwin’s spine.

“Understood. Section commander.” Erwin simply answers.

“Don’t waste even a single minute. Hell, I’ll cancel everything I have to do tomorrow so we can go to Stohess and settle this.” Eve’s face of disbelief is now replaced by hot venomous rage. “I want to see the look on each of their faces when you take them to prison.”

With that, Eve walks out of the room, not bothering to give them a final look. The door slams shut, with Levi and Erwin left standing in the middle of the room.

Levi lets out a breath, closing his eyes before rubbing the sides of his face. He meets Erwin’s unreadable gaze, and there was no doubt that he caught on to what Eve meant earlier. Still, Levi was slightly angry over how he agreed with Erwin’s method of revealing the truth to her, which is why he also left the office with a slam of his door.

Erwin is now alone, and he looks towards the table with half-eaten dinner, sighing to himself.

The news broke open the next day. And spread across the walls like wildfire.

They made the arrests, and Eve was present during each one of them. It was the same with each of her sister. They all acted coy and in disbelief of what was going on, but in the end, they begged Eve that this was all a misunderstanding. Valeria was the first to crack, and she was the reason why Narcissa did not need to testify; Valeria confessed to everything. Out of all of them, she was the most remorseful as she cried in front of Eve while she was questioned.

Xyra was, surprisingly, the angriest of them all. Underneath her sweet demeanor, she secretly hated Eve the most. Eve might never forget the way Xyra yelled at her while squirming around in her metal cuffs, saying that Eve should’ve died. How Eve should’ve died with her mother. How none of the other sisters can compare to Eve because unlike the two stepmothers, Zackly truly loved Eve’s mother.

How each sister thought that Eve thinks she was better than all of them, because her dreams were beyond marrying a nice man and bearing children of her own. How Eve’s dreams of going beyond the wall and fighting titans didn’t make her a better person than any of them.

But never once did Eve thought that way. She loved each of her sister, and until now, she still does.

When Erwin visited Mina to tell her the news, it was the first time Erwin had seen Mina cry. He stayed at her house for longer than he should’ve.

Unlike Mina though, Eve did not shed a single tear. Even as she watched her sisters get thrown to jail after being questioned. All sisters who were arrested were angry. Except Valeria. Although, they could not say a word once the Premier visited them.

Zackly didn’t even say a word to any of them. He just gave them one look, and that was it.

It was over. It was finally over.

Outside at the back of the courthouse, Eve leans against the wall and holds her flask, sipping from time to time. Her tight bun was pulling on her scalp, from how tight she made it this morning. So, she reaches up to slide the hair tie down, freeing her dark red hair. Afterwards, she sips from her flask again.

The door to her left opens, and a figure walks out. They approach Eve and lean against the wall as well. Wordlessly, Eve offers her flask, but they refuse.

“I thought you liked beer.”

“I do. I’m just pregnant.”

Eve looks at her for a moment before looking back ahead of them. “Nine lives end, and another begins.”

“Hm. Sounds like a cat’s miracle.”

Eve lets out a snort. “A cat’s miracle?”

“You’re not even going to congratulate me?”

“Do you want the kid?” Eve gives her a look.

The third Zackly daughter meets Eve’s eyes. Mina sighs. “The house could use some noise.”

“That’s not an answer.”

“He said he needs a successor.”

“You mean your shitty husband who looks for whores in the underground brothels? I’m willing to bet he has enough heirs.”

Mina inhales, leaning her head against the wall. “What do we do now?”

Eve shrugs. “I don’t know what you’ll do. But I know what I have to do.”

Mina cranes her neck, observing the side of Eve’s face. “And that is?”

Eve inhales the fresh air, blowing out through her mouth before pushing herself off the wall to face her sister. “Do you know any good vacant houses within Wall Sina?”

“I don’t think I’m following, section commander.” Sadies looks at the documents that Eve presented to him at his office, his eyes are a bit sunken now, but they are wide as he stares at Eve. “What is this?”

“It is a recommendation for a new section commander, sir.”

“I know what it is. I’m asking why you are giving it to me during your service. You cannot just quit being a scout! It’s desertion! Punishable by death!” Sadies slams the papers on the table. “Soldiers face the death penalty for failure to show on duty!”

Eve is calm, keeping her eyes forward. “I completely understand that, sir.”

Sadies wavers, but he hardens his gaze. “Do you wish to die, Eve?”

“I do not, sir.”

“Then take your documents back, because I will not accept them. You will not greenlight your own execution, that is final!”

“With all due respect, sir. This is not me greenlighting my own execution. It is me recommending a new section commander to fill in my place within the Survey Corps.”

Sadies shakes his head in confusion. “It is the same thing!”

“No. Because as of yesterday, I am no longer a soldier. Sir.”

Silence.

Sadies stands up, leaning forward with a glower on his face. “What do you mean you are no longer a soldier?”

“I’ve filed my papers to the capital. I am legally no longer a soldier, and therefore, no longer a scout. As of yesterday, I am unqualified to be a section commander, which is why I am recommending a new one. Zoë Hange is your best option. I believe that they will be able to handle the workload. If not, I would suggest appointing multiple section commanders. Miche Zacharius would be an honorable choice.”

As Eve speaks, Sadies closes his eyes and shakes his head, muttering curses under his breath. “Damn it, Eve. Did you have to play it like this? Is this about your sisters?”

“No. This is about my future competency in the scouts. I can assure you, this is in your best interests more than it is mine.” Eve nods. “My current state of mind will for sure affect my performance within the regiment. I believe that the scouts will be better off without me. For I have reached my peak, sir. Fortunately, I am replaceable as a section commander. I hope you take my recommendation. Executive Officer Hange is your best choice. You will not regret appointing them to take my place.”

Sadies gives her a long look, as if observing her face to see if there is any way he can convince her not to do this. Instead, he takes his pen and signs the documents, officially naming the new section commander. Eve nods at him, taking a step back before giving Sadies her final salute.

When she leaves the office, she reels back upon seeing Erwin. He looks like he heard everything that was discussed from within the room. Eve gives him a look before walking away.

“Eve.”

She stops, but doesn’t face him.

“Don’t do this.”

Eve straightens up, turning her head slightly to look at Erwin over her shoulder. “It’s already done.”

Erwin exhales, giving her a frown. “I understand that what happened was painful, but you don’t need to throw away the accomplishments you’ve made here with the scouts.”

Eve faces him, a glare on her eyes. “You don’t have siblings, Erwin. You don’t know what it is like to grow up with people who you thought would support you with anything, and find out that all this time, they have been jealous of you enough to plot your own murder. All because you were ambitious.” Eve shakes her head. “Don’t tell me you understand. Because you don’t. And the longer I stay with the scouts, the more I’ll be reminded by the fact that being here has ruined my family.”

“Your sisters ruined your family. Not the scouts.”

“No. I meant me. I ruined my family. Because I was too fucking ambitious,” she swallows tightly when her voice breaks at the end. Eve maintains her composure and nods at Erwin. “My future incompetence will bring ruin to the Scout Regiment… and I love this place too much for me to ruin it,” her gaze becomes distant and tired for a moment before she looks at Erwin again. “I hope you’ll have a good life, Erwin. You’ll be a great commander.”

Eve walks away again, not looking back this time. She makes her way to the stables, wanting to say goodbye to her horse before she leaves, but as soon as she reaches the entrance, she sees a familiar face.

She falters, immediately turning around to walk away, but it was too late. She can already hear the boots crunching against the dirt as they approach her.

“Eve. Eve, talk to me. Come on.”

“I have nothing to say to you, Levi. Just… leave me alone.”

Levi blocks her way by standing in front of her, not touching her without permission, but not leaving her alone either. “Eve, I haven’t seen you in like a week. Fuck, I was losing my mind. I wasn’t even fucking allowed to go to the capital.”

“That must’ve been hard for you.” She tries walking past him, but he was quicker to block her way.

“Eve,” he grabs her shoulders this time, steel eyes are sincere and regretful. “I’m sorry. Alright? Fuck, work with me here. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to keep that shit from you, I had no right. I won’t defend my actions, I know it was a shitty thing to do. Just… talk to me. I can’t fucking bear not hearing from you.”

Eve sharply inhales. “I’m leaving.”

“…Leaving? Leaving where? For how long?”

“The scouts, Levi. I’m leaving the scouts. I’ve quit as section commander, Hange is taking over for me later. The commander is probably on his way to the lab right now to announce Hange’s promotion.”

“Wait, what the fuck? Back… back up right now. You quit as a scout?” Levi looks mortified. “But the scouts need you, Eve. It’ll all turn to shit if you leave. The scouts are your life, you love being section commander,” his voice slowly transitions to a softer tone.

Eve swallows, averting her eyes to avoid them getting watery. “I do. But I can’t do this anymore.”

“And that’s it? You’re going to throw away your life accomplishments?” Levi asks with a frown. “The fuck happened to finding the sea? Going beyond the fucking walls to the edge of the continent?”

“Yeah, well, that dream costed me my whole family, so…” she shrugs, devoid of emotion now. “I can’t do this anymore. Being a scout will be a daily reminder that my sisters have hated me for our whole lives.”

“Not all of them.” Levi insists. “You have Narcissa and Mina. As long as you’ve got at least one that has your back, you can’t just fucking give up.”

Eve just makes a noncommittal noise. “I need to go, Levi. I have a carriage waiting for me.”

Levi keeps blocking her way, and he gives her a look of saddened disbelief. “You’re just… you’re just going to pack your shit and leave?”

“That was the plan.”

“What about me?” He questions, tightly swallowing. “What about you and me, Eve?”

Eve blinks, but she tightens her fist. “You and me ended the minute you lied to me.”

“I didn’t lie to you, I… I kept something from you.”

“Is that supposed to make me feel better?” She narrows her eyes. “That you knew my sisters tried to kill me while you watched me eat with them? Show them around headquarters? Titans? You knew my sisters wanted me dead, while you laid in my bed almost every single night. You think that makes it better?”

“Eve, please. Don’t do this.”

She shakes her head. He doesn’t stop her this time. As she takes a few steps forward, she stops, turning around to look at Levi again. “Nothing would’ve changed, you know.”

He slowly looks at Eve, and his eyes are slightly watery now that Eve sees him in this angle.

“I would’ve still watched my sisters get arrested. I would’ve still thrown them into jail with no mercy. I would’ve still quit being a scout. I would’ve still done all of that, if you told me the moment Narcissa told you,” she gives a tired shrug. “The only difference would be that you never would’ve lied to me.”

Levi’s gaze falls to the snow on the ground.

Eve lifts a shoulder to shrug. “And maybe once every month, you could visit me at Wall Sina. I’d cook for you, prepare for your every single arrival. You’d tell me about your expeditions. I’d tell you about my patients. We’d sit by the fire together. Just talking about anything. We could’ve…” she inhales, before releasing a breath through her mouth, a cloud of fog appearing from the cold. “We could’ve been something, Levi.”

He stares at her, and his eyes go slightly blurry from the hot tears forming in them. Eve watches for a few seconds, and the snow falls around them, covering Eve’s red hair with gentle white dots. His eyes follow the way her pinkish lips curl into a small smile. A wistful smile that evokes an ache in Levi’s chest, as if he was witnessing her imagine in her head how things would be different.

Eve turns around again, walking away from him now. All Levi can do is watch. He was helpless, and even if he ran up to her and wrap his arms around her in order to beg her to forgive him, he knows that once Eve has made up her mind, it would take the walls breaking to change her thoughts.

Chapter Text

FIVE YEARS AFTER
THE FALL OF WALL MARIA

“Thanks.”

The sound of tea pouring into a cup makes Levi shift in his chair.

“No problem, soldier.”

Levi snorts softly, taking the cup of tea to sip. He watches the woman take a seat on a chair across him, and she struggles to smoothly sit down, not due to bad knees or horrible back. No, it was because of her protruding stomach. The swell of her body, hinting of unborn life inside her. Levi watches her for a moment, and she chuckles.

“I’m fine. No need to help.” She tells him before he could ask, finally sighing as she sits down.

“You alright?” Levi asks, eyes going south to her stomach before looking back at her face.

“I’m okay, I just… it’s this month,” she puts on a smile, but Levi can tell that she’s nervous. “I know I’ve done this before, but it’s still a bit scary.”

Levi frowns. “You know I’d be there, right? Just like before.”

“I know,” she nods, arranging the chessboard for their monthly game. “And you never miss a single day.”

“I promised I’d visit once a month.” Levi gives her an odd look. “I don’t fuck up promises.”

She nods again, giving him a small smile. “But you’re captain of the scouts. Shouldn’t you be putting all your time on them instead of a stay-at-home pregnant lady?” She teases.

“Tch. The scouts would be weak if one absence of mine every month would fuck them over.” Levi makes the first move with his white horse. “Besides. Can’t have this little rascal playing on her own, huh?” He cocks his head to the side, where a four-year-old girl is playing with blocks on the floor. Blocks that Levi brought with him from that store where Hange would buys secondhand shit to tinker with.

During Levi’s time-off, he would go to Stohess to see a specific someone. He was welcome to any house, due to his status as the captain of the Survey Corps, but there was only one house that he liked visiting once a month.

“You referring to her or me?” She chuckles in front of him before taking a pawn and moving it forward.

“Both.” Levi gives her a mirthful expression without having the need to smile.

She watches at Levi, not even looking at his move on the chessboard.

He feels her eyes on him, and he sighs. “What is it, brat? What do you have to say to me?”

“It’s nothing.”

“Familiar words,” Levi says monotonously, bearing his eyes onto hers. “What is it, Narcissa?”

The sixteen-year-old girl he once met, is now twenty-six with one daughter, and another child on the way. Levi feels fucking old whenever he looks back at Narcissa, and noticing the maturation of age on her face. She aged into a fine young woman, and Levi wonders what Isabel would have looked like at this age.

“You always make an effort to come all the way to Stohess every month. Why not go see her? She’s way nearer to you than me.”

Levi feels his blood run cold, but he hides it by making his rook move. “Why should I? I’d end up with a knife against my throat.”

“You’re exaggerating,” she frowns.

“Does she come see you?”

Narcissa stays silent, and Levi nods.

“See?” Levi mutters. “We both fucked that up. Let’s just deal with the consequences. Don’t bring this up again.”

“Come on, Levi. It’s been years. Surely she would at least hear us out.” Narcissa looks saddened.

“You’re welcome to try it.” Levi’s tone is cold. “Once she made up her mind, she made up her mind.”

She sighs, but smiles once her daughter goes up to them to show the little blocks she built. She goes to show Levi, tugging on his knee. He nods before ruffling the little girl’s head, making her giggle. It reminds Levi of Narcissa when she was younger.

The girl goes back to the carpet to continue playing. Narcissa sighs with a smile this time, fond of her daughter. Levi moves his bishop. “So, how’s the douchebag?”

“Levi!” She hisses, but the amusement in her tone tells him she isn’t angry, and she moves a pawn. “Don’t call him that. Not in front of the kids.”

“I’m muddled with remorse,” Levi nonchalantly says. “So, how is he?”

“He’s fine. He’s working.”

“Yeah? How many years does he got left? Can’t wait for you to get your hands on all his money and actually put it all to good use.”

“Levi!” She repeats with a laugh. “Stop it!”

Days like this was one of those times he most looked forward to. It was relaxing to be here in Narcissa home, away from the scouts for the time being.

When Wall Maria was broken into by the Armored and Colossal five years ago, he remembers Narcissa telling him how terrifying it was at the time, especially when she was pregnant with her daughter back then. He remembers being at the top of Wall Sina with Erwin at the time. Levi also remembers going to Narcissa to check on her, only to find out that a specific someone was within Wall Maria during the titan attack.

Levi rode to Wall Rose on horseback, at full speed, leaning forward on his horse with frantic eyes. Without even stopping to think. Then, he reaches the gate, and—

He snaps out of his thoughts when Narcissa’s daughter started climbing on his lap. Levi sighs, but takes the small girl to let her settle comfortably on him. She was fiddling with one of the toys he brought her, and she leans comfortably against Levi’s chest. Over her head, Levi continues to play chess with the child’s mother. He loses all the time.

When it was time for him to leave, he watches as Narcissa rubs the swell of her stomach as he pulls his scout hood on. This has become a monthly routine for them. And it works somehow.

After Narcissa’s daughter hugs Levi’s leg as a goodbye, she scurries off back to her position on the floor, having fun with the toys he brought. Narcissa gives Levi a small smile, telling him to say hello to the commander for her. He nods, and prepares his horse outside. Narcissa contemplates for a moment.

“You should at least swing by at her house.”

“No.” Levi simply answers. “What good will that do? She doesn’t talk to you. What makes you think she’ll talk to me? Leave it alone, Iz.”

“I just think that maybe—”

Levi sharply closes the satchel attached to his horse, turning to face her. “Look. I haven’t seen her since she left the scouts, alright? It’s been ten years. The last you saw her was at the final hearing, and that was, what, five years ago?” Levi gives her a look. “It’s obvious that she hates us, so what’s the point in trying? Fucking brat blames us. She probably doesn’t even fucking think about us. What else can we do?”

She has a deep frown, and if she were still the sixteen-year-old that Levi first met, his words probably would have brought tears in her eyes by now. Levi had to remind himself that she’s all grown up now, which is why she just stares at him in disappointment.

“What if she thinks the same about us? What if she thinks we don’t think about her?”

“I don’t think about her at all.”

“That’s the first lie you’ve said today.”

“I’m not fucking lying.”

“Second lie. You want to make a third?” She raises a brow. “Come on. Even Hange hasn’t spoken to her in years. Maybe if you do it first, the rest will follow. I can come with you.”

He scoffs. “Not happening,” he mounts his horse. “Do it on your own. I’ll see you after the next expedition. Take care.”

She realizes that Levi won’t change his mind, so she sags her shoulders in defeat, waving goodbye as he rides off to Trost District.

One of the best things about coming to Stohess to see Narcissa is that she never asks Levi about the titans swarming Shiganshina District and within Wall Maria. She didn’t want to know anything about that. Levi made sure to make himself presentable before visiting. He’s always careful not to have any grime on himself. Always wearing a formal outfit. No hint of him being the soldier he is, except for the huge horse he used to arrive. Not even a uniform.

He didn’t want her kid to get any ideas. Levi knows what children are like.

If only he could take back what he just thought, because Levi didn’t know shit about kids.

When he first heard that the Colossal Titan appeared, he geared himself up and ordered his team to follow. They were on clean-up duty within Wall Maria, and it has been difficult to do ever since the holes made by that Armored one.

Levi Squad has changed over the years, and Levi was extremely careful of who to pick for the Special Operations Squad, a decision that was entrusted to him by the commander himself.

Petra, Eld and Gunther were the only ones from his original team that made the cut. The others were so incompetent that Levi had to replace them. He wasn’t sorry at the very least. Some of them were absolute cunts.

As Levi kneels next to one of his team members, he can feel the trickling of their blood on his palm. Petra is in tears as she watches the captain look upon one of their fallen comrades, right after Levi swore to the man that he will eradicate the titans.

“Levi.”

The captain rises to his feet, seeing the commander on his horse, approaching them.

Erwin has changed over the years. He has become more serious and goal-oriented than he ever was when Levi first met him. He felt different, but Levi didn’t really question it. He is aware that Erwin always knows best.

Even when Erwin tells him that they’re pulling out and all of Levi’s comrades who died, ended up wasting their lives for them to retreat. Still, Levi follows Erwin—like he always had.

When Levi reaches the entrance of Wall Maria, he sees that the hole has been plugged, and there was a tall steaming titan being approached by another pair. Levi was about to slash his blade through them all, but he catches sight of a few soldiers just below the tall titan. One of them seems to be unconscious.

Levi decides to kill the other two, before landing on top of the carcass to look back. Then, he realizes that the three people he saw from above, were actually kids.

“This is the part where you explain to me exactly what it is I’m looking at.”

Eren Jaeger.

Levi almost couldn’t believe the name he heard. Hell, he feels like he heard it wrong. He even made the young blonde scout repeat himself. The boy in question, has odd markings around his eyes as he lays still on the stretcher, smoke emitting from his wounds. Like a real fucking titan.

Levi is supposed to report this to Erwin, but how the fuck is he going to report shit like this? On horseback, he was in deep thought, his body is almost weightless.

Later that night, Levi enters Erwin’s office, where he finds him without his uniform jacket on. Only a long-sleeved white shirt, uniform pants and boots are worn by Erwin—his usual attire when Levi is around. Erwin glances at him briefly as Levi closes the door. He seems to be writing a letter, from where Levi can see.

“I’m hearing the oddest rumors. I take it that you’re here to clear things up?”

Levi sighs, almost in a tired way as he takes a seat nearby the small table that Erwin owned. Levi couldn’t help the way his own face falls, knowing what’s to come.

“There’s a kid from the 104th cadet corps. He can shift into a titan form at will. It was him that sealed the wall.”

Erwin softens, and his lips part. A display of surprise, something that Levi hasn’t seen in a while. Erwin was always the type to anticipate every outcome. This was something he never considered. Levi doesn’t blame him, because a fucking human can turn into a titan?

When Erwin makes no comment, Levi continues. “Apparently, he had no idea about his own abilities up until now. Heard from the captain of the Garrison that the mission almost went to shit, but somehow, they got the job done. Hange told me that first thing tomorrow, we’re all going to kill the remaining bastards in Wall Maria. They’re using those canons that Hange designed.”

Erwin hums, returning to his usual expression. “I see.”

Levi lifts his head to look at Erwin, disliking the taste on his tongue as he says the next words. “Here’s the real kicker. The kid that can be a titan? His name is Eren fucking Jaeger,” Levi couldn’t help the way his teeth grit together as he talks.

He notices the way Erwin’s hand twitches, and the man meets Levi’s piercing gaze with his blue ones. Erwin’s eyes are suddenly deep and uncomfortable as they lock with Levi. “Surely not…”

“I confirmed it. Asked around, and apparently, his dad was a doctor. Ring a bell?” Levi’s tone is sarcastic, but his head hangs low. “Here’s something else that’ll make all this shit even more complicated. Eren’s dad, the fucking doctor, he has a cellar in his house back in Shiganshina that apparently holds information about titans. You know what that means…”

Erwin’s eyes had a glint of something unreadable. Levi watches the way Erwin straightens himself on his seat. “I see.”

Levi huffs. If the only information they had was that Eren was Dr. Jaeger’s son, it’s not necessary for them to go see her. However, the fact that Dr. Jaeger held a huge secret in his cellar… there’s a possibility that she could have known. If she did, this could change everything.

As all these thoughts swirl in Levi’s mind, he palms his face. “Screw this shit.”

Erwin ignores Levi’s mutterings, and only calmly sorts out some documents on his desk. “We won’t be joining Hange with the task for tomorrow. You and I will be journeying east. This will remain a secret from the rest of the scouts. Only you and I will know about this visit.”

He feels his blood curdle. “Fuck no, Erwin. There’s no way I’m coming with you. Do that shit alone, I don’t give a damn.”

“Levi.”

“Fuck you. If you’re going to drag me into this shit again, you’re going to have to make me.” Levi glares at the commander, and their eyes lock once more.

Erwin just stares back at him for a moment. “It’s an order, Levi.”

Levi’s brows soften for a brief moment, but they frown again. His jaw clenches tight as he looks away from Erwin. Pulling rank on him was another level of low.

“I’m sorry, Levi. But we need her.”

“Bullshit. You need her.”

“The scouts need her, and by extension, as do I. And as do you.”

Extension. Fucking extension. Levi pushes those thoughts out of his mind as he lowly growls. “We don’t need Eve.”

Silence. The very first time either of them said her name to each other.

Levi crosses his arms, scoffing. “You’re just looking for an excuse to talk to her, and you want me there because you know that she—”

“Enough.” Erwin firmly states, giving Levi a rather cold look. “Meet me by the carriages tomorrow at dawn.”

That’s way too fucking early, but Levi knew why. He didn’t want to admit it, but he fucking knew why they had to leave at dawn. She always goes to work after dawn.

God, what Levi wouldn’t give for a titan that was actually strong enough to fucking kill him already.

Her absence was very present among the scout regiment. Everyone felt it.

Ever since she left the scout regiment, the performance of the infirmary within headquarters have downgraded. It was difficult to keep track of every scout, schedule monthly medical examinations for everyone, all while tending to the major injuries of soldiers. It made Levi remember that she had so many jobs, it was horrifying how she could handle them all. Even Hange found the job difficult as a section commander, it made everyone question how she made it all possible.

So, as Levi opens the gate leading up to a rather isolated and small house east of Wall Rose, he feels a tightening in his throat.

The sun was still rising, but the sky is already light, hinting the sun’s appearance. Even with the absence of the sun’s visibility, its light continues to shine above Levi.

He walks through a well-kept garden, smelling fresh scented berries and some flowers he doesn’t even know the names of. Levi glances at Erwin, who is entirely focused on searching for the owner of the house. Even with a small residency, the garden occupies more land than the house, making the whole place look and feel spacious.

As the two of them split up to look for her, Levi looks around and sees how neat everything is. Either she’s a great cleaner or she hires someone to maintain her stupid fucking garden. Levi wouldn’t be surprised at all if both of that happ—

A cold steel presses against Levi’s throat, and it makes him stop walking, going rigid in his place. He doesn’t look surprised, and merely annoyed that there’s a blade against the bump on his throat, a blade made for killing titans.

And with a low growl, he hears a familiar voice to his left. “What the hell are you doing in my garden?”

“Nice to see you, too.” Levi, expressionlessly greets with a side eye—since with a slight tilt of his head, the sharp blade can cut through his skin. He really doesn’t want to deal with a fucking bloodstain on his shirt.

When he sees her from the corner of his eyes, he observes how her once long red hair is now shoulder-length and wavy. And black. She wears a loose blouse and some loose pants, seemingly for gardening. Apparently, she just has her blades lying around, since the swords look out of place with her homely attire.

The only thing that didn’t change about her is her face. Fucking hell, she looks the exact same, as if ten years didn’t even pass. Levi feels like he was picked up from the underground city just yesterday by looking at her.

Hearing the commotion, Erwin sprouts out from a corner, and Levi sees the way Eve snaps her head towards Erwin’s direction even before he emerged, and she raises her other blade to Erwin’s direction. Eve looks between the two of them, blinking rapidly as if to shake herself awake from a horrible dream.

“Move, and you’ll regret it.”

“Can you put the fucking sword down? It’s a little dramatic.”

“I’ll give you the beatdown of your life if neither of you will tell me what you’re doing at my house,” she sneers, pressing the blade down into his neck.

“Eve.” Erwin calmly says, his expression being the same as he does with other soldiers. Authoritative, and there wasn’t a hint of anything from the past on Erwin’s eyes. As if Eve was just another passing person. “We’re here to talk about something incredibly important.”

“What makes you think I’ll give you any time of my day?”

“Tch. I told you, Erwin. This was a fucking waste of time.”

Erwin raises a hand towards Levi, a silent command to stop him from talking. “This is about the attacks on Wall Maria. Your expertise is needed, Eve. We would not be here if we truly think there is no one else more reliable.”

“Oh, spare me the flowery words, commander,” Eve rolls her eyes, finally lowering the sword. Levi glares. Eve pays him no mind, and only looks at Erwin. “What part of I’m retired do you not understand?”

“No scout alive can ever retire from our true goal, Eve.” Erwin simply says. “Hear what we have to say first before making your judgement.”

Levi looks at Eve, seeing many emotions flicker across her face. The most interesting one is the emotion that shows her being intrigued by whatever this is. Levi knows that look. The doctor is bored of her quiet life.

Before Levi knew it, he sits on one of her sofas in the living room, Erwin sits on the adjacent one, and Eve is sitting across them. There is a table between them, and three glasses were situated next to a bottle of ale.

“I’d offer tea, but you know, it’s too much work. Neither of you are worth the effort.”

“Tch.”

“We don’t mind. Down to business. There is an individual in the custody of the Garrison Regiment. He is a cadet, recently trained, and he is the reason why Wall Maria will not admit any more titans, as the gate has been plugged closed.”

Eve’s brows knot with interest. “You’re saying that the wall was plugged by a newly trained cadet?”

“Yes,” Erwin nods. “He possesses an inexplicable ability of being able to shift into a titan at will. He only recently discovered this power, and currently—”

“He can what?” Eve’s eyes are slightly wide. “What do you mean, shift into a titan at will? What, he can manifest an entire sentient titan body? Be a titan?”

“We don’t know for sure, but all sources point to that direction, yes. Levi and I are planning to go see him today. He is being held captive in a cell right now, as Levi recalls. He arrived at the scene after the hole was plugged by the cadet’s titan.”

Eve looks at Levi. “You were there?”

“I didn’t see him as a full titan, but I saw the remains. Apparently, he was pulled from the nape. Like controlling a puppet. The captain of the Garrison had to cut him out of the body.” Levi says, eyes closed as he leans against the chair with his arms crossed. “A lot of elite soldiers claimed as witnesses. Can’t call them liars.”

Eve appears to be thinking. “What does any of this have to do with me?”

Levi is about to answer, but Erwin instantly speaks. “There will be a court hearing soon. I’ve been informed that the person who gets to decide whether this cadet lives or dies, is none other than Premier Zackly himself.”

“…That’s it? You’re here because you want me to talk to dear old dad and let you have custody over this cadet?”

Levi knots his brows, and he is about to talk again, but Erwin holds a hand up at him so he could stop. “That is partly the reason why. The main one here is for us to formally ask you to return to the Survey Corps, and provide your assistance as army doctor. This titan shifting cadet will need more than just mediocre doctors in our infirmary. Like I said, your expertise is needed.”

Levi didn’t expect Eve to let out a chuckle, but the sound is far from the familiar amusement that Levi remembers. No, it was cold and devoid of any warmth.

“You do realize that I’m retired, right? I’m not even a soldier anymore. Not on paper.” Eve lists off, shifting her gaze back and forth between the two men in her house.

“While we don’t necessarily need you as a scout, we need you as a doctor. A researcher. No one is more qualified.”

“And, what, you just want me to abandon my clinic and go off facing titans again with the two of you?”

“Yes.” Erwin answers with no hesitation. “For the future of mankind. Humanity needs Yvonne Zackly.”

“Oh, please. My prime has long since passed. I don’t think my body is even sturdy enough to be a soldier again anyway.” Eve stands. “Well, it was nice seeing you both.”

Erwin stands up, and the flicker of emotion appears across his eyes. “Eve. The scouts need you. This can unravel many mysteries. You’re the only one who can—”

“Don’t even finish that sentence.” Eve sighs out, and Levi rises to his feet as well. “All three of us wasted our time today. I hope you think it was worth it.”

Why the hell isn’t Erwin saying it? Levi gives him a harsh glare. The one reason that can get Eve onboard with no hesitation, and Erwin isn’t making it fucking known!

Eve’s eyes are dark, despite the comforting color of brown in them. The blackness of her hair only accentuating her eyes even more. “Please, leave.”

“Come on, Erwin. Like I said. Waste of time.” Levi mutters, already making his way to the door, but pauses once he sees the look on Erwin’s face.

For the first time in years, Levi recognizes an emotion on Erwin’s face. One that Levi hasn’t seen ever since Eve left the scouts. Sadness. Sadness because even after all this time, even after all the masks that Erwin puts on, even after seeing so many horrific things during his time as the commander of the scouts—Erwin still cares about this infuriating woman.

Even when Levi has doubts over his own feelings, whether he still feels the same for Eve as he did five years ago or not; Erwin’s feelings for Eve never once wavered. Twenty years passing. Levi has no idea if he should feel sorry for him.

The look on Erwin’s face as they make their exit, prompts Levi to sharply turn to Eve with a glare.

“It’s Eren.”

Erwin looks at Levi, startled. “Levi, don’t—”

“Shut up, Erwin. She has to fucking pull herself together and realize shit for once,” Levi bites, looking at Eve’s face of disbelief. “Yeah, you fucking heard me. The kid that can turn himself into an ugly ass titan? It’s Eren. Eren Jaeger. Name familiar to you?”

“I…” she couldn’t gather her words.

“I guess Erwin didn’t want to say his name yet to see if you’d return to the scouts willingly, and not because of some stupid brat that happens to be your mentor’s kid. I guess we got our answer there.” Levi’s fists clenches. “But to hell with that now. Now you know. Tomorrow, your dad’s going to be deciding if Eren lives or not. He won’t give a flying fuck if the kid happens to be the son of his daughter’s teacher. Not if you give him a reason to care.”

Eve looks a little in shock of what she heard, but she gathers her wits together. “Even if I do say yes, my dad won’t listen to me. He’ll remain partial and just. And even if I do advocate for the scouts, people would think papa is being biased and it will look bad for you and for him. I won’t be of any help to you in that matter.”

Levi softens, realizing that Eve didn’t just reject them to reject them, but to help them.

Eve stares at them long. “There’s more to this, isn’t there? What else does Eren have?”

“A key to a cellar. Dr. Jaeger has been keeping information there. Important information regarding titans, and possibly, what is beyond the walls.”

Eve falters, and Levi realizes. “You know something about the cellar?”

“Dr. Jaeger mentioned it a couple times. I didn’t know what it was for. He said that he would show me one day. But that was before he married Carla and had a family, and I joined the scouts. The promise was forgotten, by both of us.”

Levi shares a glance with Erwin, and he looks back at Eve. “The trial could happen tomorrow. You’ll know where it is. That, or send a letter to let us know where you stand. Or not. Either way, we’d know your answer.”

Eve replies with nothing, and just watches as Levi pushes Erwin through the door with him. The door shuts and Levi goes straight to his horse.

“Erwin, come on.” Levi huffs when Erwin remains standing next to his own horse. “Get a fucking grip. She was never going to join the scouts again. I did your ass a favor. Now at least there’s a chance she’ll come back.”

Erwin’s face remains expressionless, and Levi rolls his eyes.

“Look, I get it, alright? But there’s nothing we can do. She made up her damn mind years ago.”

“Yes.” Erwin says, quiet yet precise. “She has made her decision a long time ago. I’m not sure what made me think differently today.”

Levi falters, but he hardens his face once more. “Tch. Get on your damn horse. We need to check on Hange.”

Even though Erwin knows that Levi and Eve had a relationship, if one could even call it that, he was never hostile against Levi. The captain isn’t sure if he ever liked that or not. Erwin should fucking hate him, but no, Erwin treated him the same way as he did before he even found out about him and Eve.

Levi sometimes wonder what Erwin thinks of Levi whenever he casts his blue eyes on him.

He never admitted it to Erwin, but to Levi, Erwin is the greatest friend he has ever had. Something he feels guilty of realizing—since that means he thinks Erwin is better than Isabel and Furlan. Levi can’t help the guilt in him, but it’s the truth. He has never had a friend like Erwin. Neither Furlan or Isabel can complement Levi as well as Erwin does.

He remembers the conversation he had with Erwin after he found out about him and Eve.

“You love her?” Erwin asks, his hands behind his back as he stares out of the window.

Levi has barely entered the room, already cursing in his head as he gently closes the door. When he keeps quiet, Erwin slowly turns around, looking at him. The expression on his face showed that he wasn’t angry, but he wasn’t pleased either.

“Well? Do you?”

Levi’s throat dries up, and he feels like a cornered rat with nowhere to go. This secret has been eating him alive for months now, and to finally admit it out loud feels both relieving and horrifying. Relieving because he feels freer to admit this to himself, but terrifying because he is now admitting it to the one person who has cared for Eve even longer than Levi knew her.

Something tells Levi that Erwin already knows the answer.

Levi bares his steel grey eyes towards Erwin. “Yes. I do.”

Erwin doesn’t react, and merely blinks at Levi before turning back to his view outside the window. “I see.”

Levi clenches his fists. “Is that it? That’s all you’ve got to say to me?”

“What else do I say, Levi?”

“That… that I’m a fucking piece of shit for going after your woman—”

“Eve is not my woman. I’ve made that clear ever since you and I have known each other.” Erwin calmly says.

“And that doesn’t fucking hurt you?”

“I didn’t say that.”

Levi feels his chest constrict, almost squeezing his ribcage against his lungs to prevent him from talking. Erwin looks at him again, this time, there is a tinge of dispiritedness in his eyes.

“Normally, I’d feel a sense of jealousy. In fact, I should. I’m not sure anymore. But frankly, I don’t blame you at all, Levi. Eve is… she is fairly easy to love.”

Levi doesn’t know what to say to that. He has no idea how to discuss his feelings like this.

“I only wish you told me sooner.”

“Yeah, well… you and her both.” Levi grumbles, the image of Eve walking away from him after saying similar words left a burn in his forehead.

Erwin nods. “Yes. Maybe that does make me sound like a hypocrite.”

“No, it doesn’t. It actually makes me look more of an asshole. I was hiding two separate secrets from both you and Eve.” Levi sighs, eyes fluttering shut in brief disbelief as he approaches the chair in Erwin’s room where Levi usually sits. “This one’s on me. I fucked this up.”

Erwin nods again, looking out of the window. “Yes, you did.”

The Survey Corps has lost one of its greatest soldiers, all because Levi royally fucked things up. All because he couldn’t choose between his greatest friend and greatest love.

“Heichou?”

Levi blinks, looking up to see Petra by the entrance. The others were nearby, but she was the one who approached him. “What is it?”

Petra gives an apologetic smile. “You seem like you’re thinking very hard about something. Did everything go well?”

Before Levi arrived to where his squad was, he and Erwin paid Eren a visit. The boy was being held in a prison cell, with every limb chained to the wall. Levi noticed a little detail about Eren. He has a daunting drive on killing titans, deeply rooted by his anger towards them after witnessing the death of a loved one.

Levi hates how that reminded him of himself. Damn it. Something tells him that he should keep his distance from Eren. Levi has enough brats in his life to care about.

“Everything went fine. That damn brat gives me the creeps, though.”

Petra chuckles as she walks with him. “I’m sure he’s not all bad. If he plugged up that hole, who knows what else he can do for humanity, right?”

“Right,” Levi glances at her as they walk to the table where Levi Squad was dining on.

A year after Eve left the scouts, Levi fell back to his old routine with Petra. Around twice a week, Levi would come to Petra’s room at night while everyone is asleep. Sometimes, he would drag her to an isolated place just so they don’t have to be that quiet.

None of the other scouts know, only Levi and Petra knew of this arrangement. Although, only Levi knows that he would sometimes pretend how Petra’s brown hair would be red. Only sometimes… because if he loses himself in the illusion, he might accidentally kiss Petra with a different woman in his mind.

Levi knew he’s an actual bastard for doing this, especially since he wasn’t stupid enough not to see the way Petra looks at him. There are just so many moments where Levi wishes that he meets a titan that can actually kill him. That way, he doesn’t need to do it himself.

The sounds of muffled moaning against Levi’s palm, accompanied with his short breaths fill the space around them. Petra’s front is pressed into a wall, and her back is slightly arched to accommodate his hips. Her hands desperately grasp at the wall as Levi thrusts himself into her without pausing, the sound of their clothes repeatedly brushing against one another masks the soft squelching of their union.

“C-Captain,” Petra moans when he releases her mouth, and she presses her forehead against the wall as she shook in his arms.

Levi doesn’t respond, and only grips her hips with both hands, pounding into her even faster. All the frustration he felt for the past week are being taken out on his willing subordinate.

Fucking hell, he didn’t want to admit it, but the anger and exasperation he felt upon seeing Eve for the first time again in years… it was fucking up his brain.

He releases into the condom with a quiet groan, making sure she finishes before pulling out. He wordlessly cleans himself up with a handkerchief, and Petra does the same with a handkerchief of her own.

“Bad week?” Petra asks quietly as she adjusts her shirt.

Levi laces his pants, giving her a brief look. “The trial’s tomorrow. Hopefully, things go well, and the kid doesn’t get executed on the spot. That’ll suck for us. Eld will be taking charge while Erwin and I go to the courtroom. After the hearing, if things go well, we’ll be welcoming Eren to the scouts, as a new member of my squad.”

“Understood, sir.”

Levi grimaces. “Don’t be so formal after I just fucked you against the wall, Petra.”

“R-Right,” she flushes, sitting down on her bed.

Levi leaves her room once he made sure that everyone within the vicinity is asleep, and he returns to his own office. He takes a shower to get rid of any trace of what happened tonight, and he can’t help but clench his jaw. Seeing Eve again only reminded him of shit he wanted to forget. Everything about her, it’s messing with his mind how Levi can never be with her like that again.

And, walls, she was so beautiful when Levi saw her again. Even with the sword against his fucking throat. In fact, that action made him feel all sorts of ways. No other person would ever have the confidence to go against Captain Levi like that.

Maybe it’s because all the women he meets would only see him as the strong captain he is. Eve knew him as just an angry underground gang leader, who cries over his dead friends sometimes, who didn’t know how to read or write when he first got here, who likes being dainty and taken care of; and she still loved him. Maybe she even loved him for those reasons.

Levi buries his face into his cold hands once he finished getting dressed after his shower. He was clean now, but he still feels so fucking filthy.

After all these damn years, he was still hung up on Eve.

Maybe she really does have that effect on people. Somehow, Levi is terrified of becoming another Erwin. Someone who will love Eve from the sidelines for almost two decades, watching as she falls for another. Maybe that’s why his eyes instinctively went to her left hand, in search for a blinding ring that will tell him she has moved on. The relief upon seeing none was suffocating.

Although, its absence did not confirm whether or not she has moved on, and it made Levi feel so fucking frustrated.

Levi might go insane in he reaches the ten-year mark. He has no idea how Erwin managed two whole decades.

As he ponders all of this, Levi had to pause and roll his eyes. Great. That fucking confirms it. Levi was still in love with Eve, fucking great. Exactly what he fucking needs right now.

Levi was so sure that he no longer loved Eve. There were days where he didn’t even think of her anymore. But apparently, the love he felt for her, it laid dormant inside him. With no one to give it to. Or more specifically, the person he needs to give it to, was no longer around him.

He hated it. He can’t be like this right now. Not with two separate attacks from the Colossal the past five years. Is he serious? Thinking of a damn woman when people are being killed left and right by titans? He’s a goddamn mess.

The trial starts, and Levi takes a quick glance at the premier, sitting high above from afar. He looks at the boy chained to the ground at the center of the room, and Levi looks at the door, anticipating the appearance of a specific person. If that door opens and reveals her, Levi might not be able to breathe properly.

The trial progresses, and there was still no sign of her, and Levi gives up. Who was he kidding? Of course she wouldn’t show up. Why the hell did he think differently?

Erwin speaks their proposal, which did not include Eren’s death like the MPs proposed. Levi glances at Eren again, who looks very uncomfortable as the merchants begin to argue over Eren’s fate. Levi couldn’t help but speak, calling them pigs in the process.

As Zackly starts to recount events regarding Eren and a Mikasa Ackerman, he hears a quiet unexpected voice behind him.

“Keep your faces forward, don’t look back.”

Levi blinks. How the hell did she get here? The door didn’t even open an inch ever since Hange and the others led Eren inside.

“Clench your fists if you truly want Eren in the scouts’ custody. No matter what.”

Levi keeps his face forward, but he curls his fingers to ball his fists. He assumes Erwin does the same.

“Good. Captain. If Eren shows any sign of aggression, I need you to go over there and beat the living hell out of him.”

Levi blinks, and he tries to turn. “What—”

“Keep your head forward, damn it,” she hisses from behind him. “I won’t repeat myself. I’ll explain later, but I know you’ll know how to take it from there.”

“Like hell—”

“She’s right. This is an order, captain. Do just as she said.”

Levi stays quiet, but glances at Erwin from the side of his eyes. Erwin remains focused on the scene playing in front of him before Levi crosses his arms. “Whatever.”

So, when Eren loses his cool, Levi didn’t hesitate maneuvering himself over the railing to march towards Eren and launching his leg across his face, knocking his tooth out in the process.

The rest of the people in the room watches in horror as Captain Levi kicks the living crap out of the young boy. Erwin calmly watches his captain as he continues to kick Eren with so much force, blood was beginning to splatter across the floor… and there are times that Levi wouldn’t even pause to let the boy breathe.

Somehow, Levi knew exactly what Eve’s plan was, and the words smoothly fall from his tongue. He explains how no one, except him, will be able to tame someone as dangerous as Eren—and he proves himself right as Eren remains human on his knees in front of Levi.

Erwin proposes that Eren should be placed under Captain Levi’s supervision, and at the end, the premier decides that Eren goes to the Scout Regiment, right after asking Levi a question; can he handle Eren?

Levi had no doubts that he can kill Eren if necessary.

Once the premier’s decision was finalized, Levi finally looks to his left and sees Eve behind Erwin. She is in her old scouts uniform, but it looks more loose on her than it did when she last wore it. Her black hair serves as a disguise, since no one has recognized her yet, and there was no reason to think that the previous section commander would be at this hearing, considering that she was supposed to be retired years ago.

Later, Eren is taken to a more comfortable room, where Hange, Levi, Miche and Erwin accompany him. Hange treats Eren’s wounds, while Erwin talks to the boy.

“Sorry about what happened. It was the only way to get you placed in our custody.” Erwin tells Eren, and there is a hint of fondness in his voice. He squats down in front of Eren, smiling a bit. “You have my admiration. I look forward to working with you.” Erwin offers his hand to shake.

Levi crosses his arms. Tch. Of course, Erwin would be fond of this boy. Eren was only five years old when Eve expressed her wishes to meet him and be the ‘cool aunt’ she wished herself to be.

Star struck, Eren grabs Erwin’s hand to shake it with enthusiasm. “Yes, thank you, sir!”

Levi sits down next to Eren on the sofa, making sure to slam his arms down on the rests. Eren flinches comically, looking at Levi like he is terrified of him in an admiring way. “So, Eren. You don’t resent me now, do you?”

“N-No, I understand the point of the display earlier.”

“Good.”

Hange complains to Levi that he went too far, and even showed them the tooth that Levi knocked out. Levi was too busy watching Eren to even get disgusted by Eren’s tooth, and the way it grew back inside his mouth.

A knock on the door pulls their attention away from the boy for a second, before Hange continues to examine Eren as Miche answers the door for them. Miche stands frozen upon seeing the woman, clad in her usual loose white blouse and black pants, with brown boots. Her hair is tied hastily as though she was running while doing it, not wanting to waste a second of time. Levi watches her, and Erwin does the same while also listening to whatever Hange was saying to Eren.

“Section… Section Commander?”

Assuming they were being called, Hange looks up at Miche, half-confused as to why a fellow section commander is addressing them in such a way—until their eyes almost bulge out of their glasses. Hange shoots up on their feet, alert as they stare at the person by the door with a gaping mouth.

Eve musters a small smile at Miche. “What happened to ‘little red’?”

Miche’s lips curl into a smile as he surveys her face. “Doesn’t really apply anymore.”

Eve just chuckles, looking around the room. “Hello, everyone.”

Hange had no idea if they should say something or not, and frankly, even if they want to say something, they were still in a state of shock. Levi sighs, grabbing Hange’s wrist to guide them out of the room. Erwin and Miche follow behind, while Eren stares in wonder and confusion.

The door closes, and Eve pauses for a moment before turning to Eren with a kind smile. She approaches and takes a seat on where Levi previously occupied.

“Do you know who I am, Eren?”

“…You’re Section Commander Eve of the Scouts. Premier Zackly’s daughter.”

Eve couldn’t help the slight ache in her chest, the painful reminder of her absence in Eren’s life, but she nods. “I’m impressed you know that, considering I retired years ago.”

“I… was an admirer of the scouts already as a kid,” Eren says, wonder in his tone. “You’re a legend.”

Eve chuckles. “And it just so happens that your father is a dear friend of mine. He was the one who taught me everything I know about being a doctor.”

Eren’s eyes widen with surprise. “No way… y-you’re the one he talked about? The nurse who assisted him during the epidemic? You helped my dad cure my mom!”

That brings warmth to her body, and she smiles softly. “That’s right.”

“I don’t know why he never mentioned that he mentored the section commander of the scouts. That feels way too big not to brag to his son,” he frowns.

“It seems like your dad kept a lot of secrets from us both.”

Eren absentmindedly reaches up to clutch the key around his neck. “Yeah…”

Silence fills the room, and Eve takes this as her moment. “I’m sorry about your mother…” she gently says, and Eren looks away. “I remember her as a kind woman. She used to bring pastries to the clinic to thank us after the epidemic. I think it was just an excuse to go see your father,” she gives an amused smile.

Eren snorts quietly, shaking his head. His face turns into a bashful one. “Did you… did you tell the Premier to spare my life?”

“No.”

“Really?”

Eve nods, and explains why it would look bad for both the scouts and the premier if she somehow gets involved before Zackly makes his decision. Now that Eren was allowed to be a scout, Eve can step into the light again.

Somehow, Eren is relaxed around Eve. Just knowing that Eve knew his father, even before his mother married him, was enough to put him at ease. Not to mention Eve’s impressive reputation as a scout.

“Your speech earlier. While it was said out of panic over that young girl’s life, I can tell you’re very passionate about helping humanity with this newfound strength you have.” Eve takes Eren’s hand, giving him a solemn look. “Eren, I promise you. We will do whatever it takes to keep you safe. This ability of yours, we will study it. I’ll help you control it. We’re a team now, do you understand? I’ll be with you every step of the way, to protect you.” If it means joining the scouts again, I’ll do it.

Eren is awestruck by the genuineness in her voice, and his lips form a small assured smile. He nods, squeezing her hand back. Eve sighs in content, but she wishes that she met Eren under different circumstances.

“Vonnie!” Hange cries from across the hallway, running towards her with open arms as Moblit follows behind, frantically getting her to stop before other soldiers see the scouts like this. “I can’t believe it! It’s really youuuuu!!!”

“Han—”

Eve is cut off by Hange literally throwing themselves into her, wrapping their arms around Eve’s frail body and squeezing the life out of her while squealing excitedly. Levi rolls his eyes as Hange starts fussing, asking her overly concerned questions (Have you eaten? Did you drink water? You are so thin, what the hell, Vonnie?!)

“Oi. Four eyes. If you’re done, she and I have shit to discuss.” From Hange’s comments, Levi couldn’t help but examine Eve himself. She truly did become thinner.

“Oh, get over yourself, Levi! I haven’t seen Vonnie in years!” Hange growls at him, but returns to their bright expression as they turn to Eve. “So, what brings you to the courthouse? Here to see your dad? It’s so great to see you, section commander!”

“I’m… not your section commander anymore,” Eve looks amused. That fucking amused expression again, damn it. Levi feels his stomach flip. “If anything, that’s you now. Section Commander Hange,” Eve teases as she pokes Hange’s side, and they howl out a laugh.

“Only because you left! I never realized your daily workload was heavy as hell! You got me, Moblit and Miche working the jobs you handled on your own back in your time! As well as three other squad leaders.” Hange snorts, patting Eve’s back as they fall back to their old dynamic.

“Back in my time? Way to make me old, Hange,” Eve looks at the section commander with pride in her eyes, as well as a hint of how much she missed Hange.

Levi decides to let them talk, and he tells Moblit to give them a second before he also leaves. He contemplates going to the room where Eren was in, but since Erwin told Eren to rest, Levi better not disturb him.

Once they were alone, Eve looks at Hange with an apologetic expression. “I should’ve visited. I’m sorry.”

Hange waves it off. “Oh, it’s fine. And besides, even if you did visit, I’d be so busy anyway and it would waste your time.”

Eve sighs, rubbing the side of her face as she glances to the side. Eve is aware that Hange knows why she left the scouts, but she is thankful that Hange isn’t bringing it up.

“You’re here for Eren, aren’t you?”

“Yeah…”

“So, Erwin and Levi went to see you when they found out it was Eren Jaeger.” Hange nods. “They should’ve said something.”

“I’m glad they didn’t. They weren’t sure if I’d agree to anything. Hell, even I wasn’t sure.” Eve shrugs. “It’s good that they didn’t tell you. You wouldn’t have been disappointed if I didn’t show.”

Hange frowns, grabbing Eve’s arm to tug her forward, embracing her properly this time. Eve sighs, returning the hug. It has been a long time since she saw Hange, and she is glad that they aren’t mad at her for leaving so suddenly, forcing them to fill the position as section commander. But no. Hange ran to her while crying, overwhelmed by their happiness to see her as they embraced Eve tightly. Eve is so glad to be held by Hange like this.

“Must’ve been weird. To be visited by two of your sort-of exes.”

Eve shoves Hange off her, while Hange lets out evil snickers. Eve desperately tries to prevent a smile from surfacing on her face, but as Hange starts to fully laugh, Eve just smiles and shakes her flushed face at them.

“Also, I’m loving this new look,” Hange gestures vaguely over Eve as they walk. “The hair is very sexy.”

“I wasn’t aiming for sexy. More like convenient for gardening.”

“Ooh, you’re a gardener now? You really are an old lady now.”

“Shut up, Hange.”

“If I’m doing this, we’re doing this the right way.” Eve sternly says, in an empty cafeteria with Levi and Erwin sitting from across the table. “That means no lying to me. No hiding shit from me. Everything that involves Eren—you let me know. The minute I find out either of you kept something from me again, I walk.”

Levi forces his eye not to twitch in annoyance. “Think you’re that important, brat?”

Eve musters a humorless smirk. “I know that you two need me. If anyone can figure out what Eren is, it’s me. That, and I have Eren’s trust, he’d be more at ease with me around.”

Levi doesn’t reply to that, because she’s right.

“What are your requests?” Erwin simply asks.

“I don’t want special treatment.” Eve shakes her head. “But I’m aware that I’ve made a name among the scouts, back then and even now. So here’s what we’ll do. I’m willing to be just any other recruit. Hell, you can put me in anyone’s squad. That’s up to you.”

Erwin raises his brows. “But you were once section commander. It’s only appropriate for one of the current ones to step down so you can fill the position.”

“That’s a little unfair for them.”

“Bullshit. Don’t give me this self-righteous crap.” Levi interrupts. Eve looks at him, full offense. “You think we got time for you to look humble and shit? Look alive, Eve. If the commander appoints you as section commander, then you better fucking listen to him—”

“Calm down, Levi.” Erwin holds back a sigh. They won’t get anywhere if they start arguing. Levi huffs, twisting to the side to look away from Eve. “He is correct, Eve. I cannot just let someone as valuable and knowledgeable as you, start as a mere cadet with no title. Besides, every scout already knows your name. Especially the current officers of the regiment. It will be uncomfortable for them to treat their previous superior as just any other scout.”

Eve sighs, rubbing her forehead. “I can’t just leave for ten years and come back as a section commander. It isn’t fair for other people.”

“I have an idea.” Erwin nods. “I can put you in the Special Operations Squad, so you can work closely with Eren. Not to mention, the captain here leads that squad. You will be his executive officer.”

Damn you, Erwin. There’s no way Eve would allow herself to become my subordinate.

Eve thinks deeply about this, and eventually nods. “Alright, that sounds amicable.”

Levi almost gapes at her, but retains his expressionless face. Erwin nods. “Do you have any other requests?”

“I’ll be allowed to work with Hange again, right?”

“Yes. Although, Hange will be leading the research division as usual. You will be under their orders.”

Eve’s lips curve into a smile. “What a turn of events. My subordinates at one point of my life, are now the ones commanding me.”

Levi and Erwin reply with silence, just as Eve lets out a contented sigh.

“My final request is this; if I say that Eren is done for the day, he’s done. I don’t want anyone else to question it if I say he should rest.”

There is a momentary hesitation in Erwin’s face as he looks at Eve. She rolls her eyes.

“This won’t work if I can’t trust that you won’t work him to death. Eren might be willing to push his limits to follow you guys around, but if I say he’s done, I don’t want anyone to interject.”

Levi’s nails dig into his palms. He opens his mouth to retort, but Erwin makes his decision.

“Done.” Erwin gives her a final nod before looking at Levi. “I’ll leave her to you, captain.”

Levi stays quiet as Erwin stands up and leaves the mess hall. The candle on the table keeps their corner of the room luminated.

“So… captain,” she tests the word, and Levi lifts his gaze to lock with hers. The amusement is clear across her face, which is not something Levi expects to see, given that she spent years hating him for what he did. “What’s your first command?”

Levi tenses from the teasing tone she uses. The fuck? They’re back to this? He huffs, crossing his arms. “Get up. I’m taking you to your temporary quarters. You’ll sleep. Cadet.”

She hums, almost in a mocking way as she nods at him. “I wonder what type of punishment is waiting for me if I choose to stay awake.”

He feels his knees freeze. “The hell is wrong with you?”

“I thought you already knew how much I like making you uncomfortable.”

“Shit is different now. I’m your fucking captain, so cut that shit out and take me seriously for once in your life.”

“When did I never take you seriously?”

Levi scoffs, standing up. “Come on. We leave for the castle first thing tomorrow. It’s where the rest of my squad is staying.”

Eve follows Levi down a hallway, as he leads with his lamp.

“Does daddy dearest know about you being at the survey corps again?” Levi asks through the silence, monotonous.

“I told him before I came to see Eren earlier,” Eve says. “He was surprised that I’d come back. He knew it was for Eren,” she pauses. “I haven’t seen my father since the final hearing a few years ago.”

“I see you also cut off your own dad from your life.”

“Watch your tongue before I slice it off, captain.”

Levi almost told her about how she also abandoned Narcissa, but that feels like he would be stepping over the line. “Right. ‘Cause that always works out so well for you.”

She stops walking. “Hey.” The word comes out in a demanding tone, making Levi turn as the lamp he carries shines light on her. “You got something to say? Say it.”

“Oh, I got a lot of shit to say. But we don’t have time for that bullshit right now.”

“Bullshit,” she repeats. “Is that what we’re calling it now?”

“Don’t even know what ‘it’ you’re referring to. And I don’t care to find out.” Levi sends a glare, not letting her reply as he continues to walk. “Get a fucking move on. I want to sleep. It’s been a long ass day.”

She doesn’t say anything else. It felt so strange to be within her vicinity again after so many years. Just listening to the familiar pattern of her footsteps was irking Levi to a degree he can’t describe. To think that this time, he is her superior. Fucking weird.

They reach a room, and Levi gestures towards the door. “Sleep.”

That was all he says before he walks to his own room, which was one door down, but Eve’s voice halts his movements.

“I was right, wasn’t I?”

Levi looks at her over his shoulder, and she has a small smile as she stares at the doorknob she was holding. “About what?”

“About you,” she turns to him with a gentler look, in contrast with the irritation he kept seeing on her face every time she looked his way recently. “I once told you that you’d impact the scouts. And now look at you. Captain of the Survey Corps. Humanity’s Strongest. I was right.”

“You want a gold star or something?” Levi bluntly retorts, turning back around to continue walking away, trying to ignore the way his mind pictures that memory so clearly.

“Once I’ve figured out what Eren is, and once I’m sure he’s fine in your hands, I’m returning to my life.” Eve informs him. “I hope next time, you and Erwin will think twice before coming to see me again.”

“I fucking get it, alright?” Levi bites back a growl. “You hate me. Big fucking deal, you’re not the first person to. Want to know my first command? I don’t want you to bring up the past. You and I are here to do our jobs. That’s it.”

Eve remains quiet, enough to make Levi glance at her over his shoulder. Her black hair covers most of her face, and it looks like his lamp casts a dark shadow over her eyes.

“Understood.”

They go their separate ways and Levi finally reaches the peace of his own room.

Although, after half an hour, a knock on his door pulls him from his needed slumber. He groans, mentally cursing Erwin for waking him like this. When he opens the door, he reels back with a grimace.

“What the hell? Thought I told you to sleep.”

“There isn’t a table in the room you put me in.” Eve crosses her arms, glaring at Levi as he rubs his eyes.

“So?”

“So? I need to write things down for my observations on Eren’s behavior.”

“Can’t you do that shit tomorrow? We’re going to the castle anyway—”

“I can’t, because I’ll forget.”

Levi grits his teeth. “Then use the tables at the cafeteria.”

“Tried that. They locked the doors there, I can’t get in. Everyone else is asleep.”

“Then write on the fucking floor!”

“You think any flat surface would work on my research for Eren?” She raises a brow.

“I don’t have time for this shit.” Levi pushes his door open, revealing the neat table with a few of his documents on it. “Knock yourself out. Just be quiet. Let yourself out when you’re done.”

Eve closes the door behind herself and occupies the seat in front of the table and slightly turns the lamp on. Levi lies back down on the mattress, turning away from her direction to avoid the light behind his eyelids.

As he tries to sleep, he listens to the gentle scribbles of a pencil, and the faint rustle of paper brushing against paper. The familiar sound, taking him back to when he would lie in her bed as she would read diplomatic letters. It was as if Levi can still feel the soft sheets on her bed brushing against his bare body as he wakes in the morning, greeted by the image of Eve wrapped in his shirt, her leg against her chest as she shuffles through papers while eating bread. The image is so clear in Levi’s mind, it makes him want to turn his head and scream into the pillow.

He couldn’t fucking sleep. Even when Eve was being the quietest she has ever been. Hours later, she was still in his room, still writing shit down as if she never runs out of words to say about her first encounter with Eren. What the fuck is there even to write about?

Levi never moved from his place, he was still curled on his side, his usual sleeping position. He curses himself for underestimating the weather in Mitras, since he should’ve doubled up on the covers. It’s fucking freezing.

He hears her sigh, and the soft creak of the chair tells him that she’s leaning back into it—indicating that she’s done. The notebook gently closes and he hears her slip the pencil into the little band attached to the notebook.

“Captain, are you awake?”

He doesn’t want to respond. If he says anything, she would know that he has been awake the entire time. That will be messy to deal with.

When she was met with silence, she believes it. Levi knows because she continues to talk.

“Well, it’s better if you can’t hear me, so you can’t bitch about this to me for bringing it up.”

Those words almost made Levi rise up and glare at her, but her next words make him swallow.

“There were days that I didn’t even think about you,” she starts, and her fingers gently tap against the wooden table. She lets out a soft snort. “And there were days where all I could think about was you.”

Levi blinks, mentally begging her to stop fucking talking.

“I’d always hear about you from people in the marketplace or the clinic. Even children seemed to be excited at the thought of the captain of the scouts,” she has a smile on her face, he can tell. “As much as I’m angry at you, I’m still so proud of what you’ve become.”

Levi stays quiet, his breaths are calm.

“There’s one thing I hate though…” Eve quietly says before inhaling sharply.

He can feel his pulse quicken.

She sounds angry yet tired as she sighs in defeat. “God. Why did I come back?” She whispers mostly to herself.

Levi hears her stand up, and there is a slight shuffle of boots behind him, and he closes his eyes when he feels something soft be laid on top of him. Eve must have grabbed the extra sheet on the other chair and gently pulled it on top of Levi’s sleeping figure.

“Humanity’s coldest soldier,” she mutters, and there is a hint of amusement and fondness in her voice. “You’re a lot easier to be nice to when you’re asleep, captain.”

Levi doesn’t move, and he just listens to Eve turn the lamp down, gathering his things as she leaves his room. Once the door is closed, Levi finally lets his body tense as his eyes sting with fire. Fuck, fuck, fuck.

He pulls the covers off before he goes to the door, grabbing the handle. His fist closes around it, tightening his grip until his knuckles turn white. Levi’s pulse is erratic, wanting to open the door and tell Eve he was listening all this time, but he couldn’t.

Torn between his own hatred for himself, and his love for that fucking woman. Levi can’t do it. He can’t bring himself to try telling her what he has felt for years. What a coward he is, as he lets go of the doorknob and retreats on his bed to force himself to sleep.

Chapter Text

The morning comes and outside the building that the scouts stayed in, Eve, Levi and Eren were greeted by a group of elite soldiers. Levi Squad.

As Eve dismounts her horse, she is amused to see the most elite of all elite soldiers scramble to salute her with surprise across their faces.

“S-Section Commander!” They salute, fists over their chests as they stand in formation.

Eve offers a kind smile towards each of them, but feels a small twist in her stomach upon seeing a specific someone among Levi’s team.

“Hello, everyone. There’s, uh… really no need for the salu—”

“Listen up.” Levi’s commanding voice pulls everyone’s attention, and he leaps off his horse. “Yvonne Zackly will be temporarily returning to the scouts as Executive Officer of the Special Operations Squad, by the commander’s orders. She takes charge when I say so. Got it?”

“Yes, captain!”

“I know some of you were previously part of Yvonne Squad back in the day, but she isn’t a section commander anymore. So, don’t treat her like she’s fucking special. As of today, she is your equal.”

The others hesitate, giving each other side glances before Eld Jinn salutes. Everyone else follows.

“Understood!”

“Good.” Levi nods, glancing at Eren. “This brat is Eren. He’s the famed titan shifter. But don’t be mistaken. He’s nothing more than a filthy brat that needs to be broken into.”

The soldiers look determined as they start preparing their horses. They reach the abandoned castle at Trost District a few hours later, and during the ride there, Eve can’t help but feel Levi’s eyes on her. Asshole.

The abandoned castle looked just as it was labeled, and Levi didn’t waste a second from commanding each one of his team member to start cleaning. Eve takes part in it as well, finding it a bit amusing how she is cleaning a whole room because Levi told her to. Ah, how things change over time.

“Er, section commander?”

Eve turns, seeing Eld by the door as she dusts the walls. He was wearing a mask from the dust, and held a broom of his own.

“Please, call me Eve. I’m not a section commander anymore,” she says with an amused smile.

“Right, um… Eve…” Eld cringes a bit, and it makes Eve chuckle. She does remember him, since he was part of Levi’s first team. A young boy who followed Levi faithfully, and got things done. There’s no doubt that he used to be second in command before she came around. “I hope you don’t mind me saying, but we’re all glad you’re here. We all thought for sure that you’d never come back to the scouts,” he offers a kind smile.

“I thought that, too. But you know, things change. Three days ago, I didn’t think it was possible for humans to turn into titans, but here we are.”

Eld nods. “Captain Levi chose the right call, consulting you about this. If anyone can handle a weird situation like this, it’s you.”

Eve offers a grateful smile, still a bit hesitant. “I hope so.”

Eld nods, giving her a friendly smile before moving on to the other room. Eve is alone again and she continues to wipe the walls. Once she was done in one room, she walks down the corridor to go gather her things and look for a room, when she hears Eren and Petra talking.

“Don’t look so disappointed, Eren!” Petra’s cheerful voice fills Eve’s ears. “I hope you don’t mind if I call you as Eren. Captain Levi does, and he pretty much sets the tone for us all.”

“I don’t mind! But… did I really look disappointed?”

“It’s nothing unusual, Eren, to react like that. Captain Levi isn’t really what society makes him out to be,” she giggles, glancing at the direction where Levi walked away to. “For one thing, he’s a lot shorter.”

They start discussing Levi and how Eren is surprised over the way he follows rules. Petra tells him that there was once a time where Levi would’ve lived up to Eren’s expectations, revealing that Levi once had ties to the underground black market as an infamous rogue.

“So, how did he…” Eren trails off in disbelief.

“Beats me,” Petra smiles, shrugging. “I don’t know what happened. But there’s a lot of rumors going around on how he got into the scouts,” she leans forward as if to say a secret. “The most popular one is with Commander Erwin. They say he dragged the captain into the scouts kicking and screaming!”

“The commander?”

Petra nods. “I don’t think the captain and the commander started off as best pals like they are now,” she chuckles, lazily sweeping against the floor.

Eren blinks. “What about Section Commander Eve?”

“Oh, she was the one and only section commander back in the day! She practically did everything for the previous commander back then, but don’t tell anyone I said that.” Petra gushes with admiration. “A lot of people back then were so terrified of her, including me, honestly.”

“…Is she really that scary?”

“Oh, no! Well…” Petra thinks for a moment. “I guess she was scary in a sense that she was everyone’s superior, and we all wanted to impress her. I heard from Oluo that she can be terrifying if angry. But she’s really nice! If you want to know more about her, just ask Oluo! He used to be part of Yvonne Squad before it got dissolved when she retired.”

“Why did she retire?”

Petra hums. “I actually don’t know, but I think it was a family thing. None of my business,” she laughs. “But one thing you should know though, I can recall that the doctor and Commander Erwin used to date.”

“S-Seriously?”

Petra nods. “Yeah, but it was a long time ago. I’m only telling you now in case you might say something to Eve about the commander,” she sounds amused. “They used to be a pretty big deal around the scouts. I heard they almost got married.”

“Oi,” Levi arrives at the door, and the two scrambles to clean. “Didn’t know gossiping can actually help with cleaning. Does it? If not, shut your damn mouths. Filthy brats.”

“Is everything alright in here?” She asks, entering the cell as if it was a bedroom.

“Uh, y-yeah. Everything is okay.” Eren gives a hesitant smile. “I understand why the captain wanted me to sleep here.”

“Did you want your own bedroom?”

“I… wouldn’t say no to one. There aren’t even windows down here to see if it’s morning or night.”

Eve smiles. “I have something for you. Here,” she hands him a pocket watch. “So you won’t lose track of time.”

Eren takes it, examining the watch as a smile forms on his face. “Thank you.”

Eve reaches over to ruffle his hair, making him smile a bit. She leaves the cell and as she does, Levi walks past her to see Eren. She pauses with walking, while Levi doesn’t. That action makes Eve falter for a moment, but she leaves the basement anyway.

During tea, Levi Squad all sit together to discuss upcoming plans. Levi and Eren sit at both ends of the long table while Eve sits to Eren’s left.

Levi talks about how Eren will be experimented on by Hange, and the section commander enters the room earlier than expected. Eve clears her throat when Hange was going too far with their discussion, and is slightly scaring Eren.

Hange notices and composes themselves, while Eve smiles fondly as she shakes her head. Hange tells Eren that, with Eve’s help, they’ll be able to figure out what Eren can and can’t do.

Although, when Eren asks about the experiments, the entirety of Levi Squad got up and left. Eve follows as well, in a hesitant way. When Levi closes the door on Hange and Eren, he glances at Eve. “Don’t worry. Hange is just going to talk his ear off. We’ll see them in the morning.”

“Right.” Eve walks to her room, which is apparently just right in front of Levi’s, so the two of them walk together. “Hange hasn’t changed.”

“You expected them to?”

“Not really, but I kind of expected them to hate me for leaving years ago. I dumped my workload on them out of nowhere, that wasn’t fair.”

“No. It wasn’t.” Levi tells her. “But no one in the scouts hates you for leaving. If you get that through your skull any time soon, you’ll see that people are actually grateful to have you back around.”

They reach their own doors, and Eve looks at Levi. “You don’t hate me?”

He meets her eyes, expressionless but confused inside. Why the hell would he hate her? Shouldn’t it be the other way around?

“I don’t have a reason to.”

“So you’re grateful that I’m here?”

Levi places his hand on his doorknob, twisting to open. “I’m grateful that you gave Erwin a chance.”

That’s all he says before he enters his room, closing the door. He leaves Eve in the corridor, and she sighs before entering her own room to write down on her notebook again for the next five hours.

The captured titans were found dead the next morning, and Eve watches Hange cry hysterically, as though to mourn their deaths. Eve stands next to Levi as the corpses of the two titans emit steam.

“This is for the MPs to handle. We stay out of it. Come on.” Levi walks away, and Eve follows next to him. Although, when she sees Erwin walk up to Eren to whisper something to him, she stops walking to watch them.

After a while, Eve watches Erwin walk off to Levi. She glances at Eren’s face, hinting a sort of confusion. “Kid. You okay?”

Eren snaps out of it. “Y-Yes, doctor.”

Eve pats his shoulder, Hange’s cries can still be heard from a distance. “It’ll be fine, Eren. Come on. Let’s leave this to the MPs.”

Eren nods meekly, following Eve back to where the horses were, when she notices someone familiar. She gasps, a small smile on her face as she approaches a certain horse. “Oh…”

“Doctor?” Eren asks, pulling on the harness of his horse.

Eve grins, rubbing the neck of the horse. “Hey, girl. Did you miss me?”

“That’s not Sef.”

Eren and Eve turn around, only to see Levi and Erwin approaching them. Eren immediately salutes them, while Eve continues to brush her hand against the horse’s neck.

“Oh?”

“That’s Sef’s son. It’s my horse.” Levi bluntly says. “Sef’s dead.”

Eve lowers her hand from the horse. “Right. I forgot it’s been ten years. They look the same.”

Levi goes to the other side of the horse and mounts it. “Oi. Erwin. Get a move on.”

“Right.” Erwin looks at Eve and Eren. “It’s good to see you both. We’ll see one another again soon.”

Eve nods, and all of them mount their own horses, but go on separate directions. As Eve and Eren go back to the castle, Levi discreetly looks at them over his shoulder.

Not discreet enough, since the moment Levi turns back around to face where they were going, Erwin was watching him.

Levi briefly glances at the commander before shaking his head. “Shut up.”

“I have not said—”

“You were thinking it.”

“What is it?” There is a hint of amusement in his tone, something Levi hasn’t heard him use in a while. Levi just rolls his eyes.

“Nothing’s going on, Erwin.”

“Well, don’t hold back for my sake.”

“I’m not,” Levi snaps, glaring at him.

“I’m only saying, Levi. If you are holding back on my account—”

“Which I’m not.”

“—which you’re not, you should know that I don’t mind.”

Levi doesn’t reply, knowing that even if Erwin is being truthful, Levi doesn’t have the courage. Also, Levi knows why Erwin doesn’t mind. Tch.

Erwin sighs, a hint of a smile on his face. “Weren’t you the one who called me a coward once for not being able to initiate things?”

“Oh, fuck off, Erwin.”

Days later, Eve receives a letter from Erwin. And it details the plans for an expedition soon. Erwin must have taken Eve’s words seriously, because he did not leave a single detail out. He went as far as sending her three pages inside one envelope. The more she reads, the more she realizes how bold Erwin has become, to the point of actual insanity. It makes Eve’s lips curl into a smirk. Wonder where he got that from.

As she reads over the last sections of the letter, there is a certain dread in her bones as she reads the final line written with Erwin’s own hand.

There is no guarantee that titans are the only enemy anymore.

Eve lights the fireplace and tosses the papers in. She makes sure to watch them burn to ashes, and it wasn’t until she hears some commotion outside. The new recruits must have arrived.

She smiles as she walks over to Eren, who seems to be greeting a blonde boy and a raven-haired girl with a red scarf. Although, she first hears what the girl says to Eren, which makes her laugh.

“I’ve never heard a cadet call the captain a pipsqueak before in my life,” she holds back a smile.

Eren straightens up, laughing nervously. “She didn’t mean it, doctor. She’s just, um…”

“You’re Section Commander Eve!” Armin gapes. “Y-You’re here! But… I thought…”

“I’m not actually a section commander anymore. Just call me doctor, and you must be Eren’s friends, Armin and Mikasa,” she looks pleased.

Armin eagerly tries to shake Eve’s hand, making her widen her eyes a bit. “I-I’m Cadet Armin Arlert, Dr. Zackly! I’ve… I’ve read all about your researches, including your paper on epidemia!”

Eve raises her brows. “All of them? Really? Those were like… dizzyingly long,” she chuckles, clutching Armin’s shaking hand with both of hers to calm him down.

Armin nods vigorously. “I’ve read your weaponry researches, and the improvements you’ve made for the ODM gear! I-Including the medical machinery you’ve constructed!” His blue eyes are wide, and… they remind her of Erwin when she first met him back when she and him were younger than the cadets in front of her now. “I also used to go visit Dr. Jaeger’s clinic just to see the heart monitor machine you crafted by hand!”

“No way, she made that?” Eren looks at her in awe, and she slightly cringes from the attention she’s receiving. “How did you know about that? I didn’t even know, dad never told me.”

“It was mentioned in the weaponry division handbook by the scouts,” Armin quickly says.

Eve lets out a chuckle. “I think I only mentioned it once in an offhand comment about machinery.” Armin definitely read that book a hundred times for him to have memorized that little detail. “And darling, I wasn’t alone when making that machine. You can thank Section Commander Hange for piecing it together.”

Armin’s face flushes and he starts stuttering, but Eren gives Eve a weird look.

“Aren’t you a medical doctor? Why were you handling the weaponry division?”

Eve was about to explain how her father taught her a lot about machinery, but someone else adds into their conversation.

“One thing you brats should know about your executive officer is that she never just does one thing,” Levi walks up to them, crossing his arms. Mikasa seems to be glaring at Levi, while Eren holds her back. “Doctor. Section Commander. Squad Leader. Overseer of the weaponry and research division. Titan shifter babysitter. She can do it all,” his tone is monotonous, but his words seem genuine. “What she is, is overworked. We got two different section commanders, and three other squad leaders working the jobs she used to do on her own. Fucking insane, if you ask me.”

“Thank you, captain, for those compliments. I desperately needed them.” She says, sarcasm in her tone, shaking her head in an exaggerated way. The three cadets just glance back and forth between their two superiors.

“Tch. Wasn’t complimenting you, brat. Just stating the facts, in case all these new recruits start doubting you, or something stupid like that.” Levi bluntly states. “Oi. You three. Go to the training grounds. They’re handing out your uniforms there.”

“I’ll escort them. You go and do your… captain-ly duties.”

Levi rolls his eyes and goes to walk the other way. As Eve walks with the trio, Mikasa finally talks to her.

“I thought you’d have red hair.”

“Mikasa.” Eren sighs, and Eve laughs with Armin.

“Your dad mentored Section Commander Eve to be a doctor?” Armin asks, surprise on his face. “Didn’t see that coming.”

The trio are now seated at a table, where they are discussing their superiors. Eren pretty much tells them everything that he learned during the time of him being in Captain Levi’s custody. Right now, they have arrived at the actual headquarters of the scouts. Eve, Hange and Levi are all busy.

“I don’t know why the doctor retired as a scout, though. You got any ideas?” Eren asks Armin, who seems to be the number one admirer of Eve.

“I don’t know much about the news, apart from the things I read here and there, but I heard from my grandfather once that nine of the doctor’s eleven sisters went to jail for plotting her murder. It was the talk of the whole country ten years ago. It really put the premier under intense media attention.”

“Whoa, seriously?”

“Yes, I think I’ve heard about that, too.” Mikasa nods. “A few months before the wall was attacked, your mother mentioned something about a hearing five years ago. She said that your dad went to the capital to attend a hearing. That could’ve been the doctor.”

Eren nods, remembering something like that as well. “That must’ve been really difficult. I can’t imagine having like eleven sisters, and nine of them betraying you like that.”

Armin frowns. “You know, I heard that she and the commander used to date. Almost got married, too.”

“Really?” Mikasa raises a brow. “Hm. I always thought she was with that psycho runt.”

“Captain Levi?” Armin snorts. “No way. Have you seen him?”

“Yeah, Mikasa,” Eren cringes. “And during my whole time here, I always see them arguing. Eve is much nicer to the commander.”

“Would you be nice to your ex?”

“…you’ve got a point…” Eren pauses, but shakes his head. “No way, I still don’t buy it.”

“Suit yourself. I still have a feeling.”

“He’s too… intimidating. Do girls even like that? I’m sure the doctor would like a nicer man.”

“There’s an appeal to intimidating people, you know.” Armin glances between Mikasa and Eren.

“This… certainly changed.” Eve holds back a grimace over how… not spacious the lab has become.

Hange coos proudly. “I know! Our team has made huge progress with weaponry the past years, Eve. You would not believe the amount of weapons we’ve manufactured. Using your ideas, too!”

The office that used to be Eve’s office, is now Hange’s office. And Eve’s bedroom is now used as a storage room for various unfinished projects. As Hange shows the bedroom, Hange continues talking while rummaging through their office, while Eve stands by the doorway of her old bedroom.

Images flash before her eyes, and the old layout of this room displays in front of her. Books everywhere, papers on the desk, unmade sheets, tangled legs, messy black hair spread on top of her pillows. Discarded clothes on the floor. Her own laughter echoing in the room, sounds of a gruff voice telling her to come back to bed and sleep. The same voice reading a book to her. The warmth on her bed. The smell of freshly brewed tea. The sound of running water from the bathroom. The moans of merciless and heated pleasure. The gentle and warm skin against hers when she was held at night.

The ache in her chest makes her eyes waver, and her limbs release the tension she felt as she steadies her breath. Now, she looks back at the messy and darkened room, stacked with various boxes of items that belonged to Hange. It was like this room was never Eve’s bedroom. She wonders how easy it was for people to get rid of every single trace of Eve from this building.

Erwin’s office is Sadies’ previous one, which only tells Eve that Erwin’s old office now belongs to Levi. They get to Erwin’s office, and Levi was already on his way out. He meets Eve’s eyes for a moment before walking past them without another word. Erwin tells them to come in.

Hange goes to walk with Levi and leaves Eve with Erwin.

“I see that Hange has taken you around headquarters already.”

“Yeah,” she nods, glancing around the room. “Everyone was very surprised to see me.”

“In the pleasant way, I assume?”

“If you could count them almost being terrified, yeah. I’d say it’s in the pleasant way.” Eve offers a smile, and Erwin is pleased to see that she is in a better mood than he first saw her. “I read your letter. I have to say, it’s a very solid plan.”

“Oh? My plan being approved by you?” Erwin raises a brow, amused. “The world is shifting.”

“I don’t understand why you wouldn’t tell your captain, though. Don’t you trust him?”

“I do. But the point here is I do not trust the people Levi trusts. I can’t help it.” Erwin stands in front of his desk, leaning his rear against the edge before crossing his arms. “Do you disprove?”

“You don’t trust him, but you trust me?”

“I trust you because you trust no one. Not even Eren.” Erwin tells her. “And before you say that I don’t know you anymore, I think I’m a good judge of character. I still believe that everything you do is in the best interest of humanity.”

“You know, someday, you’ll run out of words to say for your speeches.”

Erwin chuckles. “I’m afraid today is not that day.”

They watch one another for a moment, his blue eyes locked on her honey brown ones.

“Eve, I know that when you parted from the scouts, you and I were not on the best of terms.”

“No shit,” she mutters.

“But I need you to know that I am truly sorry. Levi and I, we did not mean to hurt you. But we still did, and for that, we both offer our apologies. I ask for your forgiveness, Eve.” Erwin takes one step forward. “For both Levi and I.”

She swallows, glancing at the floor. “The least I could do is be civil with both of you.”

Erwin sighs through his nose, knowing that this will only work if Levi apologizes as well.

“But for what it’s worth, I’m… sorry, too.” Eve quietly says, and Erwin looks at her with surprise. “I was so angry, I didn’t even give you a chance to apologize.”

“Eve, you don’t need to say sorry to me. I’m the one who hurt you.”

“We hurt each other.” She nods, smiling weakly at him. “I’ve been angry for so many years, and when I saw both of you again, I just… realized the time I wasted.”

Erwin sighs, approaching her and she lets him. He offers his hand, and she takes it before they both squeeze each other’s with reassurance.

“Are we okay now?”

“We’ll get there.”

That seems good enough, so Erwin offers a small smile before backing away. “And will you tell Levi the same?”

Eve hesitates. “I don’t know.”

Erwin meets her eyes before he sits back down on his chair. “Is there a possibility for you and Levi to…”

“To what?”

Erwin raises a brow, and Eve sighs.

“Come on, Erwin. It’s been ten years.”

“Time shouldn’t matter when it comes to loving someone.”

Eve’s body goes rigid. “Erwin. It’s not like that. Not anymore. And besides, I’m… I’m already seeing someone.”

If Erwin was surprised, it doesn’t show on his face. “Oh?”

“Yeah…” she bites her lip. “I’m engaged, Erwin.”

Those words do make the surprise obvious on his face, and his eyes go to her hand, which was home to no ring. She fiddles with the place where her ring should go, but Erwin can see the faint tan line on her skin where a ring used to reside.

“And are you happy?” He asks her, and Eve slowly nods. “Then, congratulations, Eve. I’m happy for you.”

“Thank you.”

“Who is the lucky fellow? How did you meet?” Erwin gestures for the chair so she could sit, and she complies. “I’d like to know about this person, if they are to marry my best girl.”

Eve gives him a fond glare. “His name is Yayoi Tietjens. He’s a winer.”

“Hm. Yes, I think I’ve heard of Tietjens. Stohess District, right? Ambrosia Winery?”

“Yeah. I met him when I was, uh… drinking in a tavern a few years back. He chatted me up and asked for my honest opinion about the wine I was drinking. I told him it tasted like shit, but it gets the job done, so,” she shrugs. “Turns out, he was the brewer of the wine. I insulted him without knowing, and he just laughed in my face. Two weeks after, he asked me out. He asked me to marry him a month ago.”

As Erwin listens, a smile grows on his face. “Sounds very sweet.”

She nods, smiling as well. “He is.”

“When is the wedding?”

“We’re not sure yet, but with this whole, um… returning to the scouts thing, I don’t think it’s happening any time soon.” Eve mutters the last part.

Erwin nods, sensing that he is breaching a touchy subject. “Well, I am still very happy for you.”

“Thank you. So, now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, what about you? Are there any lucky girls in the regiment? Or anywhere else?” Eve wriggles her brows to tease him. “Or are letters still being exchanged to a certain professor in Mitras?”

Erwin sighs deeply, but in an amused way. “You are dismissed, Zackly.”

Eve gasps, mockingly. “I just spilled my love life to you and you’re kicking me out?”

“Precisely. Please close the door on your way out.”

“To think I was about to forgive you,” she snorts, but complies as she gets up and gives him a salute before leaving his office.

Eve is introduced to the rest of the new recruits. Some of them knew who she was already, some of them didn’t. When she leaves the cafeteria with the rest of Levi squad, the 104th cadet corps members were all starstruck.

“I heard she’s a great cook from Section Commander Hange,” Sasha giddily cries out. “I hope we get to taste some of her cooking someday,” she adds as Christa giggles while offering Sasha some water.

“Are you kidding?” Jean scoffs, nudging Reiner’s arm. “I want to see her in action. People say she’s like second to Levi when it comes to killing titans. They don’t call her the Crimson Soldier for nothing, you know.”

“She kind of looks familiar,” Reiner has a thinking face as he strokes his chin, and Bertholdt looks at him. “Can’t put my finger on it.”

“Duh. She’s pretty famous! She’s the premier’s daughter, and has like a thousand sisters.” Sasha exclaimed.

“She has eleven sisters, Sasha,” Jean deadpans.

“Didn’t she retire a decade ago? She’s like a doctor now in Wall Sina.” Connie says. “I don’t think she’d be as good as she was before.”

“Pfft, who cares?” Jean crosses hid arms. “I bet she’d be even better than all of us even at her weakest.”

Eren laughs a bit. “Look at you, Jean! Having a crush on someone who isn’t Mik—”

“Shut up!” Jean throws a piece of bread at Eren and they start arguing.

While they argue, Mikasa glances at Armin, who seems to be in deep thought. It must be because of their training. The officers aren’t physically training them that often, and only made them memorize Commander Erwin’s formation. Armin was up all night trying to study it.

“Armin. Please, eat.” Mikasa pushes his plate towards him.

“Huh? Oh.” Armin grabs the bread from his plate. “Sorry. I keep thinking about our upcoming mission. It’ll be our first mission as scouts.” Armin tells the whole table, so Eren and Jean stop arguing. “Some elite scouts here say that they always have the worst experience during their first expedition. This isn’t even an actual expedition yet, since we’re not going beyond the walls, but… I still have a bad feeling.”

Reiner drinks from his cup before speaking. “Aw, come on, Armin. Cheer up. Everything will be fine. This is what we trained for, remember? All of us are going to make it out alive, I know it.”

Armin’s words echo in Eren’s head for the next few hours. So, that night when he was having dinner with the rest of Levi Squad, he asked them how their first missions went.

Oluo was the first to narrate his experiences, saying that despite being one of the greatest minds in the regiment, Eve was so confusing as a squad leader, which made her howl her laughter. Oluo boasts that during his first mission as part of Yvonne Squad, he could handle everything that Eve tells him to do. However, Eve debunks it by saying that Oluo peed himself during his first mission.

Levi grimaces as he puts his tea down. “That was you? Disgusting.”

Oluo looked flustered as the table fills with chuckles. “Oh, come on, captain. Surely your first mission didn’t go well either.”

Eve’s eyes slightly widen, remembering that none of the scouts at the table were even members of the scouts when Levi first became one. She subtly looks at Levi, who is calm as he sips his tea.

“It wasn’t rainbows and fucking sunshine, but was there ever an expedition that was?” He bluntly says.

“Yeah,” Eve agrees. “My first mission was a complete nightmare, too. I had no idea what I was doing, despite the training I had. Turns out, the training just helps like thirty percent. The other seventy is guts. As it happens, your commander, Erwin was there to save the day. He saved my life during our first expedition. If it weren’t for him, I wouldn’t be here chatting with you lot.”

Levi didn’t know that. Why did he never ask her about this before?

Petra smiles. “That’s very sweet of him. The two of you must be really close to still be friends after parting.”

Eve forces a smile, and just sips her tea, not saying anything else.

Levi gives her a brief look before looking back at his team. “Erwin and Eve never dated.”

Eve chokes on her tea while the others let out a series of groans and exclamations. Eve just stares back at Levi with wide eyes.

“No way, seriously?” Eld was gaping, and Eve palms her forehead. “Didn’t you two almost get married or something?”

“Erwin proposed, but she said no.”

“Captain!” Eve’s eyes are wide.

“They never even slept together.”

“OhmyGod, we get it.” Eve hisses out, annoyed with a rare display of fluster. Levi just shrugs, unbothered as he drinks his tea. “Well, now that your captain so kindly exposed it, yes. The commander and I were never officially together.”

“I don’t get it. If you weren’t together, how come you never said anything?” Gunther asks.

“No point in denying it if everyone in the whole country believes it,” she shrugs. “Erwin and I just learned to ignore the rumors.”

“But if the commander proposed and you rejected him, like captain said,” Oluo rubs his chin, thinking. “Does that mean it was one-sided?”

Levi huffs. “Yeah, Eve. Was it one-sided?” He asks, sarcasm in his voice.

“Why are we discussing this?” Eve glares at Levi.

“Your teammates are curious, and they are your equal now.” Levi deadpans.

Eve narrows her eyes into slits, like she is seeing the way Levi is challenging her. “To answer your question, it’s a little complicated.”

The table fills with frustrated groans and laughter, aching for more information as if the members weren’t the most elite soldiers in the regiment, along with an actual titan shifter. It seems like Eve’s love life is reducing these soldiers into gossipers.

“Now, now, settle down, everyone. I can tell you that Erwin and I are on good terms now.” Eve chuckles. “As for my love life, be assured that I am now engaged, and I’m happy,” she smirks. The news brings them to congratulate her with grins on their faces, and Petra claps with excitement.

“You’re engaged?”

Everyone turns to the captain, who no longer has the scowl on his face. Instead, there is a frown, as if he just heard that something died.

Eve tilts her head, but nods with a smile. “Yeah.”

“To who?” He immediately asks.

“Uh, to Yayoi Tietjens.”

“Who the hell is Yayoi Tietjens?” Levi’s frown deepens. Eren watches the captain with curious eyes while the other squad members try to wonder why the name is so familiar.

When Eve is taken aback by his tone and choice of words, Petra bounces on her seat. “Oh! That’s the owner of that huge winery at Stohess District! Ambrosia Winery right?”

“Yeah, yeah! I remember that guy. What a jackpot, Eve,” Eld chuckles. “I heard he owns like so many lands.”

Eve just smiles. “You’re all invited, once the date is decided, of course.”

They cheer, because knowing how rich the winer must be, the wedding will be a grand one. Which means, more food. And of course; drinks.

After dinner, Eve goes to visit Eren, since they will be starting his training tomorrow. Hange has already planned everything out from day to afternoon.

Eren seems to be nervous, so Eve tells him about the first experiment she ever did when she was his age. How she was so nervous, but ended up doing it right for her fifth try. That seemed to encourage Eren, and he even let Eve take his hand for a gentle squeeze of assurance. Afterwards, Eve goes to her own room to write.

Before she even unlocks the door, another voice makes her look to her left.

“You don’t wear your ring.”

Levi is leaning against his doorframe. Arms crossed, and he is wearing a more comfortable long-sleeved white shirt and cotton pants.

Her hand lingers on the doorknob. “The ring isn’t a snug fit. It might slip off during combat.”

Levi just stares at her, his gaze is unreadable but the tension makes Eve do the same—just stare back.

“Congratulations.”

“Thank you.” Eve nods and turns back to her door, attempting to open it again until Levi starts talking.

“If this… Yayoi Tietjens is the hotshot that people say he is, then why the fuck isn’t your engagement the brand new gossip? The whole regiment would’ve heard by now.”

“Well, because a human turned out to have abilities of shifting into a titan,” she raises a brow. “I think that would overshadow the engagement of a winer and a doctor.”

“Hm. Right.” Levi hums. “Does Erwin know?”

“I told him this morning.”

“And what did he say?”

Eve blinks, turning to him while still standing nearby her door. “Why would he say anything else other than congratulations?”

“You know why.”

Eve lets out a soft scoff. “It’s been almost twenty years, Levi. I doubt that Erwin is still hung up on me. In any case, I’m with someone now. I’m engaged.”

“So you’ve mentioned.”

Eve stares at him. Why is he being like this? God, if Hange is actually right…

No. No, of course Hange wouldn’t be right. That’s ridiculous. It’s been a decade.

“Captain, you got something to say?” Eve raises a brow.

“Nothing. I believe you.”

That makes Eve pause, and she slowly inhales a breath while giving Levi a puzzled expression, laced with a humorless smile. “You believe me?”

“Yeah. I believe that you do have a fiancé.” His tone is off, and Eve didn’t like it one bit.

“That’s… not something you just believe. I really do have a fiancé. Why would I lie about that?”

“That’s a good question. Why would you lie about that?” He says in a monotonous voice.

“Why are you acting like this?”

Levi stays quiet, just looking back at her with these cold eyes. She blinks, waiting for him to respond.

“I’m not being anything. Just thought you should’ve mentioned some shit about being engaged, before you came back here to risk your life again for the scouts.”

“Would it have changed anything? If you and Erwin knew I was planning on getting married before you came to me for help?”

“Yeah. It would’ve changed things. We wouldn’t have asked for help.”

“Why not?”

“Because I don’t think any guy would want their future wife to be at the verge of death every day.”

A smile slowly grows on her face, and Levi fucking dreads it. The amusement filling her up, it makes Levi instantly regret whatever it is he said.

Eve crosses her arms. “You think I would be with a man who doesn’t think I can handle shit? That I would choose a man who doesn’t know who they’re dealing with?”

Levi doesn’t answer.

“Because let me tell you this, Levi.” Eve slowly leans forward, as if to tell him a secret. “Every man I’ve let myself be with… they knew exactly what they were getting into.”

That makes his eyes falter for a brief moment. She offers another smile before turning, entering her bedroom before gently closing the door behind her. Levi stands there, dumbfounded.

Taking out his anger on Petra was probably not a good idea.

As he holds her down by her lower back, gripping her hair in his fist, she lets out a noise of surprise as he grunts and slams his hips into her. His fingers leave marks on her hips. Petra’s broken moans go in one ear and out the other as Levi chases his high. He can feel her legs shaking from underneath him, and he huffs once he reaches his peak, filling the condom. After a few moments of just basking in their high, Levi pulls his cock out, and starts cleaning himself up while she remains boneless on the mattress.

Petra cleans herself before she stains her sheets, and they remain quiet during the entire thing. Although, Levi wasn’t cruel enough to immediately leave. He stays to warm her bed until she fell asleep.

The next morning, Eren’s training starts, and the rest of Levi’s and Hange’s Squad travel to an isolated field on horseback. Apparently, Hange wanted to test something with Eren using a dry well.

Eve helps Eren into a rope and they all assist one another in letting the boy down.

“Whenever you’re ready, Eren!” Hange calls out before mounting their horse, with Eve and Levi doing the same so they could all keep their distance. Hange fires off the smoke signal and they all wait.

Although, after a while, nothing happens. Eve grows a bit anxious.

“Maybe he missed the signal?” Hange wonders.

“Maybe.” Levi’s face is expressionless. “Or we were too naive to expect that he can turn it on and off,” he hikes his legs against his horse, and it moves towards the well. “Eren! Enough! We’re done for today.”

Eve gets off her horse, immediately going to the edge to check on Eren. “Kid, what’s going on down there—”

A gasp escapes her lips when her eyes start to focus more on Eren’s figure below the well. He looks up at her with wide green eyes filled with terror. His hands are covered with blood and teeth marks. Blood seeps through the side of his mouth.

“I-I’m sorry, I… I don’t think I can do it right now.”

Eve wavers, and she takes her gear off. Without another word, she climbs down the rope ladder. When she reaches Eren, she removes her hood and wraps it around him. “Come on, kid. I need you to climb.”

Eren swallows, and he looks a little weak. Poor boy must be terrified, since he can’t even perform his single function in the squad.

Once they were out of the well, Hange takes Eren and helps him out. Eve is out of breath once she got out, and a hand is offered in front of her. She looks up, seeing Levi’s usual expressionless face on display.

Eve sighs, taking his arm and pulls herself out of the well. “Thanks.”

“You’re out of shape.”

She snorts, shrugging before putting her ODM gear back on. “That’s what happens when you stop training for ten years.”

“You’re going back to training before our mission.” Levi glares. “Even if I have to command you to do daily laps. Can’t have you getting out of breath from climbing up a damn rope.” You used to be second to me. Hell, you used to be THE soldier before I came along. That shit is impressive, considering you were never hardened or forced to survive by the underground life like I was.

“Yes, captain.” She gives him an amused look before walking past him. “Eren, come on. I can take a look at those wounds.”

When Eve finishes wrapping bandages around Eren’s hands, Petra walks up to her to offer some water. Eve smiles, thanking her before drinking. They all sit together, and Hange informs Eve that they’re going somewhere with Moblit for a while.

The rest of Levi Squad sit and drink tea. Levi is standing nearby the table, holding his own cup.

“Still no sign of healing?” Levi asks.

“None, sir.”

Levi sighs. “No offense, but you’re not much use to us in this form. If you can’t change, our plans for Wall Maria go up in smoke.”

“Hey.” Eve’s tone is unfaltering, and Levi looks at her. “Watch your words.”

“Are you scolding me, cadet?” Levi emphasizes the title. Eve narrows her eyes, but says nothing in reply. Levi huffs, looking straight at Eren now. “Pull it together. And yes, that is an order.”

Levi walks away to refill his cup, and Eve watches the way Petra frowns before getting up to follow the captain. Probably to calm him down.

Eve tears her eyes away from them, so she could focus on Eren. “Hey, it’ll be fine. I told you yesterday, not everyone gets it on their first try. You’ll learn how to control this soon.”

The other members of the team try to cheer Eren up, saying that they are slightly glad that Eren is more human than titan. When they put it that way, Eve can’t help but agree with them.

Eren takes his teaspoon so he could stir his drink, but accidentally drops it when a pang of pain shoots through his arm. Eve sighs. Does he really need to bite himself to trigger the titan within him? Is pain truly necessary?

Eve gets up to pick up the spoon, but Eren shakes his head, saying that he can do it. So, she sits back down and drinks her own tea.

Although, before the cup could touch her lips, a sudden explosion sends her flying backwards. Eve lets out a yell, and her back hits the ground with so much force, she felt her back crack a little.

Steam oozed everywhere, and Eve coughs as she tries sit up. A sharp high-pitched noise rings in her ear as her gaze turns blurry.

“…on, Eve. Eve!”

She snaps out of it, now realizing that half her body is being lifted by strong arms, so she could rest her head on a lap. Eve can feel a palm tapping against her cheek multiple times, forcing her to wake.

“Eve. Come on! Fucking get up!”

Her eyes open, and she shoots up on her feet at an instant, alert through her bones. She hears a faint sigh from next to her. Eve’s eyes are wide as she looks up, seeing the entire squad crowding around a titan corpse with Eren on top, yelling at the boy with anger and fear. Eve’s instincts immediately push her to plant herself between the squad and Eren, drawing her own blades, ready to kill whoever dares to touch Eren.

“Calm down.”

“Captain, I’m sorry, I—”

When Eren turns around, he is in shock to see Captain Levi putting himself between his squad and Eve.

“The situation is complicated. Now, calm down.” Levi forcefully commands, but the others wouldn’t listen.

They continue to threaten on killing Eren on the spot for changing into a titan. She can faintly hear Hange’s cries of excitement from a distance, but right now, they were being overshadowed by Levi’s team being aggressive. They wouldn’t even listen to Levi.

Eve’s eyes glint with a murderous glare when any one of them are becoming too close to Eren.

Levi clenches his jaw. This isn’t good. Even in Eve’s weakest form yet, she could still do some irreparable damage. “How many times do I have to say it!”

“Captain! I need you to step away, you’re too close!” Petra cries out.

“Right now, I believe you’re the ones who need to step away. Do it.”

“Why should—”

“A gut feeling.” Levi simply says before the yelling continues to ensue. Levi looks at Eve again, seeing the way her hands are tightly gripping the blades.

“Section Commander, please!” Oluo says to his previous squad leader. “Step away from Eren before you get hurt, too!”

“The next person who tries to hurt Eren, will have to go through me.” Eve growls out.

“That’s enough,” Levi glares at her, noticing the way her back is stiff from her fall earlier. “Stand down, Eve.”

The yelling continues, and Levi mostly tells his squad to shut the fuck up—until Eren does it himself. Everyone pauses once Eren screams for them to be quiet.

Through the silence, Hange’s excitement was more heard, and it was like they didn’t even notice how the entire Levi Squad was at the verge of killing Eren. Hange begs to touch the arm, which they do, until the heat burns their skin. Levi Squad just watches as Hange focuses more on the scientific aspect of what has happened, and mostly in horror of how Hange’s excitement seemed to have made their anger dissipate slightly.

Eren struggles to pull his hand out, and he goes tumbling down the ground with Levi just watching nearby. Levi approaches Eren, and it makes Eve flinch until her own feet carries her next to the boy.

Eren pants. “Sorry, captain. Doctor.”

“…so, you feeling okay, or what?” Levi asks.

“N-Not exactly… no…” a second passes, and Eren falls to the ground, blacking out.

Eve immediately drops her blades, going to Eren’s side to check his pulse. She sighs in relief when it was going back to normal. “He’s alright. Just passed out.”

“Tch. Eld. Gunther. Pick him up and take him to the carriage.”

“Sir.”

Eve wavers, but she tightens her grip around Eren. “Actually… I’d like the members of Hange Squad to take him. If you don’t mind,” she mutters, not bothering to look at Levi.

There is a silence that fills the open air around them. Until Levi speaks.

“Whatever.” Levi monotonously replies. “Hange! You’re up,” he says before walking off to a different direction, maybe to finish the tea he was about to drink before all this commotion happened.

Eren was taken to the basement, where Eve checks on his wounds. All of them are healed, and they seem to have healed after the titan body was manifested.

As Eve sits next to Eren on his bed, just watching the boy rest, a sigh leaves her lungs.

“You done here?”

Levi’s voice echoes in the small cell, and Eve didn’t have to turn back to know that he was inside the room. Eve doesn’t say anything, not for the next few seconds, but her next words were almost inaudible.

“I looked for Dr. Jaeger, you know. When I received news that Wall Maria was breached.” Her voice is soft as she speaks, eyes trained on the sleeping young boy. “I volunteered medical assistance for the evacuees, and I saw Eren among the survivors. I recognized him instantly, because he looks just like his mother. I didn’t find his parents with him, so I assumed that…” she trails off.

Levi doesn’t know what to say to that. But he remembers when he heard the news, too. How he rode his horse under the rain, just to reach Wall Rose, only because he heard that a certain woman would be within it back then, and he wanted to make sure she was alive.

“When I came back to look for Eren, I… couldn’t find him. I looked everywhere,” she whispers, shaking her head. “I never thought I’d find him here. As a scout. Barely human. With a terrifying determination to kill titans.”

Eve briefly closes her eyes, just sinking into the silence in the air.

“I know I’m not… at my best state when it comes to fighting, but if something like earlier happens again,” she slowly cranes her neck to look at Levi. He can feel the anger radiate from her, despite the calmness of her body. “I won’t hesitate on killing anyone who tries to kill him. That includes you.”

“You threatening me?”

Eve gently places Eren’s hand back on the bed. “I wished I didn’t have to.”

“Tch. You can forget about your little threat. It’s well within my rights to kill Eren. Your own dad gave me that power.” Levi points out, but her expression remains unchanged. “Besides, there’s no way you can win against me. Not in your rusty state.”

“Maybe,” she offers a hint of a smile. “But it’s punishment for you enough, hm?”

“And why is that?”

“Because if we do reach that point where I have to protect Eren from you, if you want to stop me, you’re going to have to kill me.”

Levi watches her, the way she is still calm as she speaks. Eve leaves the cell, and Levi stays to wait for Eren to wake up. He uses the silence to think about what Eve said.

Later on, when Eren wakes up, Levi lets him sit on the steps outside the cell. Levi knows that being out of the cell would make him feel better. While Eren sits, Levi leans against the wall. Eren talks about how what happened earlier was a wake up call for him. Eren had no idea how little the squad trusted him.

Eren sighs, rubbing his head. “It’s a good thing that the doctor was there. She was protecting me.”

“And I wasn’t?” Levi raises a brow.

“N-No, sir. I mean, yes! But I meant that Dr. Zackly was—”

“Calm down, Eren. I’m not mad.” Levi rolls his eyes. “And no, it wasn’t a good thing that Eve was there. She could’ve killed someone before you did,” he mutters the last part. “I failed to anticipate something like that. I didn’t…” I didn’t think that her protectiveness over you went that deep. Deep enough that she would threaten to kill me if I try to kill you. Me. “Never mind.”

Eren hesitates. “Captain?”

“What is it?”

Eren looks like he’s hesitating. “I, uh… saw the way you went to Dr. Zackly when I… kind of, um… when the arm came out of nowhere,” he says, sounding a bit ashamed by his actions earlier, despite not doing it on purpose. “Everyone else almost killed me, but I still saw how you went to check on her first. It’s none of my business, but I thought the two of you hate each other. Guess I was wrong. Sorry for assuming, captain.”

Levi flinches, and he snaps his head to Eren, who instantly looks like he regrets saying it. Levi wanted to defend his actions by saying that he only did it because Eve’s body was not used to being a scout, and so, she wasn’t as strong as the others. But that was bullshit. It was bullshit, and Levi knew it.

The implication was there, hidden under Eren’s words. He knows. How the hell did Eren figure it out, when the entirety of the Survey Corps still had no idea despite the years Levi was with them?

Before Levi could reply, Moblit comes to tell them that Hange was ready to talk to them. Levi gives Eren a look before they both follow Moblit upstairs.

When it was revealed that Eren didn’t do it on purpose, Petra proposes that they should all trust one another. The others even admitted that they were slightly disturbed by the shift of Eve’s demeanor earlier, something she just chuckles at, as if she was joking.

Levi watches her carefully, the way she is smiling once the others tell Eren that they will trust him from now on. The glow on Eve’s face upon seeing Eren smile at the others. It was as if Levi didn’t just listen to Eve threaten to kill everyone in the room, should they attempt to kill Eren.

Afterwards, everyone retires to their chambers. Eren’s experiments will continue tomorrow, and Eve felt like she needed to prepare. So, she stays up all night, writing everything down on her notebook.

As she writes, she hears the door open from outside, as well as something dropping to the floor, or something. She stops writing when she hears a muffled voice cursing under their breath.

Eve puts her pencil down, and goes to her door to peek outside. From the faint moonlight coming from the window, she sees Levi bent over to hiss at his foot. It was dark in the corridor. He must’ve hit his toe upon opening the door. Eve presses her lips together, holding back a smile as she crosses her arms after opening her door wider.

“Got lost on the way back?” Eve teases.

Levi immediately tries to stand up. He frowns at her. “Why the hell are you awake?”

“I had to record everything that happened today, it’s important.”

“You should be resting. Hange said that the impact you had on your back could’ve fucking paralyzed you, if the explosion was any stronger.”

“Hange was exaggerating. I can walk perfectly fine,” she shrugs. “Unlike some people,”

“Very funny.”

“What are you even doing? It’s like…” she glances out the window. “Walls, captain. It’s like four in the morning.”

“Don’t do that.”

“Do what?”

“Calling me captain, when it’s just the two of us. It’s fucking weird.” Levi huffs, and he slowly sinks to the ground until he’s sitting, his back to the wall.

“It’s your title, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, but I didn’t call you section commander all the goddamn time back then. Just stop it. Be fucking normal and call me by my name.”

“Well, now that you say you’re annoyed by it, I’m just going to keep doing it.”

“Damn brat,” Levi grumbles, eyes closing as he leans his head back to the wall. “It’s like you were made to fucking irritate me all the time.”

Eve snorts, but decides to join him on the ground, but she sits on the side where her door was, so she was diagonally across from Levi.

“By the way,” Levi mutters. “Eren figured it out.”

“What do you mean?”

Levi gestures between them. “This. He figured it out.”

“Figured what out?”

“Stop doing that. As if you don’t know,” he sends her a glare.

“You mean, Eren figured out that you and I used to sleep together?”

Levi bore his eyes into hers. There was something icy behind his eyes, but he stays as calm as ever. “Is that what you’d call it?”

“I mean, it wasn’t that different from what you’re having with Petra right now.” Eve shrugs, giving him an innocent look. “You, sneaking to her room every night. No one else knowing. All that. It’s no different.”

Levi doesn’t look all that surprised over the fact that Eve knows about Petra, despite only being here for like a week. Levi is more surprised by how Eve says that it was the same. Because there’s no fucking way it was the same. She knows it. He knows it.

God, it’s making his blood boil.

“Whatever. I’m saying Eren figured it out. I didn’t confirm shit. Just be careful what you say to him next time. He’s a nosy ass kid.”

“How did you two get to that topic anyway?”

“He’s a kid, so the damn brat was romanticizing what he saw earlier. I only checked on you since you’re not as spry as you were ten years ago. That, and the fact that you were sitting directly next to Eren.” Levi shrugs. “If you died on my watch, I’m never going to hear the end of it with Erwin or Hange. So, try not to die next time.”

“Thanks for your concern, captain.” her voice is laced with mockery.

The dark hallway is only given just a sliver of light from the moon. The sun will be rising soon, but it wasn’t near yet. Levi looks at her, frowning. “You should sleep, Eve.”

“Hm…” she hums quietly.

“I’m serious. I don’t want you to—”

Silence, and it makes Eve dart her eyes towards him, where he is already watching her carefully.

“You barely ate today, too.”

“I wasn’t that hungry.”

“Bullshit, Eve,” Levi hisses. “You’re not sleeping, you’re not eating. What the hell are you even doing?” He doesn’t yell, but it wasn’t a whisper either.

She sighs, rubbing the side of her face. “Remember when I said I was engaged?”

His heart thumped, growing faster and faster. Is this the part where she tells him that she isn’t engaged? That there was never a man in the first place? That Tietjens doesn’t fucking exist? “Yeah?”

“It’s Yayoi,” she mutters, and her tone is a bit sad. “He hasn’t responded to the letter I sent. I’m worried that he’s angry at me for coming here. Being a scout again.”

“Thought you said that every guy you date knows what they’re getting themselves into.”

“Yeah. That’s why I’m worried. It means that I’m wrong about him.” Eve chuckles humorlessly. “And I hate being wrong.”

“Tch. If this guy wouldn’t talk to you, then stop thinking about him. He isn’t worth your time.”

Eve snorts, giving him a look. “How do you always end up giving me relationship advice after midnight?”

Levi instantly remembers the last event this happened. The way Eve cried over Erwin, and how Levi just stood by the other side of the door, listening to her sob.

“Maybe we were fucking cursed this way.”

“Hm…” she looks amused, but after a while, she yawns.

When she wasn’t looking, his face turns into an expression of concern. “You need to rest, Eve. You took a huge blow to the head and back today. This is an order.”

“Pulling rank on me?” Eve gets up, making her way to the door.

“If it gets the job done, then yeah. I’m pulling rank. And you’re going to eat a fuckload of food tomorrow, too. That’s an order as well.”

“Yeah, yeah. Goodnight, captain.”

Eve goes into her room and Levi is left alone on the floor for a moment. After a few seconds pass, he lets out a deep sigh before rubbing his face with his calloused hands.

Chapter Text

“You’re engaged?!”

Hange’s sudden shriek makes Eve accidentally topple over the cup of tea on the table. Levi grimaces as the tea starts spilling across the wooden surface. He scoffs, grabbing a wipe to clean the table before Eve could even say anything.

“Yeah, Hange. I’m engaged.” Eve sighs.

Hange squeals, hugging Eve tight. “Is he hot?!”

“That’s the first thing you say? Not congratulations?” Eve struggles under their grip as the entire table chuckles.

Some of them were already soldiers when Eve was still section commander, so the sight of Eve and Hange being this way again sure brings back many memories. It was amusing as well how they also reversed positions in the scouting regiment; Hange being section commander, and Eve being someone’s executive officer.

“Congratulations! Now, is he hot? Do you have a portrait I can see? Where did you meet? How did you meet him? When do I get to meet him? What’s his name?!”

“Hange, calm down, oh my god. It’s not a big deal.”

“Not a big deal?! This is the first romance you had where you actually announce you’re marrying them!” Hange cackles. “I’m a little excited!”

Levi couldn’t help but grip his cup tighter than before.

Eve rolls her eyes fondly. “You’ll meet him someday. Until then, can we focus on Eren’s training?”

“Right, yeah. Yes, of course!” Hange lightly slaps the side of their face before facing the other cadets to start explaining to them what their next training will be like.

Later on, when Eren successfully shifts into a titan, no words can be said. His titan form was just magnificent, as it is terrifying. Eve watches in awe, before using her ODM gear to maneuver herself up on Eren’s shoulder. She touches the titan’s cheek. “Eren? Can you hear me?” The titan lets out a huff, and she takes it as a yes. Eve grins, looking back down at the crowd before using her smoke signal to shoot green smoke into the air.

From below, Hange cheers with the other cadets. “Communication is a success!” They throw their arms up as a cheer. “Onto the next!”

“Alright, kid. We’re up,” she smiles, even when Eren can’t see her.

Eren’s titan opens their hand, and Eve maneuvers herself to stand on Eren’s palm. Once she is seated, Eren prepares himself and starts running at the full speed he can. Eve curses, hooking her gear around Eren’s finger to hold on. As Eren keeps running, Eve’s black hair blows around her face, and she laughs loudly with enthusiasm, feeling like she’s flying.

They are approaching near the wall, and as they near it, Eve looks up at Eren.

“Alright, Eren!” She shouts. “Now!”

Eren roars before bracing himself, jumping to try climbing the wall. However, his grip wasn’t that good, so Eren’s titan growls out in surprise when he starts falling. Eren still makes sure to keep Eve shielded in his hand, but the rate he was falling, the impact could hurt her. “I’m sorry, Eren!” Eve slides her blades through Eren’s fingers to escape.

“Damn it,” Eve tries to budge the gear, still falling in the air. Somehow, she is still calm even when she is slightly spinning from the rate she was falling. She sees Eren finally impact the ground, and someone grabs her midair before she would pierce her wires to the wall and hold her up.

Eve turns in surprise, seeing Levi’s impassive glance towards her as he tightens his grip around her waist. Levi lands on the floor, where Hange was inspecting Eren’s titan body.

Eve falls to the ground, groaning while getting up. She glares at Levi. “I had it!”

“You were about to fucking splatter on the ground like a fucking fruit.” Levi crosses his arms. “If he can’t climb the wall, how is he supposed to—”

“Hey, guys!” Hange interrupts, waving them over. “Come look at Eren.”

Eve approaches Hange, who was nearby the nape of the titan. Eren is slowly pulling himself out, but the way he is connected to the body was too strong, Levi had to cut him out. Eve immediately sees what Hange was referring to.

The marks under his eyes. Eve has never seen anything like it. Eve tries touching it, but his skin is hot. Although, she felt the way the skin was risen. That, or it was sunken in. It was both gross and interesting.

“Disgusting,” Levi mutters, but takes Eren’s weak body before carrying him down.

On the way back to the castle, Eren wakes up and asks what happened. Hange explains that he was still unable to climb Wall Rose, and Eren looks like he was beating himself up for it.

“Cheer up, kid. This is just your second day,” Eve nudges his shoulder.

“Tch. Pull yourself together, Eren.” Levi tells him. “Not everyone becomes perfect at the second day. Stop moping. That’s an order.”

“Are you just going to say ‘that’s an order’ to literally anything?” Eve gives him an amused look.

Levi can’t even begin to explain how much he hates that look on Eve’s face. Amused, but her eyes are lifeless whenever she looks his way. The only time she expresses genuine emotion was with Eren. With everyone else, especially Levi, she looks like she… isn’t fully present. Like she is just a host to a body, and the real Eve is elsewhere deep in her mind. It was fucking weird.

And she thinks that Levi can’t tell the difference.

Eve sighs, going back to Eren and rubbing his back. “What do you say we go to headquarters and see your friends? That would cheer you up.”

Eren lights up, smiling as he nods. Eve looks at Levi, and he just sighs.

“Whatever. I was going to see Erwin anyway.”

“You weren’t going to mention in your letter that she was fucking engaged?” were the first words Levi says to Erwin once he was inside the room. “She said she told you literally five hours before you wrote to me.”

“Good morning to you, too, Levi. How was the training with Eren?”

“It was fine.” Levi says through his teeth. “Why the hell didn’t you say anything about it?”

“It wasn’t my place to tell. And I’m not sure why you are so concerned, given that you say you do not care.”

“I don’t. I care more about how you didn’t say shit about this. You didn’t think it was important?” Levi frowns. “Why the hell did we drag her back into the scouts?”

Erwin meets his gaze, and a wave of realization overcomes his chiseled face. “Ah. So that is what this is about. I see. My captain. Selfless as ever.”

“The hell are you talking about?”

“You’re not upset that Eve is getting married to someone else. Well, not entirely. You’re more upset that she is choosing to be a scout right now, instead of living her quiet life.”

Levi grits his teeth. There’s no point denying it, so he just crosses his arms. “You got a problem with that?”

“On the contrary, I’m glad that you still care for her.” Erwin’s brows slant downwards, smiling at Levi as though to give him an apologetic expression. “But Eve decided this for herself. We did not drag her into anything. She chose to join us, if you recall. No one forced her to come back.”

“What if she feels forced to be here? Because it was the two of us that asked for help?”

“I’m sure that she would mention something by now.”

“Erwin, you don’t get it. Eve isn’t well.” Levi states through his teeth, forcing the words out. “She hasn’t been eating properly. Barely sleeping. Something is wrong. It’s driving me fucking insane,” he prods his index finger against his temple multiple times.

“Have you asked her what could be wrong?”

“How the hell can I? She’s like a fucking zombie when I’m around. She won’t look at me with real genuine fucking emotions. Eve looks at me like I’m… I’m…” he looks for the right word. “Like I’m nobody to her. Like I never existed in her life or some bullshit like that. I don’t know how to explain it, but she looks at me like she doesn’t even know me—” he stops talking, before he blurts out even more exposing words. Levi sighs, briefly closing his eyes before taking a seat across Erwin. “Don’t make me ask for it, Erwin. Come on.”

“Ask for what?”

Levi glares at him, but there is a defeated expression on his face. “Just… will you ask her about this next time you see her? Talk to her about this. Fuck, I don’t know. Bring it up, just don’t say it’s from me. That’ll weird her out. Ask her if she is okay,” he looks at Erwin with genuine eyes before adding, “Please,” as he leans forward with complete frustration all over his body. “Come on, Erwin. She listens to you.”

Erwin softens, not used to his captain’s pleading tone. In fact, Erwin is sure that he has never heard Levi say the word ‘please’ to anyone before, especially to Erwin himself. So, Erwin gives him a firm nod. “Of course. I will ask her about this next time.”

Levi lifts his head. “Yeah?”

“Yes, Levi. You have my word. Though, I cannot guarantee that she would immediately change.”

Levi nods along, his worry fades away a little. Sensing Levi’s discomfort, Erwin decides to move on and ask about the recent developments regarding Eren’s titan ability, and Levi narrates everything.

Meanwhile, when Eve brings Eren to the cafeteria, the familiar raven-haired girl immediately goes to greet them, grabbing Eren’s hand to check on him while he grumbles out his complaints. As Eve watches the scene, she is briefly reminded by Mina, and how she used to treat Eve the way Mikasa treats Eren.

Eve eats with the 104th, though she felt a bit awkward because the cadets were all tense around her. It must be because of her status.

A sigh leaves her throat. “Guys, lighten up. I’m not about to eat any of you. Please don’t view me as intimidating, because I don’t think I am.”

Eren nods. “Yeah. Dr. Zackly is pretty cool. So, relax.”

The others glance at one another before nodding, and it was so adorable, that Eve had to suppress a smile.

“We heard that you had red hair. Why did you dye it black?”

“Sasha! You don’t just ask people that!” Connie bumps her shoulder with his.

“What?! It’s just hair!”

“Exactly! What’s it to you that Dr. Zackly dyed hers?!”

“Hey! I’m only asking because people say her red hair makes her stand out from the crowd!” Sasha pouts. “I feel like I’m the only one from my village whose never seen you in person. I never saw your red hair! But you know, your current color is pretty, too.”

Eve is grinning, amused by the kids surrounding her. “Thank you, Sasha. But the reason I dyed my hair is exactly because of what you said. It was easy to stand out in a crowd. Titans are easily distracted by colorful things, so the red hair was very helpful during expeditions. When I left the scouts, there wasn’t a need to keep having my hair that way, so I was free to cut and dye it.”

They all sound so fascinated, and Sasha snickers while wrapping an arm around Connie. “I guess you don’t have to worry about distracting titans at all!”

The whole table laughs as Sasha nuzzles her fist against Connie’s bald head, and they playfully fight one another. The sight reminds her briefly of the twins, when they were younger. Tati and Ursula. They used to have all sorts of arguments, but always in a lighthearted way.

Why is Eve thinking about her sisters at a time like this?

She shakes the thoughts off, and focuses on the people in front of her. “How about this, the next time I come here, we’ll have a campfire together. How does that sound?”

Her proposition elicits excited chatter among the 104th, even Mikasa looks relaxed. Both Eren and Armin look excited as they discuss what they should do during the campfire. From her proposition, it seems that the others have grown more comfortable around Eve.

She learns a lot about the 104th. As she walks around headquarters with Eren, Mikasa and Armin, they tell Eve all about the members of the 104th, and how they all feel like a tiny family who found one another due to a common goal. Eve found it touching how they all felt like they were a family.

When Eren and Mikasa went to fetch some water for Eve after she asked them to, she was left alone with Armin by a bench. It was a ploy to be able to talk to Armin alone, to discuss Eren. If Eve spoke to Mikasa about this, she will for sure be biased.

Eve asks him about the first time Eren transformed. Everything that transpired during that event. How Armin thought Eren died after sacrificing himself to save Armin. How Mikasa sounded so cold once she found out Eren ‘died’, and how she almost died herself.

Armin tells her everything, and by the time Mikasa and Eren comes back with some cups and a jug, Armin feels a weight being lifted from his chest. Eve thanks the teenagers for bringing her some water, she was feeling thirsty. Mikasa gives her a small smile for the first time, and it warms Eve’s heart. She reaches over to ruffle her hair, making her flush and tense a little, but still smiling. Maybe Eve is still good with kids after all.

“Oi.”

They all turn and see Captain Levi walking towards them, and they all stand up to greet him with a salute.

“Time to go.”

At nightfall, Eve finishes writing everything down. Surprisingly, there wasn’t much to say about Eren today except his inability to climb the wall, and the new markings underneath his eyes. His regeneration rate is outstanding, though. Eve is still amazed by how all his limbs grows back after being dismembered. They’ll have to experiment on that in the future.

Right now, Eve is still thinking about what Armin said. Everything that happened at where the Colossal Titan attacked for the second time. There is that nagging possibility in Eve’s mind, though. If Eren can shift into a titan while being unaware of this ability, who’s to say that there aren’t more like him?

Or worse, people who are like Eren, but are also aware of this ability.

Eve couldn’t sleep because of it. She lies awake in her bed, just thinking about what could happen in the future.

A week passes, and Eren’s been showing signs of improvement. He can run at an incredible speed now, he can pull out some trees by the root. He can even transport heavy cargo from one place to another now. Eve is beyond proud of him.

These last few days, Eve was also training physically again, even though it was a bit difficult to get back into the zone again. Still, she is making progress as well, and inch by inch, she is regaining her strength.

The month is ending, and Levi decided to give Eren some free time to visit headquarters the whole day, where he can train with his friends. It was a kind gesture really, which is why Eve was looking for him around the castle, but couldn’t seem to find him.

She finds Petra instead, who was plucking out the weeds from the garden. “Hey, have you see the captain?” She asks, shielding her eyes from the sun.

Petra looks up, smiling as a greeting. “Oh, the captain went out.”

“Out? Where to?”

“Hm… we never really ask him that. But he leaves every end of the month. He comes back by night, though.”

Eve knots her brows. He leaves headquarters every end of the month? “You don’t ask him where he goes?” She frowns, a bit disappointed. “What if something happens and the scouts need him? And they ask his squad where he is? You don’t think it’s important to always know where to find your captain?”

Petra flushes, Eve’s familiar tone reminds her of the older days where she used to be terrifying when showing her bad side. “S-Sorry, Section—I mean! Dr. Zackly,” she averts her eyes, voice growing small at the end.

Eve sighs, rubbing her forehead. “If you see him arrive, I would like you to inform him that I need to talk to him.”

“Yes, ma’am!”

Eve goes back to the castle and writes on her notebook with the recent developments on Eren’s titan ability. Somehow, she ends up falling asleep on her desk.

“You’ve always thought you were better than us, didn’t you? The model daughter. Always being compared to you every single day of our miserable lives, always trying to live up to the expectations that you’ve set, always craving the attention of papa that you effortlessly receive! Perfect Eve, you should’ve just died. You should’ve died just like your slut mother, I wish I wasn’t such a coward, I could’ve killed you with my bare hands—!”

Eve jolts awake when she feels someone grab her shoulders, and she instinctively grabs the knife from underneath her desk. Although, the same hand instantly grabs her wrist, preventing her from slicing through them.

“Eve!”

The familiar voice makes her freeze, and she stops struggling. Her vision clears, and she sees Levi’s puzzled steel eyes as he grips her hands to stop her from attacking.

She loosens her grip and the knife clatters to the floor with a clang. Levi releases her, stepping away to squat down and take the small knife from the ground. Levi inspects it for a moment, and Eve just watches him, unsure what to say.

Without meeting her eyes, he asks her. “How many of these are hidden around the castle?”

She takes a moment to answer, as if weighing her options. Levi knew that she can’t lie to him, because he would know.

“There’s one in every room.”

Levi briefly closes his eyes. “Including mine?”

“Yes.”

“Fucking hell, Eve.” Levi stands, facing her with incredulity. “No one’s out here to get you.”

“…You don’t know that.”

“Yeah. I do. Because the only people who wanted you dead, are all rotting inside prison right now. Smelling their own shit and piss. Eating shitty food. Labeled as a killer for the rest of their shitty lives.” Levi steps forward, holding up the knife. “You don’t fucking need this.”

Eve finally shows genuine emotions to Levi, but he didn’t want to see pain. Out of all the emotions she could show him, she chooses the one thing he didn’t want her to feel. “Yes, I do. What if they try killing me again? Or send someone to do it again?”

“They can’t even wipe their own shit, much less try to kill you from prison,” Levi deadpans. “Look, it’s over, alright? I know that it’s hard to forget shit like that, but it’s over. They can’t hurt you anymore. Even if they do, you think I’d just let them?”

The words sink into her very slowly, and she lifts her gaze to meet his eyes.

Levi looks sincere, even under the dimly lit room with only the moon as their source of light. He walks past her to place the knife on her desk, and he stands in front of the table with his back turned to Eve. She follows him with her eyes, an unreadable emotion on her face.

He cranes his neck, looking to the side. “I wouldn’t let anyone hurt you, Eve.”

She softens, carefully watching his back as he stays still in front of her desk.

“Which is a really weird thing for me to say, since you’re tough as shit, and would be able to handle whoever crosses you. That’s for sure.”

Her lips twitch into a small smile, and she slowly sinks down to sit on her bed.

Levi turns, facing her while leaning his rear against the edge of the table. “You calm now?”

Eve nods, wiping the sleep away from her eyes.

Levi watches her carefully, and he crosses his arms. “I went to see your sister today. Narcissa.”

Eve’s chest aches, and the sleep completely disappears from her face as she widens her eyes. “What?”

“Narcissa. I go to Stohess monthly to visit her. We play chess.”

Eve’s face fills with longingness, another emotion that makes Levi’s stomach shrivel up. “How is she?”

“She just had a baby a week ago, apparently.” Levi frowns. “I was supposed to be there with her, but the brat thought I was busy, so she didn’t have anyone send for me while she was in labor. Tch. I had to come to her house, only to find her holding the damn baby. That brat. I only brought just one fucking toy, too, and it was for her first kid.”

Eve’s eyes fill with fondness. A baby. Her little Izzy has children of her own now. “What did she have?”

“A boy. A really fat one.”

“I bet she’s over the moon.”

“Oh, yeah. Didn’t even give a shit that I was mad she didn’t tell me. She had to give birth alone… her shitty husband doesn’t even visit her anymore. Always so damn busy with his business. Couldn’t even spare an hour to see his wife in fucking labor.”

Eve lowers her head. “I should’ve been there for her…” she quietly says. Levi says nothing, because she’s right. Levi wasn’t really family to Narcissa. Eve’s presence would’ve been better. “I didn’t know you visit her monthly. How long have you been doing it?”

“Since her first pregnancy. She didn’t know who else to reach out to. She sent me a letter, saying that she was pregnant. Narcissa was, uh… she was alone.”

Eve falters, and she nods. “Of course she was. She lost all her sisters. Her mother. Father. She had no one.” Eve shakily sighs. “God, this family is so fucked.”

“…do you want to go see Narcissa next month? You can come with me. We can visit together.”

“Aren’t you two going to play chess?”

“I’ll lose anyway.”

A soft snort leaves her body, and she nods. “Yeah, sure. I’ll go next time.”

“Good. Now that we got that shit out of the way, Petra told me you wanted to talk. It’s why I came to your room in the first place,” he pauses. “I heard you dreaming. Didn’t sound pleasant.”

Eve locks their gazes, and Levi props himself up by grabbing the edge of the desk, the heel of his palms pressing against the wooden surface. “I was… dreaming about Xyra, and the last thing she said to me.”

Levi knew what Xyra said, only because Narcissa told him years ago. He feels his stomach fill with ice, and he says nothing. But all he wanted was the chance to say, everything she said wasn’t true, and you should know that.

Eve inhales sharply, preparing to change the subject. “I wanted to thank you. For everything you’ve done for Eren lately. He’s been working so hard, and you rewarded him very nicely. I think he enjoyed this day.”

Levi slowly nods. “Yeah. The brat deserved a day off. We all did.”

“Well,” she finally smiles at him. A genuine one. It makes Levi relax somehow. “I’m glad you had your day off. Even though you lost at chess again.”

Levi deeply sighs. “Still don’t know how she does it. She literally gave birth a week ago, and she still managed to beat me.”

“Don’t beat yourself up. Narcissa is an undefeated champion,” she lets herself chuckle, remembering when she was younger, all her sisters would take turns to play against Narcissa, and they always lose. “Erwin refuses to play with her, since he knows he’ll lose.”

“Coward.”

“Yep.”

Eve softly chuckles, and Levi can see that she has calmed down from her aggressive outburst earlier. So, he pushes himself off the table. “Go to sleep. Properly this time. Not on the desk.”

“Yes, captain.”

Levi hated being called that by her. She shouldn’t address him that way. He should be called by his only name. The name his mother gave him. That should be what Eve calls him.

However, he just nods and leaves the room.

Chapter Text

Levi didn’t expect to meet Eve’s fiancé the next fucking day.

When the entire squad was tasked to clean the castle again, Eve was watering the plants when a few soldiers arrived by the gate. Levi was watching from a distance, making sure the horses are drinking water, when Eve suddenly gasps and starts sprinting across the field, towards where some soldiers were crowding around someone. Levi frowns, but closes the gate of the stable before calmly following.

Eve reaches the group of people, and sees him. A wave of relief washes over her when the man offers her a kind smile.

“Yayoi,” she breathes out with a smile, wrapping her arms around his shoulders to embrace him tightly.

Levi joins the group, watching from a distance away as Eve hugs the taller man. Yayoi, Levi assumes, is a tall man in refined clothing. He was strong enough to lift Eve as they embrace while chuckling. Levi glances at his team, who looked like they were swooning for a moment (mostly Petra) before going back to work upon seeing Levi among them.

Levi’s eyes couldn’t help but go to Eve and Yayoi again, only to see the way Yayoi leans down to press a soft kiss on her mouth, smiling afterwards. Levi felt his stomach cave. It was the first time he had ever seen Eve kiss someone else.

“What are you doing here? You should’ve just written to me,” Eve smiles, and her hands are holding Yayoi’s. “How are you even allowed to be here? This is a restricted area.”

“I have my ways. And besides, your letter sounded quite serious.” Yayoi sighs. “I didn’t want you to go on this mission without seeing you first.”

Eve smiles, and she leans into him. Yayoi wraps his arms around her. Levi was watching them, unable to tear his eyes off them. When Eve turns to find Levi, he feels himself tense up from being caught staring. Although, Eve doesn’t acknowledge that. Instead, she lets go of Yayoi for a moment just so she could approach Levi.

“Uh, captain, this is going to be a strange request, but would you mind if I spend some time with my fiancé for a moment? It won’t be longer than an hour, and Eren is resting anyway.” Eve softly says.

Levi keeps himself calm, but he gives her a sharp look. “The headquarters isn’t some couples’ retreat. Take that shit somewhere else.”

“Does that mean I can go?”

“Knock yourself out. Just not in the castle or headquarters.”

Eve smiles in amusement. “You say that as if we have plans to do terrible things in those places.”

“Knowing you, I wouldn’t be surprised.” Levi deadpans, looking over her shoulder to see her fiancé. “He’s taller than I expected.”

“What, you thought my only type are angry short guys?” She smirks, and Levi is momentarily taken aback, but she is already backing away from him. “Thank you, captain. I’ll make it up to you soon!” She smiles happily, and the life in her eyes returned as she goes to Yayoi again and takes his arm so they could begin walking.

Levi watches them, especially the way Eve would chuckle at things he would say, how he would smile when she laughs. How she would touch his arm as they face one another.

“They’re so sweet,” Petra sighs to Oluo, and Levi can hear them. “The section commander looks very in love.”

Tch. She looks constipated.

“Who cares? Stop being so nosy just because you’re single.” Oluo huffs at Petra.

Petra pouts, but her face is slightly flushed when she glances at Levi. Although, he was much too preoccupied in watching the couple’s every movement. He goes to the balcony, watching from a distance as the two walk through the gate. The fucking guy even opens the gate for her. Stupid fuck.

Levi aggressively cleans every crevice of the castle.

By the time Eve comes back, the whole building is spotless and has the scent of cleaning product everywhere. Eve stands by the entrance, turning to face Yayoi with a small smile on her face.

“I still think you should’ve just written to me.”

“And waste the opportunity to see this pretty face?” Yayoi tucks a strand of black hair behind her ear, smiling a bit. “Please.”

She snorts, rolling her eyes.

“Oh, by the way. I had a scout from the castle take a box of your things to your room. I hope you don’t mind. You left in a rush. I was surprised you didn’t take anything other than clothes with you.” He reaches up to take her shoulders, and she just gives him a grateful look.

“Thank you.”

“Not a problem.” Yayoi leans down to kiss her, and she just leans into it. “Don’t forget to watch what you eat. I’ll see you again soon. Yeah?”

Eve nods, and their hands slip away from one another as Yayoi steps away and leaves. Not without turning to wave at her again, and she just mirrors it before going inside the castle.

As soon as she steps inside, she is greeted by Levi, who is still wearing the clothes he usually wears when he’s cleaning. Half his face is covered with a white cloth to act as a mask.

“You said an hour. You were gone for nearly the entire afternoon.”

“Oh. I think I lost track of time,” she sheepishly said, politely lacing her fingers behind her back. “Did anyone need me?”

“That doesn’t matter. When you say an hour, I expect you to arrive in an hour.” His arms are crossed. “Or I’m going to assume something went wrong.”

“Sorry, captain.”

“You have a pocket watch, don’t you? Use it.”

“Actually, I gave mine to Eren,” she presses her lips together.

They say nothing else, and Eve walks past him to retreat into her own space. Once inside, she spots a box on top of her desk, and she opens it. Inside was some of her books and pencils. Some hair products she uses. Yayoi even packed her some wine, which makes her snort while shaking her head. Although, only one particular item catches her eye.

Eve softens, reaching inside to pull out her favorite mug. She lifts it to eye-level, humming to herself fondly. She sets the mug down on the table and unpacks everything from the box. Afterwards, she lights the lamp before looking out of the window. She sighs, wondering what will happen in the future.

Absentmindedly, she toys with the ring around her finger, put back on this afternoon by a really nice man. He was saying that she forgot it inside her home. And she responded with the old ‘silly me’ reply, and let him slip it back into her finger. It was still a little loose, and Eve can literally move it around her finger easily. The shiny rock decorated on it looks like it’s shining under the moonlight.

Eve eyes it on her finger for a moment, stretching out her hand to view it from a short distance. Somehow, there was an odd feeling in her stomach, and she lowers her hand. Eve sits on the edge of the window, curling up until her thighs are against her chest, and she rests her arms on her knees, just enjoying the silence of her surroundings.

Hours later, Levi leaves his room to quietly go up the stairs again like he always does. He gently knocks on a door, waiting for a few seconds before opening it himself. Levi finds Petra sitting in front of a mirror, brushing her hair. When she turns around to see him closing the door behind her, she looks a bit startled.

Levi narrows his eyes. “What?”

“O-Oh, nothing. It’s just… um…”

“Spit it out, Petra.”

She flushes. “Eld is awake, a few doors down. I heard him get out earlier and bring tea to his room.”

“Shit.” Levi sighs, rubbing the side of his face.

Petra bites her lip, hesitant. “We can… move elsewhere?”

Levi looks at her, but says nothing.

“I-Is there anywhere else in the castle that would be empty?”

Well, now that she asked that question, and Levi cleaned the entire castle out of spite today, he does know a few places.

“The library in ten minutes. Don’t be late.”

Before Petra could nod, Levi is out of the door, calmly walking to the library while carrying a lamp. It was dark inside the castle, and Levi knows everyone else is asleep.

As he walks, he can’t help but tighten his grip around the handle of the lamp. Not only did he find out that Eve is engaged, he had to watch them look fucking ecstatic to see each other.

Fucking hell, why can’t Levi just fucking move on? It’s been ten years, he needs to get a grip. This childish behavior of pining after someone who has already moved on, it’s fucking insane. Levi wants to feel something else. He stays in the library for the next eight minutes, just standing in the dark and listening to the silence.

So, when Petra arrives exactly ten minutes later inside the library filled with abandoned books with a language Levi can’t even read, he immediately grabs her and tears her clothes off, surrounded by shelves of books. He can hear her panting, but the sound of it is faint in his ears as he unlaces his pants to let Petra on her knees.

She services his cock with her mouth, gently suckling on the head while Levi sighs, leaning himself against the shelf he dusted earlier. He should probably make a list with all the tattered books in this library so he can fix them up.

Fuck, he shouldn’t be thinking about that while there’s a warm mouth around his cock.

Levi reaches down, running his fingers through Petra’s brown hair. The light coming from the moonlight beaming through the windows make her hair look like a darker shade, almost black. Short black hair.

He grunts, curling his fingers around her hair and starts moving his hips into her. She stills, letting him fuck her throat as he pleases. Levi can feel Petra’s hands tensing a bit on his thrusting hips. She looks up, her eyes wide and watery as she locks their gazes while he thrusts into her mouth.

He breathes heavily, thinking of a different set of colored eyes, and it makes his own eyes droop a little. Levi clenches his jaw, yanking Petra off his cock by pulling on her hair. He manhandles her, and bends her over the table. There were a few shelves of books surrounding them, so the space felt a little more private for Levi. It’s good enough, he guesses. Better than nothing.

Levi reaches into his pocket, taking out a foil before tearing it open with his teeth. He rolls the rubber into his cock, breathing heavily as he reaches between Petra’s legs to make sure she was wet enough. Sure enough, she was soaking, just from sucking him off. Levi’s face remains impassive, even when he inserts his fingers inside her, stretching her for a few seconds. His fingers were enough to have Petra squirming, burying her face in between the space her folded arms make on the table, hiding her flushed cheeks and muffling her moans as she grinds herself on his fingers. He pulls his fingers out when Petra cums around them, only to rub against her clit as she slumps on the table, boneless and panting. Her skin is flushed red with excitement.

He pulls his fingers back, trying to ignore the way he wants to wipe his hands free of Petra’s wetness. Levi forces himself to remember that he just wants to get off. So, he leans forward, grabbing the base of his cock and rubbing it into her wetness, lathering his condom-covered cock with it before pushing himself inside. He heard Petra’s whine, and sees the way her short hair spreads over the back and sides of her head. The moonlight brings the illusion that she has black hair.

He grunts, his other hand placing itself on her lower back before he lets go. Levi doesn’t hold back when it comes to this, and he ends up burying himself inside her in a punishing pace. Petra moans into the wooden table, but hides her face still.

Levi thinks about the events this morning. The way Eve was so happy to see her damn fiancé, like that tall ass man gave her everything she ever wanted, like he can do anything for her. Levi wonders what exactly it was that he did, that made Eve want to marry him. Then, Levi wonders if he could fucking do it better. If Levi can do it better than that piece of shit winer. He probably can.

It seems like his anger builds up, and translates into him railing into Petra until she is gritting her teeth from the overwhelming pleasure and pain delivered by his cock and the strength of his hips. The sweat on his forehead drips into the pale skin of Petra’s back.

Suddenly, it was like Levi’s hearing became clearer. And he hears the way his sweat drops onto Petra’s skin in a slow manner. The distinct plop of it, something that should’ve been impossible to hear.

Only because he heard something else. His ears picked out another sound other than Petra’s muffled moans and the way his skin slaps against hers.

He slowly lifts his head, not ceasing the movements of his hips, before he wavers.

Behind one of the shelves, his eyes lock with a distinct yet fiery brown ones, just in the gap between the top of the sorted books, and the bottom of the shelf above it.

Levi falters, eyes following the way she slowly steps out, revealing her face and upper body. His view of her is obscured by the numerous shelves standing between them, but even with the small space provided, Levi knew that she can see everything. He can see an open book in her hand, as though she had been reading even before Levi arrived. His head grows heady, and he can’t even figure out why she was reading in the dark. Maybe she turned a lamp off when he arrived. Levi can’t think straight anymore. Although, he doesn’t cease moving his hips to fuck the wet pussy being presented to him.

She holds his gaze, even when she gently reinserts a book into a gap on a shelf, and the movement was so… strangely sensual, it sent a jolt down his cock.

And she does something that Levi doesn’t fully comprehend in his primal state.

She merely leans her back against the shelf, and just watches.

Levi wonders what he looks like right now. The shoulder of the loose white shirt he wore is hanging off the side of his arm, exposing his shoulder and half of his collarbone. His cheeks and neck must be flushed, due to the way Petra would clench around him whenever he hits that spot inside her. The way his hips continue to slam into Petra, creating an obscene sound of squelching and slapping. The way he is still fully dressed, while she is bare and sprawled on the table.

Somehow, Levi didn’t stop, even when her eyes grow intense with the heat in her gaze, not even letting Levi avert his own eyes. Their gazes are locked, as if looking away from one another was against the rule of nature.

Levi hasn’t fully registered it in his mind; Eve is watching him fuck his subordinate.

Like a reflex, Levi’s trembling hands grab Petra’s hips and fucked into her harder, and his cock is practically thrumming with his heartbeat from the way Eve was staring at him. For a brief moment, she breaks their eye contact, just to dart her eyes as if to look at where Levi was fucking Petra’s pussy, and she looks back into his eyes. He barely had any time to react from the way she broke their eye contact, since she held his eyes again.

Levi could be imagining it, or it could be another illusion that the moonlight gave him, but he could swear that the corner or Eve’s lips curl only just the slightest bit.

The hint of amusement. There is no way Eve doesn’t know that Levi thinks of her whenever he fucks Petra. She has to know by now.

Levi holds back a whimper, and he feels his thighs shake just before he cums while still maintaining eye contact with Eve.

She was so calm, just leisurely leaning against the shelves. From time to time, she would tilt her head even the slightest. There was no indication that she was aroused, and it was like she was just watching something incredibly entertaining. Her piercing gaze was enough for him, and this was the fastest he has ever came in the years he had been sleeping with Petra.

A blinding white light washes over his eyes for a moment, and he shudders, still moving his cock in and out of the dripping hole presented to him, even when he can feel his warm cum coating his cock from inside the condom. Levi rides out his high, and he has sweated through his shirt. When he has finally gathered his wits, he turns back to where he saw Eve, only to find that she was no longer there. It was as if he had imagined her presence.

Did he imagine her presence?

Petra is still boneless on the table, but she gets up and weakly slips her clothes on. Her movements are wobbly, her face is flushed and fucked out. She glances at Levi, who is wiping himself with a handkerchief he brought. When Petra is dressed, Levi tells her to go back to her room first, and she complies. Not without pressing a quick blushing kiss on Levi’s cheek. It was quick enough that Levi barely got to react. She leaves, and Levi is left alone, sitting on the desk where everything happened.

Levi can’t deny the fact that Petra is sweet on him. That girl actually likes him, like genuinely thinks he’s a good guy even though he’s not. Hell, Levi thinks that Petra would do anything for him. He’s sick, why does he keep doing this to her? And for what?

He frowns, feeling his chest ache as he turns to glance at where he saw Eve. Then, he finds himself walking to the shelf where Eve was leaning on. He pulls out the book that Eve inserted back into the shelf, just before she watched everything.

Levi’s brows knot upon opening the book to where it was bookmarked by a ripped piece of paper, and finds that the book was written in a language he couldn’t understand, but it was in the alphabet he uses. Although, there are a few handwritten words on the torn piece of paper bookmarking the pages.

He feels his own stomach flutter somehow, and it makes him feel dumb as his eyes glazed over the words, written with her hand.

You look pretty

Levi swallows, and feels the tips of his ears flush hot. He feels the tremor of his hands, and he shakily sighs while his hand threatens to crumple the piece of paper, but somehow, he couldn’t. He fucking couldn’t. Instead, the pad of his thumb gently smooths itself across the tiny paper’s surface, as if to caress where the pencil lead scrawled itself across the paper to write the words that are now echoing in Levi’s head.

He grits his teeth, slipping the piece of paper into the book, pushing the book back into the shelf and he leaves the room.

As he walks back to his room, he stops dead on his tracks once he realizes something else.

When the hell did Eve find the time to write that shit down?

Levi couldn’t sleep that night. Because he keeps thinking about how Eve must’ve written that note before she even showed herself to him. Which means that she was already listening to how his cock was being suc—

There were dark circles under Levi’s eyes the next day, and as he sips his tea along with the rest of Levi Squad, he was quiet. Not an unusual thing, but he wants to drown out the loudness of his team’s discussion about nonsense.

Then, she comes.

“Good morning!” Her voice is so cheerful that Levi tenses at the sound of it. The others greet her as well, and she sits next to Eren, asking him if he’s ready for today’s training.

Levi glances at her, and the way she moves was so normal, it was as if she didn’t just watch Levi and Petra fuck last night.

Before Eren continues talking, his eyes widen a little when looking at Eve’s hand. “Whoa! You’re wearing your ring!”

That catches everyone’s attention, and they all lean over to view the shiny offensive jewel sitting on top of the silver band. The squad coos at the sight of it, and Eve shows it off with a smile. Although, Levi glares at that stupid piece of metal over his cup of tea.

Still, as she shows off the big rock on her finger, she meets his eyes. A smile of amusement dangles on her lips, and the dark hair frames her face in the most delicate way. Levi feels his chest tighten around his ribcage, but he doesn’t dare look away from her.

It was a strange fucking sight. Eve, showing off her engagement ring to everyone who thinks she is in love with some winer from Stohess District. Maybe she is, maybe she isn’t. Fuck, Levi doesn’t know anymore. But they’re all admiring the way she is engaged to a rich man, all while they have no fucking idea that she just watched Levi cum last night, while he fucked someone else in front of her. That someone being among the doting crowd, clueless over the fact that this engaged woman just witnessed her getting fucked stupid by Levi last night.

God, how monumentally fucked up is this scene playing in front of him?

“Oi. We go to the field in ten minutes. Pack your shit up.” Levi’s commanding voice pulls their attention from the engagement ring, all while Eve was already looking at him. “Someone go to headquarters and look for Hange, tell them to move their ass.”

“Sir!”

They all quickly finish their food and follow their captain’s orders. Levi remains seated in his chair, legs crossed, with his arm hooked over the back rest. His other hand cradles the cup of tea using his fingertips. As he sips, he lifts his gaze and sees Eve standing by the chair, smiling sweetly at him.

The light from the sun is making the band around her finger look more distracting. His eyes keep darting towards it from time to time. He hides it by sipping his tea.

“What is it, Zackly?”

“Did you get my message?” Her voice is sweet, innocent, and Levi almost crushes the cup in his hand.

Levi blinks, lowering his tea. “Got your note. Not really your exact message.”

Eve’s smile slowly grows. “Still blurry? I thought my handwriting is very clear.”

“Oh, it was clear alright. I’m not fucking blind.” His tone is blunt and monotonous, but he is beginning to feel the slight flush forming from his chest, creeping to his neck. “I can read perfectly well.”

“Hm. I’m glad that you do,” her tone is amused, and… Levi has no idea what, but that tone is familiar. And his stomach twists.

Only because you taught me how to fucking read. That’s probably why you’re glad, isn’t it? You know that I think of you whenever I read or fucking write anything. You sadistic smug piece of fucking shit—

Levi stays physically emotionless, something he mastered throughout the years of being in the underground city. Although, there is an underlying fear that Eve can see through him like he’s made of fucking glass.

“We leave in ten minutes. Get moving.” That wasn’t what he actually wanted to say. He actually wanted to say, what the fuck are you doing, Eve? You’re getting married, and you’re doing this to me?

“Yes, captain,” she holds back a chuckle, and the smile remains on her face before she leaves the dining area. The familiar amusement returned, the one that Levi was so used to seeing on her whenever she used to look at him in the earlier stages of what they had. Levi remembers how that amused expression slowly became laced with tenderness. The way she used to look at him.

Now, it was as if they were back to square one. Not a single hint of tenderness in her expression. Only amusement. Levi isn’t sure if he hates it, but somehow, anything he receives from her… it was welcomed by his entire body.

Better than nothing.

Chapter Text

They did all sorts of activities with Eren’s titan, including fighting stances that would usually be done by a normal human. Eren was getting good doing arm hooks and kicks, something that Eve teaches him in human form. Although, it was difficult to follow Eve’s fighting style, since she moves so gracefully in ways that Eren can’t.

Right now, Eve was sparring with Eren while the rest of the team watches. Eve would show him her own moves, and how to block them. A snort would leave Eve’s nose whenever Eren lands on his ass while copying something Eve would do.

“It’s no use, doctor. I can’t fight like you can,” Eren grumbles.

“Oh, don’t be such a big whiny baby, Eren. Get off your arse and fight me!” Eve chuckles. “You can beat me, you know. I’m not exactly as strong as I was ten years ago,” she shrugs.

“Yeah, but still,” Eren gets up on his knees, clutching his stomach. “You’re still stronger than me.”

“Which is why you need to train. Come on, kid. Fight me,” Eve challenges while smirking, holding up her open hands in a fighting stance that Levi was all too familiar with.

From next to Levi, Hange giddily squirms in their seat. “It’s so nice to see Eve like this again! She looks so happy being with us!”

Levi can’t deny that. There’s a certain glow on Eve’s face lately, now that she’s been with the scouts for a little over a month now. It was like she belonged here. Hell, of course she does. This is where she should be. Not in the capital where she sits on her ass everyday, tending to boring patients. The Eve that Levi knows… she would hate not having any thrill in her life.

Hange nudges Levi’s shoulder, catching his attention. “Hey. You okay?”

“Yeah. Why wouldn’t I be?”

“You’re… I don’t know. Unusually quiet.”

Levi gives Hange a strange look, and he shifts in his seat to look at them directly. “Unusually quiet?” He repeats, incredulous. “You’ve known me for like ten years. There’s nothing unusual with me being quiet, four eyes.”

Hange raises a brow, as if to say are you hearing yourself? Levi rolls his eyes, shifting back in his old position where he can monitor Eren and Eve sparring. Hange follows his gaze, and he internally panics when he realizes how that single action can be misinterpreted.

“Now, before you open your fucking mou—”

“Oh, my God.” Hange cuts him off, gaping. “You still love her.”

Levi sharply turns to her, and wide his steel eyes give everything away before he could even react. God fucking damn it. Fuck! “What the fuck are you talking about?” His voice comes out higher than he intended, and Levi ends up hating himself even more.

Especially when Hange’s lips grow into a smile. “No fucking way. You actually do still love her! I can’t believe this!” They look positively delighted, and their cheeks flush on Levi’s behalf apparently.

“Watch your mouth, four eyes—”

Hange clasps their fingers together, eyes starry and dizzy with excitement. “Oh, the girl has a fiancé, and the boy is still secretly in love with her even after the distance of time! Despite being officially together for only a month ten years ago! This is soooo juicy!” Hange cheers, giggling like a fucking child.

Levi glares, but he turns away to attempt on hiding the way his ears are flushing. “Get your head out of your ass.”

“You’re not even denying it!” Hange laughs at his face. “Oh, Levi. You are such a romantic. I knew it, I knew it, I knew it!”

“Hange. Shut the fuck up.”

“You’re still not denying it! Oh, this is golden!” Hange is so delighted, and Levi is practically blinded by how bright their eyes have become. “You have to tell her!”

Levi’s eyes widen. “What the fuck are you talking about? There’s nothing to tell.”

“Aw, it’s too late to deny it now, Levi. You had your chances earlier!” Hange smirks, talking in a singsong tone.

Levi rolls his eyes, turning away before lowering their head. “Just keep your voice down. God,” he grumbles. “…You’re only going to hear me say this once, because I’m never going to say it again,” he glares.

Hange just props her chin up with their palms, grinning as they wait for Levi to admit it.

Levi side glares at them, hesitating once he feels the heat creep up his neck. He averts his eyes, and goes back to watching Eren scratching the back of his head sheepishly from the ground while Eve throws her head back to laugh.

A laugh of freedom. More freedom than the wings that symbolize them. Levi watches from afar, supposedly to monitor Eren like the court order told him to, but his eyes are being pulled away by that woman.

And his shoulders drop only the slightest bit. “…You want the fucking truth, Hange? Fine… I still do. Alright? You can shut your damn mouth now.” He mutters, not exactly saying the words, but already saying everything.

Hange’s smile widens, and their eyes practically turn into stars as Hange wraps their arms around Levi, squealing like a madman. Levi’s eyes widen at the affection, and he attempts to push Hange away, but he doesn’t have to. Hange pulls away, grabbing Levi’s shoulders to face him with a serious expression.

“We need to get you and Eve back together again.”

Levi gives an incredulous look. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“I am going to help you, Levi.” Hange’s eyes are wide, solemn. It makes Levi glare. “We need to figure out the dirty secrets about this Yayoi guy. We are going to dig—”

“Hey, hey, whoa, stop right there.” Levi pulls away, giving Hange an icy glare. “I said I still do. Doesn’t mean I want to ruin her fucking engagement.”

Hange raises their brows.

“You’re here to experiment with Eren. Nothing else. Personal shit doesn’t matter.”

Hange pouts. “But you and Eve were so good together! Never saw the two of you happier than when you were dating.”

“Hange.”

“And you two would make such cute babies!”

Levi grimaces, looking away from them now. “Cut it out.”

“Also, I don’t trust this Yayoi guy at all! He’s way too clean.” Hange scrunches their nose. “I met him yesterday, and the guy is a total catch! He’s so perfect! That’s not Eve’s type at all!”

“Thanks for that, Hange. Really appreciate it.”

“No! I meant, like…” Hange pauses, thinking about it really hard. “You know like when I used to experiment on something and everything is like neatly presented? Gift-wrapped like a present, matching the initial hypothesis. And then, bam!” Hange punches their fist into their palm. “It blows right up my face. Everything falls apart.”

“…How is any of that relevant here?”

“All I’m saying, a perfect guy is a huge red flag, Levi. I’m telling you! I got like… jitters when I met his perfect face yesterday. He gave me the creeps!” Hange shakes their head. “He made me feel things! That handsome man with a nice body and a really deep voice—”

“Yeah, I’m done here,” Levi stands up.

“—Can’t trust perfect people.”

“Oi. I may still… you know. Whatever. But I’m not going to ruin her life. She’s an adult. She can marry whoever the fuck she wants. Don’t say anything stupid about this to her, got it?” He practically sneers out before walking away, not letting Hange reply.

When he reaches the table where water was located, Levi practically seethes as he tries pouring some water into a cup. God, he feels like Erwin. Levi feels like he has filled in Erwin’s shoes. Letting Eve go by letting her love someone else, while he stays in the sidelines. Watching her be with someone else. Not interfering.

He hates it. Levi hates this, but he couldn’t hate her.

The training ends, and Eren was spent. He was laying on the carriage, while holding up his pocket watch to view the time. Levi catches sight of the pocket watch from a corner of his eyes, as he rides his horse leisurely from next to the cart.

“Hey, captain,” Eld calls out, and Levi turns to him with a grunt. “That yours?” He nods towards the watch that Eren was holding.

Eren frowns, looking at his watch before going to look at Levi.

Levi sighs. “No.”

“Oh. Sorry, it just looks exactly the same as yours.” Eld chuckles. “Can I see it?”

Eren shrugs, tossing the pocket watch to Eld. Oluo looks over as well, humming when he notices the resemblance. From ahead of Eren’s cart, Eve is on her own horse, not even bothering to look behind herself.

“Whoa, it really does look like the captain’s pocket watch. Probably made by the same store,” Oluo nods, looking back at Eren. “Looks pretty familiar. And custom-made, like the captain’s. Where’d you get this, Eren? Gift from your dad?”

“No. Actually, it’s from Dr. Zackly.” Eren answers.

And there was silence. The only sound being the gentle hooves of their horses. Levi feels his hands tighten around the ropes of his horse, and he can feel his whole team exchange glances. Levi wishes that his team was stupid, but he knows that his people aren’t fucking stupid. Levi wouldn’t put them in this team if they were. They’ve definitely connected the dots by now. Fucking great. All because of some stupid pocket watch. This is just what he needs, more people to find out about him and Eve.

When they arrive to the castle, Levi says nothing other than ‘rest’. The others comply without another word, and the castle sleeps in the dark. Levi doesn’t go to Petra’s room, knowing that the girl is probably looming over the fact that Levi and Eve are exes, after piecing things together.

He lies down on his bed, staring at the ceiling. Just next door, Eve is probably writing some stupid shit down on her almost filled notebook. Staying up again, like the stubborn woman she is. It was annoying. Why does she always stay awake?

Although, he can hear the gentle sound of water running from the next room. Maybe she’s taking a bath. Levi pathetically imagines her scent, fresh out of a relaxing bath. How he used to inhale that scent just before he goes to sleep. The scent of her hair, even imagining it makes Levi dizzy…

He jolts in his place, sitting up with wide eyes before rubbing the side of his face in frustration. What the fuck is he doing?

When Levi thought she was taking a bath last night, he didn’t expect this.

The very next morning, when Eve comes down the stairs to join the team for breakfast, Levi looks up while raising his cup to his lips to take a sip, but the minute his eyes land on her, he barely moves. Instead, he sputters on the rim of his cup, the cough he makes sends tea spilling to the table.

His reaction makes everyone turn around, and they all gasp, overlapped with laughter. The others wolf whistle towards her in a teasing way, while Eve strikes a playful pose, eyes narrowing down while smirking.

“Looking good, Eve!” Gunther chuckles, and the others nod with a grin. Eren holds back a smile, but fails. He can’t wait to see the 104th’s reaction to this.

While the rest of them compliment her with cheers, Levi watches her, almost in horror. His eyes follow her as she takes her usual seat next to Eren.

Eren nods in approval. “Everyone was right. You really do look great in red hair.”

Eve smiles at him in gratitude, and while she turns to Eren, she is able to directly look at Levi. For the first time in a long time, Levi wavers when she meets his eyes. She offers a smile at him, and her natural dark red hair frames her face. A genuine sweet one. Levi feels his stomach churning, something that happens so often lately.

Then, he averts his eyes from her. The table discusses their plans for today while Levi discreetly wipes the table of the spilled tea.

Erwin chuckles as Levi sits in his office. “I see.”

“It’s not fucking funny, Erwin.”

“It is kind of funny. How wonderful it is that the Crimson Soldier has returned.”

Levi rolls his eyes. “Don’t make me ask about Mina.”

Erwin’s smile fades a little, but he was still smiling. “That was a hit below the belt, Levi,” his tone is teasing. “So. You finally admit it, then?”

Levi wanted to punch Erwin’s teeth out. “Whatever. Fuck off.”

“Hm. I didn’t think you would tell Hange before me.”

“They practically forced it out of me.” Levi sneers at the thought of Hange. “Cornered me like a fucking rat.”

“Well, at least you know what you feel now.” Erwin sits back down on his chair. “The question is, what are you going to do about it?”

Levi frowns. “What am I going to do about it? What, am I supposed to dramatically stop the wedding like this is a shitty romance novel? Tch.”

“Things could change if you tell her how you feel,” Erwin shrugs.

“Why am I asking advice from you of all people?” Levi deadpans.

“Hm… I cannot argue with you on that one. Maybe I should fight with you on this.” Erwin looks amused as he toys with the pencil in his hand.

Levi snorts. “Well, that’s a fight I’d lose for sure.”

“But in all seriousness though, Levi. Nothing will be taken away from you if you tell her the truth. She has forgiven me, sort of. There is a chance that she has forgiven you as well.”

Levi chews on the inside of his cheek. “Doesn’t change shit. She’s practically worshipping this stupid winer from Stohess.”

“Oh, come on, Levi. What does that winer have that you don’t?”

“Don’t know. Maybe the fact that he isn’t at the verge of death every now and then.” Levi deadpans. “Maybe the fact that he lives in a cozy home with his cushy job, being the ideal fucking man. I’m definitely like that. I’m definitely not some underground thug who used to kill people to survive.”

Erwin frowns, leaning forward. His face fills with determination this time. “I don’t want to hear you talk yourself down like that again, Levi. I mean it,” he tells him, and Levi is momentarily stunned by his seriousness. “You are worth the entire scout regiment. That winer has nothing on you, do you realize that? Yes, you are at the verge of death every time we go on missions, but that’s it. You are at the verge. You never die because you know how to handle yourself. You are the toughest soldier there is, and I am proud to call you my captain.”

“…Alright, Erwin. Enough with the random speeches.”

“I don’t want to hear you doubt yourself again, alright? If anything, Eve would be incredibly stupid if she chooses that winer over you. Should you tell her of your feelings.”

Levi feels the burn of his face when Erwin says the word ‘feelings’. Fucking hell, he is thirty-five years old.

“Whatever.” Levi grumbles. “Anyway, enough about that shit. When are we going on this mission?”

“In a week. I trust that Eren is prepared by now?”

“Oh, he’s prepared, alright. We’ve been training him vigorously for the past weeks. He’ll be ready.”

Hange was standing next to Eve as she was going through some files for the next mission. Hange was biting their tongue really hard, wanting to prevent themselves from saying anything stupid.

Eve looks at Hange, noticing the way they looked… slightly pained. She looks up and knots her brows at the section commander. “What?”

Hange blows up their cheeks, looking hesitant. “I know something that you don’t, and I’m not supposed to tell you!”

Eve looks amused, placing a hand on her hip as she turns to face them. “What are you talking about?”

“Oh… it’s going to blow your mind, Eve.”

“Oh, really?”

“Yeah, like total destruction of your mind.”

“Then tell me.”

“I can’t!”

“If it involves Eren, you have to tell me.”

“It doesn’t… that means, I don’t have to tell you.”

“Pretty much.”

Hange groans. “But I want to tell you! This is driving me insane!” They practically growl out, gripping their hair. “I want to tell you, but I’m not allowed to, so I can’t.”

“Hange~” Eve sings. “You’re thinking too hard on this. If you can’t tell me, then you shouldn’t. It’s probably someone else’s secret, huh?”

“You can say that…”

“Then it’s not your secret to tell. Simple as that.”

Hange pouts. “You’re reverse psychology-ing me.”

Eve chuckles, shaking her head. “I’m not. I’m being serious. If it’s not your secret, then don’t say it to anyone else.”

Hange continues to pout, but complies anyway. Although, Eve has a strange feeling that whatever Hange had to say, it will shift her entire world. She tries to ignore it and focus on the task at hand.

Later at night, she walks with Eren to the campfire set up by the 104th. She and Eren were carrying blankets.

As they walk, Eren glances at her. “You know, everyone in Levi squad is talking about it.”

“Not surprised. Gossip has always been a problem among the scouts.” Eve chuckles. “Do I even need to know what people are saying?”

“Some stuff about you and the captain. How you two used to secretly date.”

“Ah. Right,” she snorts.

“I don’t get how people reached that conclusion, though. What’s with the watch?”

Eve’s eyes fill with a wistful gaze. “I guess you can say that Captain Levi is very attached to his pocket watch. I’m the one who gave it to him.”

“Really?” He looks surprised.

“Yeah, it may be difficult to believe, but back when your captain first came to the scouts, he was always late for appointments.” Eve tells him. “I had a pocket watch made for him. Ever since I gave it to him, he never became late again. Not even once,” her voice is edging towards fondness. “Next time you feel too intimidated by the captain, you should remember that once upon a time, he was a cadet just like you and your friends.”

Eren nods. “Is it true then? You and the captain?”

Eve sighs, giving Eren a playful look. “What do you think?”

“M-Me?”

“Yes. Do you think me and your captain would work as a couple?” Eren looks reluctant to be honest to her, so she just laughs. “Don’t worry. This will stay between you and me. Go ahead, Eren.”

“I think, uh… I think you and the captain would definitely work as a couple.”

It was Eve’s turn to look surprised. “Really?”

“Yeah, doc. I mean… you and the captain complement each other. In a way. It works.” Eren immediately backtracks and his body tenses. “N-Not that your fiancé isn’t your complement! You and Mr. Tietjens look great together—”

“Eren, I’m not angry. It’s fine,” Eve laughs.

“R-Right. Sorry.”

“Kid, it’s fine. Really. Keep going. Tell me what you think.”

Eren clutches the blankets to his chest as they walk the corridors. “Well, I guess since I’ve never seen the captain be involved with anyone, it’s kind of, um… nice to know that you and him used to be, um… you know,” Eren smiles sheepishly, awkward enough to make Eve smile. “The others in the squad said that they’ve never seen the captain be with anyone at all. Not even before he became a captain or squad leader. He was always, um…” alone. “Single.”

For some reason, she felt an ache in her chest when she hears that. Sure, she knows that Levi sleeps with one of his squad members, but that was just it. Just sex. It was strange to think that maybe Eve was the last person Levi has ever been truly intimate with. His first and last.

“Besides, that was like ten years ago, right? A lot of time’s passed, so I guess you two moved on. I mean, you even have a fiancé now. That’s pretty cool.”

Eve just smiles.

“And it’s… you know…”

“What?”

Eren shrugs. “It’s nice to know that the captain’s not some person who doesn’t care about things like romance. You know, like… having someone. It means it’s possible for him to have someone in the future. Like you do with Mr. Tietjens.”

Eve stays quiet, letting Eren’s words fill her body with warmth. Did she really became living proof that Levi can love someone?

They reach the tiny camp outside, and see Reiner poking a stick at the fire they made. They all greet the doctor, and she kindly passes the blankets around. Earlier, they were all at awe of her red hair—which is something she still doesn’t understand. So what if she had dark red hair? It’s just hair.

Although, it was very satisfying to see Levi’s reaction this morning.

…What is she thinking? She’s engaged to a good man, why does she keep trying to provoke Levi? Why the hell does she care?

Eve watches as Mikasa wraps the blanket around Eren, and she fusses while Eren rolls his eyes. Still, he snuggles into the blanket she wrapped around him. It reminds Eve of her relationship with Mina. She wonders how her second sister is doing now.

During their little campfire, they listen to Christa sing a little, while Reiner strums the guitar. It was a comforting night, with the sounds of crackling fire in front of them. Just in a week, they go on their first official mission as scouts, and Eve listens to each of them speak their minds.

Eve has grown attached to these kids. It almost feels like she’s a mother figure for them, seeing as they are very far from their own families, and some don’t even have one. They’ve grown comfortable around Eve, which is great to experience. Nothing compares to the feeling of knowing that young kids look up to you.

When Eve sees Eren start falling asleep, she takes that as her cue to tell everyone they’re leaving, since they still have a full day of training tomorrow and Eren can’t be tired for that. Of course, Eve notices the saddened expression on Mikasa’s face, even when she reluctantly stays seated with the others.

Eve and Eren leave headquarters, and they find Levi among the horses already, as if he predicted when they were going to arrive.

“Hey, captain,” Eren greets in his sleepy state, rubbing his eyes with a lazy smile. “You should’ve joined in in the campfire. The doctor made us something called s’mores.”

“Interesting. Get on the cargo, Eren.”

Eren just complies, climbing into the carriage where their supplies are stacked against one another. He takes the liberty to lie down and start snoozing away. Levi rolls his eyes and mounts his horse, and Eve does the same with hers. When they were ready, they start their journey back to the isolated castle.

While Eren sleeps, Eve spares a quick glance towards Levi, who keeps his face forward towards where they were going.

“So, what did you and Erwin talk about?” Eve asks.

“None of your business.”

“If it involves Eren, it’s kind of my business.”

“We just talked about the plan, alright? You don’t have to freak out.”

“I’m not freaking out.”

“Yeah, you are.”

Eve huffs, but replies with nothing. He was right, though. She would freak out over Eren’s safety. He was the only person she has that connects her to Dr. Jaeger, one of the biggest influences in Eve’s life.

Levi glances at her through the corner of his eye. “…What about you, then? What did you and Hange talk about?”

“Oh, you know Hange,” she decides to lean towards teasing. “They told me that they have something they want to tell me so badly.”

Levi tries his best not to give away anything with his face. “Oh, yeah? What was it?” He asks in a disinterested tone, even when he can feel his heartbeat hammering in his ribcage.

“I don’t know. They won’t tell me, even though they desperately wanted to.”

“Sounds pretty fucking stupid.”

Eve chuckles. “Don’t say that. She’s the smartest person you know. They’re just very confusing sometimes.”

“Tch. Understatement of the century.”

Silence fills the space between them, and they can hear the quiet rattling of food craters in the cargo, along with Eren’s gentle snores.

“The kid’s right, you know? You should’ve joined the campfire. I think they would’ve really liked it if you did.”

“Those brats are scared of me.”

“That’s not true! They actually admire you, and you intimidate them because of how good you are as a soldier,” Eve waves him off. “I wouldn’t say they’re scared. I think they just don’t want to mess up in front of you.”

“Sounds pretty familiar.” Levi casts her a glance, and Eve snorts. “But I did hear one of the brats singing. And someone else playing the guitar. That wasn’t horrible.”

Eve chuckles. “Thanks for confirming that you passed by at least.”

Levi reluctantly glances at Eve while she was briefly looking around the area. “Oi. I’m visiting your sister tomorrow.”

“Oh? I didn’t realize it’s been a month.”

“It hasn’t. I just don’t think I’ll be able to visit next week, since we don’t know what’ll happen after the mission.”

“You’re probably right.” She mutters. “…How is she?”

“Tch. You can ask her that yourself tomorrow.”

“Right. Do you, um… visit Mina as well?”

“Tried to. She didn’t want to see me at the time.” Levi admits. “I didn’t try anymore after that.”

“Does Erwin visit her?”

“No.” Levi pauses. “…Not that I know of.”

“Hm.”

They’re silent for the rest of the journey back, and they arrive at the castle where the squad helps them unpack the supplies. Levi glances at Petra, who is avoiding his eyes. It makes him want to sigh, but he holds it in.

After contemplating it for a while, he goes to Petra’s room wearing his usual white long-sleeved shirt and comfortable cotton pants. He knocks on the door quietly.

It opens a few moments later, and reveals a stunned Petra.

“Can I come in?”

His question is phrased as a request, and not a command. So, she nods and steps aside so he can walk through the door, and it closes behind her. Levi makes his way to the small desk, leaning this rear into it while crossing his arms.

“I feel like you know why I’m here.”

Petra is still standing in front of her door, and she just stares at Levi with a hesitant frown.

“I’ll just tell you now. Yes. Eve and I have history. We used to be… something.”

“Is… is that why we never went further than…?”

“There’s no reason to lie to you, Petra. So, you’re right. Eve’s the reason why I never gave you and I a shot.”

Her eyes go to the ground. “Is there really no chance for us, Levi?”

Levi looks at her, even when she doesn’t meet his gaze. “There isn’t. I’m… I’m sorry I wasted your time all these years.”

He is practically watching as he tore her heart apart for a millionth time. “I understand…”

Levi sighs deeply. “You shouldn’t. What I’ve been doing to you, it’s fucked up.”

“It’s not like I didn’t know what I was getting into,” Petra offers a comforting smile, it makes Levi so fucking angry at himself. “I walked into this with both my eyes open.”

“Doesn’t mean all the shit I did to you was excusable.”

“I didn’t say that,” she lets out a quiet chuckle. “You know… I’m… I’m still willing to continue this arrangement we have.”

Levi’s eyes slightly widen. “What?”

“Yeah, I mean… I don’t think I’m ever going to meet anyone else. And to be honest, I don’t really want to.”

“Do you hear yourself right now?” Levi asks, giving her a glare. “Why the hell do you even want me?”

Petra looks like she doesn’t even know what the answer is either. She only stands and walks towards Levi. He watches her approach him, and Levi shifts where he is slightly sitting at the edge of her desk.

Petra walks up to him and presses her lips into his, startling him for a moment. Levi’s body tenses, and he doesn’t exactly know how to respond. Pushing her away would be too mean, but not stopping this would hurt her even more. Levi can’t keep hurting her. It’s all he’s ever done for the past ten years.

But he kisses her back, and his eyes close until he leans into her, letting her lead the kiss. Levi feels Petra’s hands cup his face, and she tilts her head to kiss him better. It occurs to him that this is the first time he has been kissed by anyone in ten years.

After a while of just moving their lips against one another, Petra pulls away. Levi looks at her with a grim expression, wordlessly asking her why?

“I won’t ask if you still love her, because I think I already know,” she quietly says, and her hands are still cupping his face. Levi says nothing, only staring with a frown on his face. His hands remain on the edge of the desk he was situated on. “But I can help you move on,” she whispers, and her tone is edging towards desperation. “If you let me.”

Levi watches her carefully, and he softens. “Petra. What are you even planning to do?”

“We can get married.”

He isn’t fazed by her proposition, and he only briefly closes his eyes, half in frustration and half in regret. “You hearing yourself?”

“Why not? She’s marrying someone else, isn’t she? And if you can’t love anyone else other than her, then… you can have me.” Petra lifts her shoulder as a shrug, letting out a pained chuckle, as if she wasn’t just proposing a loveless marriage to Levi.

“Petra. I won’t be able to find anyone else, but that doesn’t mean you can’t.” Levi knots his brows together, puzzled. “You can’t just fucking marry me.”

“‘Course I can.” Petra presses her lips together, contemplating. “I want to.”

“Petra…”

“I don’t want you to be alone.”

Somehow, those words make Levi falter. Instantly, he is reminded that someday, he will have no one. He can’t hold on to Eve forever, and there will come a time where Eve will have her own children, live in her own home, grow old with her own husband.

And Levi will be alone, assuming he lives long enough to retire.

Was this better than nothing? The way Petra’s thumb caresses his cheek, her skin is too soft, no callousness on it due to the amount of medical research that Levi has grown accustomed to. The way Petra looks at him, like he can do nothing wrong in her eyes, and she won’t call him out if he fucks up. The way she kissed him, and how he felt nothing except comfort. And not in the romantic sense either, more like… he craves some intimacy. Someone who would kiss him like that. He doesn’t… he doesn’t necessarily want Petra specifically, and it’s making him feel like a fucking asshole.

Petra is perfect, any man would jump on the opportunity of asking her to marry them. But right now, it doesn’t feel right that Petra is the one doing the asking. It feels wrong that Petra is the one begging for Levi’s love.

Levi swallows, opening his mouth to talk, but Petra shakes her head.

“You don’t have to answer now, of course. You can think about it.” Petra nods, offering another kind smile before leaning in to kiss his cheek gently. Levi returns the nod, and leaves her room, walking slowly back to his own with a spaced out expression on his face. He forces himself to sleep that night.

The next day, he finds Eve petting the horse that belongs to Levi. She was smiling at it, like the horse reminds her of her own, way back when. The sunlight makes her short red hair more prominent, and it looks softer against her skin tone under this light.

When she sees him, she nods in acknowledgment. “Did you name him? What’s his name?”

“I don’t name my horses.”

“I’m going to call you… Reus.”

Levi just stares with his deadpan eyes, unimpressed.

“Reus? You know, like Persephone’s son? Zagreus?” She urges him to remember, and he just shakes his head. “Seriously? You didn’t read that weird book that I lent you?”

“I did read it. Reus is just a horrible name. Just as horrible as that dumbass book.”

“Oh, come on. It’s a fitting name. Per-Sef-phone? Get it?”

Levi sighs, but is trying his hardest to prevent his lips to curl into a smile, because she’s such a fucking idiot. “Whatever. Let’s go.”

They use their horses to travel to Stohess together. It was strange, but somehow comfortable. Although, he tries not to think about the one incident that happened in the library just a few days ago. Fucking hell. Levi still remembers the way Eve looked at him.

He shouldn’t be thinking about that right now, so he pushes those thoughts out of his head.

From time to time, they would stop. Or Eve would stop to pluck out some weird ass looking flower just to smell them. By the time they were at Wall Sina, Eve had a basket of random flowers of different sizes.

Levi grimaces. “The fuck are you even going to do with that?”

“It’ll make Izzy’s house look pretty.”

“Those are the ugliest flowers I have ever seen.”

“Give them a chance, they’ll surprise you.”

He can see that Eve is nervous. It was obvious in the way she keeps rearranging the flowers in the basket as they approach the familiar house. When they were standing in front of the door, Eve stands behind Levi with a frown.

“This is a bad idea.”

“Tch. Grow up, Eve.”

“I just think that—”

Levi knocks loudly on the door, while staring her dead in the eye. She flashes him a humorless smile, but turns to face the door.

When it swings open, it wasn’t Narcissa that they saw. Instead, Levi and Eve were met with nothing… until they look down.

A little girl, no more than four years old greets them with wide blue eyes. Eve just stares at her, and the girl looks like she didn’t even see Eve when she starts squealing to go to Levi.

Instinctively, Levi squats down and lifts the girl from the floor, cradling her in his arms. “Hey, you brat.”

“Levi! How many times do I have to tell you that you shouldn’t call her that!”

The sound of Narcissa’s voice from the other room makes Eve waver, and she steps inside the house when Levi walks in. She places the basket of flowers on the nearest table.

Ignoring what Narcissa said, Levi looks at the child being balanced in his arms. “What did I say about answering the door?”

The girl sheepishly smiles, twiddling with her thumbs. A movement that Eve recognizes from when Narcissa was a little child as well. “Always let mommy do it…”

“That’s right. You don’t go opening the door to just anyone, okay?” Levi mutters.

“But… Lebi isn’t anyone! Lebi family,” the girl reaches up to squeeze Levi’s cheek with her tiny hands, giggling in the process.

“It’s Lee-Vhay. Not Leh-Bee. Brat.” He grimaces, and there were footsteps approaching the room.

“Stop calling my daughter a brat!” Narcissa scolds, but she stops in her tracks upon seeing Eve next to Levi. Narcissa falters, and she blinks slowly while her eyebrows knot in puzzlement. “Eve…”

“Hey, Iz…”

“I… oh, my God.”

Narcissa marches up to Eve and takes her in a hug. The once smallest in their family is now taller than Eve, engulfing her in her arms. Levi watches the scene in front of him, while he bounces the four-year-old against his hip, presenting to her the toy he managed to scrounge from a small store just west of the market in Trost.

He softens at the sight of Eve’s startled face over the embrace, and the way it melts away as she hugs her sister back with tears sliding down her cheeks. Later on, Narcissa pulls away while sniffling, laughing a bit.

“You look… taller,” Eve musters a smile, looking up at her little sister.

Before Narcissa could responds, they were interrupted by a loud cry from the other room. An infant’s cry.

Narcissa turns to Eve. “Wanna meet your nephew?”

Eve grins, looking towards Levi and the girl in his arms. “Can I meet her first?”

Levi approaches her, looking at the little girl. “Hey, Veers. You know her?” His voice is unusually soft.

The girl stares at Eve, squinting her eyes a bit, before she smiles beautifully. “Woman from drawing!”

Levi coughs. Eve knots her brows in confusion, and he huffs. “Yeah. Sure. But who is she?”

“Auntie… Eve,” she smiles.

Eve almost sobs, and she nods. “Hi, sweetie. That’s right. I’m auntie Eve. What’s your name?”

“I’m Veera! But Lebi likes calling me Veers,” she giggles, wrapping her tiny arms around Levi’s neck even more to lean against him, almost nuzzling the top of her head into the crook of his neck.

“For the last time, you brat, it’s Lee-Vhay. Where do you even get this Leh-Bee bullsh—”

“Alright! Onto our next introduction. Let’s not keep the baby waiting!” Narcissa interrupts Levi.

Later inside the nursery, as Eve cradles the newborn child in her arms, Narcissa notices something.

She gasps, grabbing Eve’s hand. “What is this?!”

“Oh, it’s my engagement ring.” Eve smiles, holding up her hand to show it to her sister.

Narcissa’s eyes are wide and she glances between Levi and Eve. “You two are engaged?!”

Eve stammers while Levi gives her an incredulous look. “W-What? No! I’m engaged to someone else—” Eve pauses. “Wait, you knew about…?”

Levi grimaces as he turns away from them. The air feels awkward now, since all three people in the room know that the two of them used to be intimate together.

“Never mind about that, tell me about your engagement!” She gushes while Eve carries the little baby. “Who is he?”

“It’s Yayoi Tietjens,” Eve comments offhandedly, too busy to make silly faces at the baby.

Narcissa widens her eyes. “That popular winer?”

Was Levi the only person who had no fucking idea who that son of a bitch was?

“Yeah.”

“Oh, I’ve seen him before. He is absolutely gorgeous.” Narcissa coos, smirking. “What a jackpot, Eve. Good for you.”

Eve snorts. Hours pass and the two sisters discuss everything and nothing. Eve tells her about Eren and the new recruits, and Narcissa would tell her about how she enjoys being a mother.

While Levi was entertaining the little girl in the living room, the sisters talk in the kitchen.

“Do you visit them?”

Narcissa slowly shakes her head. “No, not really. But I do receive updates about them.”

“What about papa? Does he visit them?”

“Vonnie, he doesn’t even want to see them.”

Eve sighs, palming her forehead. “Does he at least visit you?”

“Yeah. We have dinner together every other week.”

“And your mother?”

“Eve…” Narcissa gives her an apologetic expression with a smile. “I know you keep track of everything. Why are you asking me things you already know?”

It’s true. Eve already knows about all of that, and she even knows that their father divorced Narcissa’s mother, messily too. She didn’t want to stay with him since he refuses to go see his own daughters, which Narcissa understood.

“I really messed things up between us, Iz. I shouldn’t have pushed you away. I’m sorry.”

“I shouldn’t have lied to you. I’m sorry.”

The two sisters share a regretful smile, and embrace once more. The knock on the door makes them turn, and they see Levi leaning against the doorframe with his arms crossed. “We should get going if we want to be on time. Eyebrows wants to visit Eren.”

Eve nods, looking back at Narcissa. When they were about to leave, Veera hugs both Eve and Levi’s leg like she always does, and he feels a sudden jolt rush down his leg when her own leg pressed against his due to the affectionate embrace from the child.

“Lebi, come back soon. Auntie, too!”

Eve squeezes her cheeks, smiling. “We’ll be back.”

Narcissa looks at Levi. “I couldn’t play chess with you today. I’m sorry.”

“I’m not.”

The two sisters share a laugh.

Chapter Text

Eve and Levi are on their horses, on their way back to Trost. Eve wonders if she should visit Mina, but today doesn’t feel like the right time just yet. On the way back to the castle, Eve was quiet.

Levi couldn’t bear the silence. “So. How was it?”

“Hm… it was nice. Her children are wonderful. Iz should be proud of herself.”

“Yeah. They’re pretty good, huh?”

Eve glances at him with a knowing smile. “I didn’t know you’re so good with kids. Back in the day, you didn’t like them.”

“Just some. Kids are annoying.”

Eve just hums, but there is a smile on her face.

“Narcissa didn’t get to see you with black hair. A shame.”

Eve snorts. “Why? Did I really look that good with black hair?”

“Tch. I meant I told her that you look different now, when I last came here. Now I look like I fucking lied.”

“Oh, come on. I aged ten years. I do look different.”

It’s true. Eve has aged ten years, just like everyone else. Even Levi can’t escape the passage of time, evident from his own face. Levi notices the slight difference on her skin, especially around her tired eyes. Still, those never changed the fact that she was still very pretty. Aging makes her human. Being human is beautiful. If things were different, Levi wouldn’t hesitate to let her know that.

“You look the same as you did before. The red hair and all that.”

“Is that how Veera recognized me?” She softly asks. “By the way, I didn’t know Izzy had a portrait of me. Was that the drawing was she talking about?

Levi stays quiet, but he lifts his shoulders to shrug. “Don’t know.”

“Really?” Eve glances at him, and their eyes meet. “You have no idea?”

Levi feels his stomach shrivel, knowing that he can’t lie. Not to her. “…I have a portrait of you from ten years ago. I showed it to Veers when she can recognize faces, so she knows what you look like. And I would talk to her about you.”

Levi looks away, and the movement is so smooth as if he didn’t tell her something that wrenched into her heart, enough to make Eve falter and feel a slight sting behind her eyes.

“…Why did you do that?”

Because I loved you. “Knew you liked kids. You’d come back for Narcissa one day, and that way, you don’t have to deal with kids who won’t know you.”

Her chest tightens, and she has no idea how to respond to that. “Thank you, Levi.”

Suddenly, at the sound of his name rolling out of her tongue, Levi’s mind goes blank.

It occurs to him that this is the first time she has said his name in the entirety of her return to the scouts. Levi hasn’t even realized it until now, due to the way his mind and body reacted to her voice. She said his name. She said his goddamn name.

When they arrive at the castle, they walk together towards the entrance after their horses were taken to the stables. As they walk back to their rooms to prepare for Erwin’s arrival, Eve turns to Levi.

“Can I… see the portrait?”

Levi’s heart thrums in his chest. “Yeah. Whatever. I’ll find it and bring it to your room after.”

“Okay—”

The door slams shut in front of Eve’s face, and it makes her frown. She takes a shower in her own room, and when she gets dressed, she feels more refreshed. The night sky was nice tonight, and the moon is full. It was bright enough to give light to Eve’s room without the aid of a lamp.

When there was a knock on the door, Eve opens it and allows Levi inside. He hesitated for a moment, since he could just hand over the piece of paper and leave, but he wanted it back. He is dreading the moment Eve asks if she can keep the portrait, and Levi will be forced to say yes. Because why would he need a portrait of her? How suspicious would he be if he says no?

Levi reaches out an unfolded thick paper towards her, and she takes it. Her eyes scan the lines and shapes drawn on the surface of it, recognizing her own face and upper body on it. The details of her facial structures, and the curve of her red hair, the artist was unfamiliar but talented.

Levi watches the way she touches the edge of the paper. He can feel something searing through his stomach, and Eve sits down on the edge of her bed.

She eyes the slight creases on the edge, and a sigh leaves her mouth. “You framed this,” was all she said. Even though she truly wanted to say why was I drawn to look beautiful here?

It takes a few seconds for Levi to respond. “Yeah. I did. It’s supposed to be on my desk back in HQ. But since we need to live here because of Eren, I brought everything from my desk.” Why the fuck did he say that?

“You… but… why frame this? Why have this in the first place?” Eve looks at him this time, and her brows are pulled together, her eyes are shining.

Levi doesn’t reply, not for a few moments. Then, his body relaxes, and his face hint exhaustion. “I think you already know the answer to that.”

The two of them just watch one another, almost helplessly locking their gazes while Eve clutches the precious portrait in her hands. She almost stood up to go to him, but a knock next door wakes them up from their trances.

“Captain? Commander Erwin just arrived, sir.”

Footsteps, and the same knock on Eve’s door.

“Doctor, It’s Eren. The commander is here.” Eren announces before he walks away.

Once his footsteps are gone, Levi looks at Eve and his eyes dart down towards the portrait in her hands. Please, don’t ask me if you can keep it. Please. It’s mine. Don’t take it away from me.

Eve stands, approaching Levi before handing him back the portrait. Levi gives her a suspicious look, but takes the portrait from her. Eve offers a smile, but it looks forced to him, and she leaves the room.

The door shuts, and Levi lets out a breath he was holding. He turns around to brace himself on Eve’s desk, steadying his breaths as he carefully holds the portrait in his hand. Fuck, fuck, fuck, why did he say all that shit? Why the fuck didn’t he lie to her? He could’ve just fucking lied, what the hell is wrong with—

Levi feels his entire body fill with cold shock, as if bags of ice were suddenly spilled through the back of his shirt at the sight of a specific object on Eve’s desk. He reaches over on the table, picking up a familiar ceramic mug placed on top of it. It was cold, but as Levi inspects it, it was used this morning before they left.

He feels his throat tighten, and his eyes scan the words painted delicately on its surface, one of the words being in Levi’s handwriting. Humanity’s Second Strongest Soldier!

Levi places it down with a thud, and he screws his eyes shut, covering half his face with his palm as he shakily inhales.

“I’ve been doing well, sir. Thank you.” Eren nervously smiles at Erwin, who looks pleased.

“I’m glad to hear it. Although, I have no doubts for you, Eren. Since the people training you are the people I trust the most.”

Eve snorts. “Yeah, yeah, spare me.”

Erwin chuckles, but he pats Eren’s back before dismissing him. Eren returns to his cell, but it was nice to see that he was no longer needed to be chained.

As Erwin and Eve walk around the castle together, Erwin speaks. “Where is my captain?”

“He’s out like a light when we got back. I think he got tired when playing with Izzy’s toddler,” she snickers.

“Ah. Humanity’s Strongest Soldier, indeed.” Erwin chuckles. “And how is Narcissa?

“She’s good. Living a comfortable life in Stohess. Has dinner with our dad sometimes. Things turned out fine for our youngest,” Eve grins, proud of her sister. “She’s happy, too. Despite the absent husband.”

“Good for her.”

“I was thinking about visiting Mina soon. You should come with me.”

To everyone else, the commander may seem unfazed by the statement, but for someone who has known Erwin for almost twenty years, she notices the slightest change in his demeanor. “My apologies. I will be extremely busy during the days leading up to our mission.”

“Can’t spare even a day?”

“No can do.”

“Hm. I see. That’s a shame, then. She would’ve loved to see you.”

“Is that so?” Erwin appears as if he was reconsidering. “I’ll think about it. Let me know when you leave.”

Eve grins.

When it was time for Erwin to leave, he gives Eve a warm hug. It was a comforting gesture, and Eve just leans into it. Erwin smells the same as he did ten years ago.

Eve watches Erwin’s carriage ride away just before she returns to her room in the castle. Although, as soon as she enters the room, she finds Levi sitting on her bed, still holding the portrait.

“Captain? What are you doing here? Erwin just left, you just missed him.”

So she calls Erwin by name, but not him? Typical. Levi lifts his head to look at her, raising the piece of paper. “Why’d you give this back to me, Eve?”

Eve closes the door behind her. “Well, it’s yours, isn’t it?”

“But it’s your face.”

“But the art belongs to you. Who am I to take that from you?”

Levi’s left eye twitches, and he leans forward while resting his elbows on his knees, squinting his eyes at her. “What are you doing, Eve?”

“…nothing? I’m… actually thinking about getting ready for bed.”

Levi hunches over, covering his face while cursing under his breath. Eve softens, watching him quietly.

“Why are you doing this to me, Eve? What the fuck did I do to you?” Levi mutters, rubbing the side of his face in a tired manner.

“What am I doing? What are you—”

“Just stop. Don’t even fucking say anything. You’re doing it again. Don’t—” Levi almost grips his hair, and just decided to palm his forehead in frustration. “Ten years later, and we’re still doing this. I’m tired of this shit.”

Eve just stares at him, unsure what to say.

It was like he said, they’ve reverted to a previous version of themselves. It makes Eve swallow, and Levi just sighs, closing his eyes with this rare pained look. His back is hunched and he just looks… he looks so tired.

Her feet slowly carries her over towards Levi, until she is standing in front of him. He doesn’t even open his eyes, but he can feel her presence in front of him.

“You kept it…” he whispers. “That stupid fucking mug, you kept it…”

“Well… yeah. It’s the best gift I’ve ever gotten,” she forms a sheepish smile.

Although, her words only make Levi slightly grimace. “Fuck you, Eve. Fuck you,” his voice is breathy and so quiet, head shaking slowly from side to side. He doesn’t even want to open his eyes and see her face.

Although, the moment he feels something soft and warm against his cheek, he immediately recognizes it to be her hand. The warm calloused hand that he felt all over his skin back then, making him feel safer than those fucking walls ever did for him. He almost sighs in content, but instead, he instinctively leans against the touch. After craving it for so long, he couldn’t help himself. He just… leans into her, letting her caress his cheek with her thumb like she used to.

How the hell did he feel more from a single touch from Eve, than he ever did with a kiss from Petra?

He wants her to say something. Nothing specific, but he just wanted to listen to her. But she says nothing. However, her actions feel more overwhelming than a few words.

She lowers herself to his lap, and it jolts him awake. Levi’s eyes shot open and he shifts himself on her bed as instinct. His lips part in surprise, and she cups his face while straddling him. The movements were gentle, and there wasn’t a hint of aggression, especially when Levi feels her lips on his forehead, kissing him there softly.

Levi lifts his arms, and holds her elbows as he closes his eyes. She presses her lips on his forehead for longer than five seconds, and it was as if it sucked all the exhaustion from Levi’s body. She pulls away, and Levi’s eyes open and he looks up at her with half-lidded eyes. The moonlight from the window makes her face glow.

“I can give you something.” Eve softly says. “But I can’t give you everything. So, tell me what you want.”

“…What I want?”

“Yes,” she slides her hands from his cheeks, down to his jaw, and into his shoulders. “What do you want, captain? Whatever you answer with might change this night.”

He doesn’t know what to say. He wants her, and she was enough for him. He could die happy if Eve just gave him a moment of her time. Levi didn’t want to admit it, but he wanted everything with her.

But, what he answers her with was something else.

“Anything…” he softly says, eyes in a rare expression of tenderness. “I want anything you can give me.”

What a pathetic answer, and Levi could barely stop himself from answering. He watches the way her eyes falter in surprise for a brief moment, before a smile grows on her face.

Levi can feel something boiling in his stomach when Eve leans in to kiss his forehead again, but then, she moves down to kiss the bridge of his nose. Then, both of his cheeks. It was making his heart pathetically shiver in his chest. She pulls back to admire his face, and he already looks dazed, it makes her smile a bit.

His eyes scan her face before he settles for her lips, the pair of which looking so enticing. Enticing enough for Levi to lean in, chasing it with his.

However, Levi feels her fingers press against his lips, slightly pushing him backward. He looks up at her, only to see the familiar tender amusement in them.

“Mm-mm,” she slightly shakes her head no. “Only my fiancé gets to kiss me.”

Levi blinks, but when she lowers her fingers back down while locking their gazes, she leans back in to kiss his skin, going for his jaw this time and his eyes flutter close.

“Your damn fiancé. I bet you don’t even fucking love him,” Levi mutters with his deep voice, so distracted by the way her lips are trailing the skin of his jaw and downwards his neck. He even tilts his head to allow her to kiss him there.

“You have a mouth on you,” she doesn’t sound particularly offended by his words. She pulls back, slowly grazing her finger against the outline of his lips, and it takes all his strength not to shudder. “I should use it someday…”

“Hng—Y-You can kiss me, but I can’t kiss you? Makes no fucking sense.”

Eve chuckles, and that does send shivers down his spine, forcing him to freeze just so he won’t full on shudder underneath her. “If you want to kiss me, just ask.”

Levi frowns, and she pulls back, giving him a waiting expression. He grits his teeth, resenting how much she can control him. He doesn’t say anything for a few seconds, but with a grumble, he speaks. “I want to kiss you.”

“Ask nicely.”

“I am saying it nicely, what the fuck?”

Her smile widens, and she looks fucking angelic. “Not nice enough.”

Fuck you. Fuck you so much. He softens, and completely bares his face to her. Vulnerable, pleading. “Please, Eve. I want to kiss you. Let me kiss you.”

Eve smiles gently, and she cups his cheek. “Maybe someday. Right now, I have better ideas for you other than kissing me.”

What the hell is better than kissing her? Levi can’t imagine shit. “Oh, yeah? What’s that?”

He holds his breath when her hands go to the laces of his pants. Levi swallows, but he leans back, propping himself up with his hands against the mattress while watching Eve unlace him as she sits on his thighs. Levi can feel his toes curling already, fuck.

Eve climbs off of him, so she can kneel on the ground in front of the bed and in between his thighs. The blood pumping through his veins are all traveling downward, making Levi’s head feel fucking empty. “Eve…”

He hisses out when she leans forward, tracing her lips over the growing bulge between his legs. She kisses him over his clothes, and Levi tenses. A low throaty moan escapes his mouth, and his lungs heave out heavy breaths.

The gentle smacking of her lips as she kisses over him makes him feel dizzy, and she starts tugging down his pants. Levi winces when his throbbing cock reveals itself, hard and leaking as it slaps heavily against his lower stomach. The light from the moon is already making his cock look red, and Eve slowly wraps her hand around it while staring with an entranced look on her face.

“Eve,” Levi pants, and his hands ball into fists around the sheets of her bed. He watches as she looks him in the eyes before releasing her saliva over the head of his cock, to add to the lubrication of his precum so she can finally pump her fist. God, if that wasn’t the most erotic sight that Levi has ever witnessed—

He moans when she places her lips on the head, tonguing the little slit of his cock briefly before engulfing his mouth over the head of his cock. “Eve, fuck, fuck—”

Levi is cut off by the way Eve tightens her grip on his thigh, and it makes him feel like she owns him. Just like she used to do. Her head starts bobbing over his weeping cock, giving him the pleasure he has never felt in years. Her mouth is warm and wet, and the slight scrape of her teeth gave him the exact amount of pain he needed. His body is tense, and he was practically vibrating from the intensity of her mouth. The sounds her mouth is making, and the way his cock would pathetically spurt out some precum into her mouth. He might cum in any second, and he couldn’t help the way his hips are slightly twitching uncontrollably. Levi feels her fingers toy with his balls, and it makes him shudder just before she pulls his cock out of her mouth.

As soon as he loses that contact, his body relaxes and he plops backwards on the bed, panting heavily while his wet and hard cock rests heavy on his stomach. His thighs are slightly shaking, and he feels her raking her nails over them, adding more to the sensations he is feeling. Fucking hell, she knows exactly how to touch him, and it might drive him to insanity.

“You know, when I was watching Petra suck you off,” she starts talking in a conversational tone, as if Levi isn’t trying to piece his mind back together after just a few seconds of having her mouth around his dick. “I kept thinking, why aren’t you making those cute little noises you always used to make whenever your pretty cock was being sucked?”

“Fuck you, Eve…” he attempts to talk, but it comes out incoherent and breathy, and he’s sure that she didn’t even understand him.

“But then I realized, it wasn’t because Petra was bad or anything, because let me tell you, she has the talent and enthusiasm,” she gently rubs her palms against the skin where his thigh meets his pelvis, just a few inches away from his twitching and impatient cock, making him grow frustrated. “It was because she wasn’t me. Isn’t that right, captain?”

“Fuck you,” he says through his teeth like he was angry at her, but the tremble in his voice only told her that he wanted more.

“So, when I was watching you fuck her, it was so entertaining to watch you pretend she’s me,” she rises on her feet, without looking away from Levi’s icy glare. “Is that what you’ve been doing all these years, captain? Fucking her and thinking of me?”

He can hear his heartbeat clamoring in his ears when she reaches for the laces of her pants, her movements are slow, and he finds himself following her hands with his eyes.

“But she’s not quite like me, wasn’t she?” She coos, and his eyes glaze over. “No, she was too willing to submit herself to you. Too willing to just stay down and take what you give her. And while you like that sometimes, you want something so much more, hm?”

“Eve…”

She removes her pants, revealing her panties underneath. Levi frowns, noticing that she really has gotten thinner. The spots where her curves should be, are now lesser. Even the slight pudge of her hips that would show above the hem of her pants, which Levi enjoyed holding, were gone.

Maybe she has been working out and gotten rid of the excess fat on her body, or maybe she hasn’t been eating prope—

Levi grunts when Eve climbs over him, stopping his train of thought until he couldn’t think of anything else. His hands go to her hips, but before he could touch her, she grabs his wrists and pins them back down on the mattress.

“No touching.”

Levi huffs, but obeys, keeping his hands on the soft bed. Eve smiles at his obedience and she straightens up, straddling his thighs. Then, she slides her hands down her stomach, agonizingly slow, and Levi’s dilated eyes follow. He lets out a shaky sigh when Eve slips her hand into her panties and starts touching herself on top of Levi. His cock twitches just a few centimeters away from where Eve was touching herself.

She lets out a hum mixed with a soft moan, and Levi’s hips jolt, wordlessly begging for her touch. He groans, listening to the slick noise of her wet pussy as she starts playing with her clit. The scent still hasn’t shown itself, but Levi knows that the moment he catches a whiff of her, he will lose his mind.

“Eve, fucking damn it.” Levi hisses out, almost in anger, and mostly in desperation. “Eve. Fuck, do something. I can’t keep—”

“What?” Eve smiles, and the amusement on her face only tells him that she enjoys him in pain. She enjoys him edging towards begging her. “What do you want, captain?”

“I want you. Come on, fucking damn it. I need you, Eve. J-Just… at least let me touch you. Let me fucking lick you out. I need to taste you, make you feel good. S-Sit on my fucking tongue, please,”

The only hint of Eve losing her composure is the way her breath lightly shook, but she covers it with a chuckle. “Very tempting,” she pulls her hand out, and the way it glistens under the moonlight makes Levi’s mouth water.

Eve slowly lifts her soaking hand towards Levi’s face until he can smell the sweet and tangy scent of her wetness. Instinctively, he chases her fingers with his mouth, but she pulls her hand back with amusement. Levi glares at her, but his heart kept thumping.

“But let’s take a raincheck on that one, hm?”

A next time? Levi nods eagerly. “Okay. Anything.”

“You are so good, captain.”

He groans, and his flushed cock is twitching. The redness of it is matching his face and chest, aroused out of his mind.

“Don’t call me that…” Levi quietly says, and it was almost as if… he was shying away from her as he averts his eyes.

“Oh? What do you want to be called, then?” Eve slowly positions herself on top of Levi’s cock, and she lowers herself until she was grinding her soaking panties against his throbbing cock. Levi grits his teeth from the sensation as he does his best to keep his arms down on the bed.

“My… my name…”

“And which name is that? Is it… Levi?” Eve leans down until her mouth are right next to his ear, brushing her lips against his skin. “Or is it… honey?”

Levi moans beautifully, and he couldn’t take it anymore. He grabs her hips, almost startling her as he starts grinding his wet fat cock shamelessly against her clothed pussy. She watches him with surprised eyes, but a smile is playing on her lips as she was practically manhandled.

Although, even when she was being manhandled by Levi, it still felt like she was in control.

“Are you going to cum?” Eve pants into Levi’s ear, and he responds with a desperate grunt, vigorously moving his hips against hers like she was some doll, and she lets him for the next few seconds. Just rutting against her desperately, both mindless and primal while clutching her body.

When Levi’s grunts increase, Eve pushes him down with her regained strength, and Levi glares at her while growling.

“Fuck you, come on,” Levi pants, his face is flushed and there was some drool gathering at the corner of his lips. “Eve, just fucking let m—”

“Not yet, honey. You are so impatient.” Eve tuts, pushing him back to lie down. Then, she pushes on his shirt, and Levi lets her tug it off him to reveal the familiar pale skin. Eve recognizes some new scars, but makes no comments about it. Instead, she slowly trails her fingers upwards and rubs against his pink nipples.

Levi slumps back on the bed, head dizzy in pleasure as Eve toys with his hardening nipples. His eyes don’t roll back, but his eyelids droop, like he was sleepy. He was slurring out her name and Eve is enjoying the sight of Levi unraveling under her like this.

She plays with him until the drool in the corner of Levi’s lips have freely trickled down his jaw, rendering him fucking stupid. Just from twirling his nipples between her fingers. She makes a mental note of that.

Eve pulls away, so she can reach down between her legs to push her panties off. She hovers over his cock while he was still a bit dazed, and lowers herself to start grinding her wet pussy against his leaking cock. The feeling of her warm wetness startles Levi for a moment, and he just moans. Eve pants, her face also flushed as she begins rolling her hips, dragging her pussy over the length of his cock. Levi looks up at her, eyes intense and filled with blissful pleasure as she rubs her clit with his dick.

They both hiss when the head of his cock catches on her little hole, almost sucking him in bare, but Eve shifts the angle to avoid that from happening. If it happened again, she isn’t sure if she could stop herself from fully sliding down.

Their eyes are locked intensely the entire time, even when sweat covers their body and soaks through their clothes. Levi probably looks fucking stupid, but all he can think of is the way Eve is so wet, all because of him.

“I-I’m going to fucking cum,” he warns, gritting his teeth as his hips start moving to their own accord, grinding his cock against her.

Eve nods, and a dazed smile forms on her lips. “Let me see you cum, honey.”

Levi just feels his mind go blank when she calls him that, and his thighs start shaking. Levi hisses, but jolts whenever his cock starts furiously releasing spurt after spurt across his stomach and even reaching his jaw. He lets out a long moan, loud enough for Eve to cover his mouth with her palm while grinding herself on his sensitive cock to get off. She cums on top of him, and Levi’s vision gets blurry, his own climax heightens from the sight of her blissful face.

She stills on top of him. Eve looks down, and his cock gives a final pathetic weak spurt that makes him twitch. Eve licks her lips, reaching down to brush her fingertips against his wet oversensitive cock, and he squirms helplessly while whimpering, scantily avoiding her touch from how sensitive he is. She scoops some of his cum, and her fingers push against his lips. Levi whines, sucking on her fingers to taste both her wetness and his release mixed, the scent and taste making his headspace grow even dizzier.

She pulls her fingers out and rolls over, plopping down on the spot next to him. They pant together, catching their breaths and coming down their highs.

When they finally breathe normally, they stay quiet. Neither of them say a word, or even move despite how filthy their bodies have become.

They just stare at the ceiling, both thinking of words to say, but they don’t say the things they really want to say. Levi’s the first to speak, though.

“You just cheated on your fiancé.”

“…Yeah…”

Levi stays quiet for a moment before he pulls himself up to sit. “I’m going to shower.”

It wasn’t an invitation, so Eve stays in bed. She watches Levi attempt to walk, and tries not to look so amused when Levi initially balances himself on his shaky feet using the edge of the bed before he walks stiffly towards the bathroom.

The sound of running water plays in the background as Eve wipes herself with a clean towel. She changes out of her uniform and wears a more comfortable shirt and pants before she sits down on her bed after replacing the sheets. She writes on her notebook, and by the time Levi exits the bathroom wearing his previous clothes, Eve shifts in her place so that she can look at Levi while staying in bed.

They had no idea what to say to each other. After what happened, what can they really say?

So, Levi prompts with the one thing he didn’t want to say.

“This was a one-time thing.”

Eve stares for a second before she gives a nod. “Okay.”

“We got it out of our systems, and we’re done. This won’t happen again.”

“Of course.”

“I mean it, Eve.” Levi sends a glare, grabbing his jacket that was hanging over her chair.

“And I’m agreeing with you…” she knots her brows together, almost in confusion. “Isn’t that what you want me to do?”

Levi balls his fists. “We won’t do this again. You and me, we can’t happen. I’m not about to be the reason you’re a fucking cheater.”

A bit too late for that. “Captain. I’m telling you. You’re right. Out of our systems, one-time thing.” Eve offers a smile. “Whatever you think is best. I’ll go with it.”

Levi narrows his eyes at her, suspicious. She’s agreeing with everything he’s saying, it was annoying. She should be fighting him, telling him that she’ll fucking leave that dumb winer and be with him instead.

…Fucking hell, why is Levi so stupid?

“Tch.”

He leaves the room, not without slamming the door shut. When he was out, Eve listens to yet another slam of a door before she finally sighs and pinches the skin between her brows, eyes closed as she curses in her mind.

When Levi returns to his room, he throws his jacket to the bed, furious and irritated. However, once he threw his jacket, he notices a different article of clothing underneath. He frowns, sitting on the edge of his bed to inspect it.

Levi pulls out the white blouse that Eve was wearing earlier, it must’ve been tucked underneath Levi’s jacket and got aggressively grabbed alongside it. Levi gets up and makes his way to the door to return the blouse, but stops before he opens it.

He looks down at the soft blouse, hesitating before lifting it to his nose… and inhaling her familiar scent. It makes him step away from the door and lie down on his bed, practically smothering his face with the blouse and falling asleep to it.

“Are you serious?” Eve gives Levi an incredulous look. “He’s changing the date?”

Levi blinks at the letter he just received, and puts it down. He looks at his team from the end of the table where he was seated. “The commander has moved our mission to an earlier date.”

“When?” Oluo frowns.

“In two days.”

They all grimace, and Eren goes stiff with nerves. They weren’t supposed to worry about the mission until next week.

Levi nods towards Eren. “We need to be done with our final training by tomorrow, or else we’ll screw this up. Now, be ready, Eren. We’re going to work you to the bone today. Let’s not waste time.”

“Sir!” They all salute him before moving to their respective tasks. Eren and Eve stay behind in the mess hall with Levi.

“Why would Erwin move the date?” Eve frowns, a bit miffed because Erwin didn’t mention this in his letter, or even yesterday when he visited. She didn’t think he would change the date of their mission.

“Who fucking knows at this point? If he thinks it’s the best move, then we don’t question it.” Levi mutters, looking at Eren. “Oi. Didn’t I tell you to get ready?”

“I-I am ready, sir. I’m good to go.” Eren stutters, stiff due to his intimidation of Levi’s cold demeanor.

“That so? Alright, then.” Levi walks out, and Eren hesitantly follows behind him. Eve has a terrible feeling in her stomach.

When Levi said he was going to train Eren to the bone, Eve assumed it was a metaphor.

“That’s enough!” Eve screams, riding her horse at her fastest pace when Eren’s titan falls to the ground, exhausted after doing countless of training activities. “Captain! Stop it, now!” She yells, and the other team members were far behind her.

From a distance, Levi maneuvers himself on top of Eren using his ODM gear, and he stomps his foot on Eren’s head. “Oi. You brat. We aren’t done. You still need to get to the top.”

Eren’s titan lets out a tired whine, and his breath is slow as if he was sleeping.

Levi repeatedly stomps his boot on his head as if to wake him up. “Oi. What the hell are you doing? The mission is in two days. Are you fucking asleep?”

In his earshot, he can hear the heavy hooves of scout horses, and Levi turns to see. Even from a distance, he can spot Eve’s murderous glare, yelling that Eren had enough. Levi just sighs, hopping off Eren’s head before settling on the nape. He uses his blade to carefully cut through the thick skin, and pull Eren’s searing body out. As the corpse oozes steam from behind them, Levi slings Eren’s arms around his shoulder as he lands on the ground. Eren practically drapes over Levi’s side.

Eve’s horse arrives, carrying her before she hops off it and marches towards Levi with heavy boots. Levi opens his mouth to talk, but a sharp stinging noise cuts through the air, and his head is suddenly tilted to the side. Levi hears some gasps from a few meters away, coming from his own squad.

Levi’s eyes are wide, and he turns to look at Eve to ask her what the fuck she just did—when she slaps him again on the other side of his face. This time, Levi catches her arm before it makes its impact across his face. An impressive move, considering how he is supporting Eren’s weight with one arm, and his other hand fighting back the force of Eve’s arm.

They glare at one another in close proximity, and Levi clenches his jaw before releasing her when Eve harshly pulls away.

The rest of his squad stared in shock, because no one has ever slapped the captain before like that. Eve holds his gaze, and she shakes her head in disappointment before looking at Eren.

“Kid, can you hear me?”

Eren lets out an incoherent noise, but otherwise, stays leaning against Levi. Eve lets out a heavy sigh, and Levi wordlessly places Eren on the carriage, his body was practically boneless as he lies down on the wooden surface.

Eve climbs in with Eren, tending to him by pressing a cool wet cloth against his skin. Levi watches the way Eren absentmindedly reaches for Eve’s hand, as if to ground himself. Levi looks away and mounts his own horse. The entirety of Levi Squad returns quietly to the castle.

Once Eve is sure that Eren is comfortable as he rests in his cell, she walks out and reaches the top of the stairs. Levi is already leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. He lifts his gaze and has a deadly glare on his face, and he doesn’t give Eve a chance to react when he grabs her shoulders and slams her against the wall of the staircase’s hallway.

“What the hell was that?” He seethes, pushing her back into the wall.

“You tell me. Were you trying to kill him?!” Eve aggressively whispers.

“I was pushing him to his limits.”

“You were killing him.”

“If you get your head out of your ass, you’ll fucking see that I’m helping him find out what he can and can’t do!”

“You can do that without nearly killing him!” She tries to push him away, but Levi is stronger than her, and he only presses her back into the rocky wall. “You are not training him again tomorrow. Do you understand me? He’s going to rest, and you don’t get to refuse me because this was part of the deal you and Erwin made with me.”

“Fine, you could’ve told me that after the fucking training. You didn’t have to slap me twice in front of my damn squad! Do you realize how that looks?!”

“I don’t care what it made you look like! You don’t get to do that to Eren!”

“You don’t get to slap me around either! I think you’re forgetting that you’re not my section commander anymore, you’re my executive officer. You fucking work for me, do you understand that? You assaulted a commanding officer. Not only is that insubordination, you could get executed on the spot!”

“You’d kill me?” Eve looks incredulous.

“Fuck no!” Levi recoils, eyes widening. “But if you did that in front of other commanding officers, they’ll stop at nothing trying to have you killed because those are the fucking rules here. Do you realize how bad it’ll be if I end up killing fellow scout officers for even trying to fucking harm you?! God, Eve! Do you even stop and think about your actions before you do them, huh? Use your goddamn head!” Levi looks furious, and Eve wavers. “You’re fucking lucky that it was just my squad who saw, because they won’t tell anyone how you just assaulted their captain. But, goddamn it, Eve! If you—”

Levi is cut off when Eve grabs the lapels of his shirt and pulls him in, pressing their mouths together in a sudden move. Levi stops talking, and his body freezes, but he instantly melts into her. Levi kisses her desperately, grabbing her waist and pushing her into the wall while pressing himself against her until nothing can even slip between them. The force of his kiss makes the back of her head press against the stone wall. His tongue slips between her lips, and she makes a soft approving noise.

He exhales while kissing her until he was dizzy with arousal and contentment of just feeling her lips against his. Levi can feel his hands tremble as he cups her cheeks, afraid that she will slip away.

“Captain?”

The distant sound of Eld’s voice coming from the corner of the staircase makes both of them jump apart, and Eve turns to the other direction just to cover her mouth with the back of her hand, walking down a few steps on the stairs to maintain a distance.

Levi blinks hard, as if it would do anything to his dilated eyes, and he leans against the wall in a calm manner. His subordinate walks to the top of the stairs and sees both the captain and his executive officer standing on the steps.

Eld offers a hesitant smile, assuming that the two of them are talking about the insubordination earlier, and they’re probably discussing punishments. “Oh, you’re both here.”

“What is it?” Levi harshly asks, gritting his teeth.

“You, uh… told me to come find you if the commander has another letter for you,” Eld presents a small envelope.

Levi sighs, snatching the letter. “Give me that.” Should’ve just placed it in his fucking room. Damn it.

Eld nods, and leaves them alone. Eve catches her breath and finally turns to face Levi, who stares at her with a grim expression paired with a flushed face.

“Eve…” he speaks as she averts her eyes and walks past him, retreating to her own room. Making Levi briefly close his eyes and swallow tightly.

“The hell do you mean you want my team to go into the damn forest?”

The day before the mission, Levi stands in front of Erwin with dull eyes.

“It’s part of the plan. I can’t say why.” Erwin tells him. “But I can warn you about it. I’d like you to keep this from your squad.”

“Not sure if I like that.”

“If it brings you comfort, Eve knows the entire plan. And she approves.”

“Why would that bring me comfort?”

“You trust her, don’t you?”

Levi grumbles incoherently, rolling his eyes but not denying it.

Erwin gives him an amused glare, but it follows with a strange look. “Is everything alright, Levi? You look paler than usual.”

Levi raises an unimpressed brow. “Nothing about this is fine. You’re telling me that you want my entire team to ride into the forest where titans can attack us at any direction without being spotted, and you won’t even tell me why. What, you don’t trust me or some shit?”

“This is in no way an indication of my distrust for you.”

“Then what the hell is it?”

The commander sighs. “I’m afraid you are misinterpreting this—”

“There’s nothing to misinterpret here.” Levi frowns. “I don’t give a shit about you telling Eve everything. In fact, I prefer it that way. But don’t you think that I deserve to know what it is I’m walking my entire squad into? I know Eren is the focus here, but can you give a fuck about my team members who are trusting me with their lives?”

“Levi. I want you to trust me.”

The captain clenches his jaw, because fucking hell, he does trust Erwin. And he couldn’t say no to him.

So, he leaves headquarters and returns to the castle, where he finds Petra among the stables when he settles his horse.

Petra smiles. “Good morning, Captain.” She greets while taking the ropes to his horse, leading it to a stable where it can rest.

Levi takes his canteen and drinks his water. He lowers his canteen and looks at Petra. He stays quiet for a moment, just staring at her. “I’ll do it.” Levi casually says.

“What?”

“What you suggested. I’ll do it.”

That was all he said before walking away to make his way towards the castle so he can prepare for tomorrow’s mission. Petra stands dumbfounded by the stables, clutching a brush for the horses and just watching Levi walk away while her heart flutters.

Chapter Text

For the hundredth time, Levi listens to one of Erwin’s big speeches. After spending ten years around the man, Levi has gotten used to the passionate words spoken by an equally passionate voice. He was barely fazed with Erwin’s booming voice by now.

The gates were opened, and the scouts scatter into formation. Levi’s entire squad huddled together and their captain leads them into their own formation. Eve rides next to Eren, and her short red hair flows with the wind.

The plan was derailed quite quickly. Quicker than Levi expected, but somehow, they still ended up walking through the forest. He can hear Eren asking why they were here, and Levi impatiently answers him, even though he has no idea what the fuck is going on.

He loses his patience when an enormous titan in a female physique comes lashing through the trees, and is now chasing after them. This sends Eren to a panic, as he watches soldiers be squashed from left to right.

Eve glances over her shoulder, in horror of the intelligent titan running at full speed behind them. She looks in their eyes, seeing the fierce determination behind them. It sent an unwanted and uncomfortable chill down Eve’s spine. No titan has ever sparked fear inside her before, not in this level. It makes her wonder what the Colossal and Armored titans look like.

“Stop looking behind you.” Levi’s loud yet calm voice forces itself into her ears, making her look forward again. “It won’t go away even if you stare at the fucking thing.”

Eve rolls her eyes. How is he so serene when soldiers are being crushed behind them? Levi used to be so different as a soldier, as she recalls. He would recoil at the sight of soldiers being slaughtered, and would even waste his gas just to save one person.

Now, Levi isn’t even batting an eyelid. It was like Erwin’s mindset has influenced him into thinking that these soldiers have jobs to do, and they should lay down their lives for it. Being a scout truly has changed for the last ten years.

The female titan comes closer, and Levi tells his squad to stay put when they were beginning to yell for him to give an order. They can’t outrun the titan anymore, but even when the rest of the squad was crying out in panic, especially Eren, Levi and Eve are calm as they carry out the order given to them by Erwin. In a way, she and Levi are similar in that sense. The commander’s word comes first and foremost.

So, when Levi tells them all to cover their ears, Eve didn’t question it and covered her own. Then, the hidden soldiers finally acted, when Erwin’s booming voice echoed throughout the forest, and is followed by ear-piercing shots of spears to trap the titan.

The rest of Levi Squad left unscathed, and the others let out a breath of relief. Before Eve could even tell them that they did good, Levi looks at her.

“I’m going to break away for a moment. Eve’s in charge until I get back. And look after my horse.”

“Wait, captain—”

Eve barely finishes her sentence when Levi uses his gear to zoom away, and she sighs before looking at Eren, who looked extremely relieved that he put his trust into the scouts and didn’t transform.

Levi goes to Erwin, who was standing on a tree branch high above ground. Erwin thanks him for leading the titan here, and Levi tells him that they couldn’t have done it without the soldiers who gave their lives.

The scouts go to work, trying their best to blast the nape, but the titan’s hardening hands kept getting in the way. It makes Erwin deeply frustrated, but he tries not to let it show, and tells his scouts to aim for the wrists.

It still wouldn’t work, so Levi goes to its head. Levi threatens to sever their limbs, but referring to their actual body. He keeps thinking about the scouts that died earlier just to protect Eren. The screams they made just before they were crushed. Levi wanted to fucking murder whoever it is inside this titan. To hell with answers.

But then, the intelligent titan started screaming, and it makes Levi cover his ears in pain. Moments later, titans start running from different directions, and started to feast on the female titan’s body. Levi hears Erwin yell for them to protect the female titan at all costs. And that is what Levi and the rest of the scouts attempted to do, until it was no use.

Levi and Erwin stood back and watched as the female titan was consumed, and it makes Levi’s blood boil. All that for nothing.

As Levi turns to go look for his squad, when Erwin stops him to say that he should replenish his gas and blades. Levi gives him a strange look, but complies anyway. It takes him a while, since he had to look for the crew that carried extra equipment. Levi sighs as he rubs his forehead in frustration. They’ve been bested.

When the familiar sound of an explosion crackling in the woods, Levi stops dead in his tracks. He does his best to go faster, zooming past trees using his gear until he sees it. Gunther hanging from a tree, with his ODM gear letting him dangle in the air. Dead. He sees Eld dead. Oluo dead.

Then, he sees the familiar head of brown hair, and Levi lands on the side of the tree, looking down at her face where half of it was scrawled against the wooden bark of the tree. He can even see remnants of skin hanging on the tree bark. Levi blinks, ignoring the way his chest is thumping. Not because he couldn’t believe the sight in front of him, but it was because he couldn’t find another person among his squad.

Levi wavers, and his head frantically turns to every direction, desperately scouring the nearest area for any sign of her. Then, out of nowhere, he couldn’t help but scream out her name until it echoed through the wind.

He grunts, shooting his wires to the trees to zoom through them again, and he sees someone just below a tree, surrounded by a pool of blood, almost the same color as her own hair. Levi feels his throat fill with his own beating heart as he drops to the ground to kneel next to her.

“Eve, come on,” Levi grabs her shoulders, but she remains unmoving. Levi swallows, his eyes stinging as he stays still, waiting for a sign of movement.

When there was none, Levi hunches over, dropping his weight on his knees there on the ground, resting his forehead on Eve’s shoulder. He doesn’t want to turn her over and be met with dead eyes, he can’t. Levi won’t be able to forget that image.

Without thinking, Levi starts slamming his fist into the dirt, accompanied by a single repetitive word. “Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck! Fuck!” He yells, voice cracking at the end as he recoils. His knuckles bled and bruised, and Levi falls back on the ground with his knees bent, and he buries his face into his palms to steady his breath, but a pained sob escapes his lips all the same.

Then, he hears something resembling a low whimper. Levi jolts and he immediately crawls to Eve’s body, finally turning her over and seeing an open wound on her thigh, but nothing too serious. Her entire hands are covered in blood, as if she struggled to save someone before being hit.

Levi presses his ear into her chest, waiting for a moment before he screws his eyes shut in both anger and deep relief. He rests his forehead on her chest for a moment, calming himself as he surrounds himself with the sound of her heartbeat, gripping her arms. Levi pulls away and takes his cravat off, immediately wrapping it around Eve’s bleeding thigh.

“Eve, can you hear me?” Levi asks while tightly tying the white cloth around her leg, tight enough for her to let out a weak grunt in pain.

“…Levi…”

He wavers before he lets out a shaky breath of relief through his nose. “That’s right, it’s me. Come on, get up.” Levi wraps his arm around her, trying to get her up, but her body remains lax.

“N-No, you should… go. I can’t…”

“Yes, you can. I’ll fucking kick your ass if you don’t get up right now, brat.” Levi says through gritted teeth.

“My leg… I can’t move. Please… Levi, just go.”

“Like hell I’m leaving you here.” Levi harshly hisses at her, slinging her arm over his shoulders. “Hold on to me, come on. I’ll take you to the medic team.”

“No,” she stubbornly pushes him. “I saw Mikasa… you need to go after her. She’s… going after Eren.”

“Eren’s dead. I saw him get swallowed.”

Eve weakly shakes her head, wiping the blood on the side of her face before looking at Levi. “No. The female titan took him for… some unknown purpose. Eren is alive, and he was kidnapped. You need to go after Mikasa, or she’ll get herself killed…” she trails off, and suddenly, her knees buckle.

Levi catches her, and lets her stand again. “I’m not about to leave you like this. Not in this state. I’m taking you back to—”

Eve waves him off. “I can go look for Erwin. I’ll be fine. Please, trust me.”

Levi stares at her, and she is begging him to go after the kids. He sighs. “You better be alive by the time I get back.”

“I will be,” she nods to the other direction. “Now go.”

Levi spares her one last glance before he uses his ODM gear to go look for the damn brats. He looks back and finds Eve struggling to walk, and even losing her balance from time to time before continuing to walk. Levi forces his eyes forward. He needs to have faith in Eve, and if she says that she’ll make it, then she will.

Later on, the scouts retreat. The bodies of fallen soldiers were wrapped in bags, transported into carriages. During the whole break, Levi was watching over Eve’s unconscious body, after she was tended to by the medic. When Levi first returned with Eren, he hands Eren over to the medic, and immediately looked for Eve among them.

Now, Eve rests in a carriage, just right next to Eren. She was asleep, and Levi was nearby to glance at her. When the titans attacked, that was when Eve woke up due to the commotion. Levi sees her try to sit up, and he flinches. “Oi. Don’t get up. What the hell are you doing?”

Eve sees from a distance how Mikasa dismounts her horse and goes to slay the titan. It makes Eve take the blanket off her lap and grab her gear.

“Oi! Eve!”

“Mikasa is putting herself in danger again…” Eve slurs out, and she can barely buckle her gear back on.

“Like hell you’re going after her. She can handle herself. You can barely fucking stand! Don’t make me force you to rest.” Levi threatens.

Eve watches as Mikasa easily kills one of the titans before returning to her horse. It makes Eve slump back into the carriage.

One of the titans are still chasing them, and the scouts were too spent to attack it. Eve wonders why Levi didn’t attempt to do anything about it, and prompts to Levi suggesting for them to dump the bodies. The cadets were hesitant to do it, but eventually, Eve is watching the deceased Levi Squad be released into the land again, their bodies clattering on the hard dirt, surely breaking their stiff bones and making their faces even more unrecognizable.

Eve watches with a blank stare. In all her years as a scout, this is the one thing that was difficult to get used to. Levi notices the look on her face and remains riding his horse from next to her. “Eve. Lie down. We still have a long way to go.”

Her face is expressionless and distant, but she lies back down. Eve glances to her left and sees Eren’s passed out next to her. She faces him with a blank stare, and dozes off after a few hours.

When Eve wakes up, she is lying on her side. The familiar scent of the headquarters’ infirmary instantly fills her senses, and she recognizes the scent of the air due to the number of times she had been here—ironically, as a patient, not as a doctor.

She squints, adjusting her eyes to the light of the room, until she sees someone sitting on a chair next to her bed, their arms crossed while their head is ducked low so they can nap.

“Captain…?”

The sound of her rough voice makes him open his eyes, and he shifts in his seat at the sight of her awake. “Hey.”

“How long was I…”

“A day, but you were stitched up in time. Your thigh was ripped open by some tree branches.” Levi nods, standing up despite how sleepy he looks, and he grabs the covered bowl from the table next to Eve’s bed. Eve notices the strange way he was walking. “You’re hungry. I need you to eat.”

She sits up, but winces at the pain on her hip. As Eve gets comfortable, Levi waits patiently before handing her the bowl so she can feed herself.

Before she eats, she asks first. “How long have you been here?”

All night. “I just got here,” he shrugs. “And don’t worry about Eren. He’s fine. Still fucking asleep in his cell. The gloomy brat’s with him right now.”

Eve nods, and she starts eating. Levi sits back down and observes her as she eats. She glances at him from time to time. She wanted to talk about his squad, but it doesn’t seem to be the right time.

“You got something to say?” Levi asks, when Eve has been staring at him.

Eve sighs, putting her bowl down when she’s had enough. “Captain, I’m… so sorry about your…”

“Yeah…”

Her heart breaks. “I tried to fight with them.”

“I know. I saw the scene after.” I even saw the state you were in. You were covered in their blood. You could barely fucking move and breathe. “You put up one hell of a fight.”

“Not good enough,” she offers a weak smile.

“Don’t beat yourself up for it.”

“…I’m sorry about Petra, too. I know you cared about her.”

“Yeah.” Levi sighs, leaning back into his chair. “But they all died as heroes. Soldiers. I don’t intend to ever forget them.”

“I know. Doesn’t mean you can’t get sad over them.”

Levi watches her, seeing the sincerity in her eyes. And it leads him to tell the truth. “I almost married Petra.”

Those words make Eve soften in surprise, but she says nothing.

“She knew I didn’t feel the same way for her, but she still proposed to me a few days before the mission. I told her that we should do it.” Levi nods, eyes distant as Eve watches him with a concerned frown. “I think she wrote to her family and hinted to them that she was getting married. To me. So, when we all came home after the mission, I… didn’t even have the fucking guts to tell her dad that, not only was our engagement was a sham, but that his daughter was dead, and I don’t even have her fucking body for them to bury.”

All the words died in Eve’s throat.

Levi shakes his head. “I wrote them a letter this morning. Like a damn fucking coward. I denied the engagement, told them she didn’t intent for her letter to come across that way. That I was just her captain and she was my subordinate,” he grits his teeth. “I figured that maybe it’s better if they didn’t know that their daughter almost got married, on top of all of that.”

Eve reaches over to place her hand on his knee. “I’m so sorry.”

“Yeah, well… shit happens.” Levi grumbles.

Eve slowly nods, and she pulls her hand away from his leg so she can drink some water. Levi offers to pour it for her, and watches her nourish herself.

“Your ankle is sprained…”

“I’ll manage.”

“I can take a look at it?”

Levi softly scoffs. “You can barely get out of bed.”

“I’ll manage,” she repeats his own words with a small smile.

“Stop, just… lie down and rest. You fought the female titan on your own with no backup, and you’ve only just returned to being a scout for a month.”

Eve sighs, but relents. “Fine, but I’m not going to sleep. Do you have anything else to do?”

I need to go talk to Erwin about my squad replacements. “Not really.”

“You can… stay here? If you want.” Eve softly says, and Levi almost feels his breath quiver. She doesn’t notice, because she just smiles sheepishly at him. “My back kind of hurts from lying on my side all night. Do you think you can call someone to crack my back or something?”

Levi huffs, amused yet he feels his chest tighten for some reason. “You can ask your fiancé to do that. He was here earlier.”

Her ears perk up. “Really? Where is he now?”

“He left a few hours ago. Said something about business in the market,” Levi mutters. “But he said he’ll be back around this time,” he instinctively reaches for his pocket watch, and Eve follows the movement with her eyes.

Levi checks the time, clenching his jaw when he realizes he has been here for nearly twelve hours, and her fiancé was here for less than thirty minutes.

Fucking idiot. Did he not realize that Eve almost fucking died? And how Levi actually thought she was dead, given how she was supposed to be weaker compared to her twenty-five-year-old self, especially since she hasn’t been a scout in nearly ten years? Fucking hell.

He slips the pocket watch back in his jacket, looking at Eve. Levi slows down his movements when he realizes that seeing the watch again must have felt strange for her.

Eve averts her eyes. “I thought you just got here.”

“What?”

“You said Yayoi was here a few hours ago,” Eve frowns. “How long have you been here really?”

Levi blinks. “I was… here the entire time you were.”

Eve just stares at him, and her brown eyes deepen with an unreadable emotion. “Oh.”

They gaze at one another, and Levi can feel his resolve shattering. The slight vibration of the blood underneath his skin, reminding him of the relief he felt when he felt the same vibration on Eve’s chest, the heartbeat that gave more room in his lungs to breathe.

Levi is the first to look away, because his breaths are slowly growing heavy, especially when he saw the way she twists the silver ring around her finger. That damned ring, Levi never thought he’d want to tear his hair out because of a useless piece of jewelry.

Eve notices the way Levi is gripping his own knees, and he stands up, seemingly to leave the room until he stops with his back turned to Eve.

She hesitates. “Are you alright?”

Levi sharply turns to face her, inhaling a breath. “Leave him.”

“…what?”

“You should leave him, Eve. The fucking winer.” Levi steps closer towards her bed, and her eyes widen. “Leave him.”

“W-What?” She looks bewildered, and Levi is impatient. “You’ve met him. Yayoi is a good person. He is kind and considerate.”

“It’s not about him being a fucking saint, Eve.” Levi digs his fingernails into his palms.

“What are you talking about?” Eve stutters out.

“What’s it look like I’m talking about? Leave him, and fucking be with me instead.” Levi speaks with his teeth gritting together, almost shaking in anger.

Eve gapes. “What—”

“If you want to be married so badly, then shit, I’ll marry you after this whole situation with the stupid female titan is done. If that’s not good enough for you, I’ll fucking marry you tomorrow!” Levi spews angrily, and all she can do is stare at him with wide brown eyes. “Just… just leave that idiot! Why are you even with him, Eve? You’re the last fucking person I’d ever think of who’ll marry a guy because he’s rich and good-looking, so what is it about him?”

“N-Now hold on, captain—” she starts, but he winces while screwing his eyes shut. “I-I… I told you, I’m marrying him because he is a good man. Who treats me right—”

“Do I not fucking treat you right? I can be a good man, too, when necessary.” Levi defensively says, not even caring how pathetic he sounds.

“Levi…”

“You don’t understand. I thought you were fucking dead when I found you. You don’t understand what that felt like. Part of me fucking—” he tightly swallows, unsure how to express himself. “Come on, Eve. Why do you even want that guy, huh? What does he have that I can’t give you?”

“Levi, it’s not like that,” Eve shakes her head, bewildered of what she’s hearing.

“Then what is it?!” Levi raises his voice accidentally, but he recomposes himself and softens his voice. “What is it, Eve? Because whatever it is, I can fucking do it better. I can do it.”

She helplessly shakes her head. “Why are you saying all of this?”

“Because nothing changed for me, Eve!” Levi hisses out, angry yet so desperate for anything he can receive from her. He can see the way her eyes are quivering, the discomfort of not knowing how to react to his words was astounding. “I can’t fucking take it anymore. I can’t even bear it, alright? I thought I’d be strong enough not to lose my goddamn mind. But apparently I’m not. Then I fucking see you being engaged to someone else, like… what the fuck? I can’t take this anymore, Eve, just—”

The door suddenly slams open, and a familiar exclamation of excitement fills the room accompanied by arms being thrown overhead. “Vonnieeee!!!!”

Levi immediately composes himself by slightly turning away to take deep breaths. Hange walks in with a big grin on their face, and Erwin follows behind them.

“I knew you were awake! I felt an itch in my brain!” Hange giddily points at their head. “How are we feeling, Eve?! Any broken bones?”

Eve is still a bit in disbelief of what just happened. “Uh…”

“No. No broken bones.” Levi answers, and his voice is calm, like nothing happened. “The nurse said that she should just sleep it off. I made her eat already.”

Hange cackles. “Reminds me of old times, Levi!”

“Tch.”

Erwin approaches Eve with a smile. “Your injury will be healed in a few days. Just enough time for our next step.”

Levi’s eyes flash. “The hell are you talking about? She’s staying in bed for at least two weeks.”

“If I can walk soon, I can get back to work,” Eve sighs.

“No. A wounded soldier is nothing but titan food. You say that shit all the time, Erwin. There’s no way in hell she’s leaving for a stupid mission of yours.” Levi firmly states.

“I agree with Levi,” Hange crosses their arms. “Eren can heal quickly, but not Eve. Can we just take a break for a little while? We kind of deserve it after what just happened.”

Erwin nods. “I will give it some thought. For now, I have a little surprise for you, Eve.”

“Oh?” She shifts in her bed, but winces when she accidentally rests on her bad hip. “Is it cookies? Please tell me you brought me cookies.”

“Hopefully, I’m better than cookies,” a new yet familiar voice appears by the doorway, and Eve looks up.

She wavers, but in a pleasant way. The guest smiles at Eve, before nodding as a greeting towards the other people in the room. Surprisingly, Mina looks at Levi with a kind expression as well.

“Mina…” Eve softly says, and Mina steps inside the room. She approaches Eve and gently embraces her as best she could without hurting her. As they hugged, Levi and Eve’s eyes meet once more, until Erwin taps on Levi’s shoulder.

“As the sisters get acquainted, I’d like to speak with you.”

Levi didn’t want to leave their conversation at such an abrupt stop, but he felt he had no choice. Damn it, why does Levi continue to open his mouth? Did he have to propose marriage like that? Fuck, Levi isn’t even sure if he’s ready to be someone’s fucking husband yet, but he’d do anything to please Eve. If she wants to be someone’s wife, then to hell with everything else, she’ll be his wife.

He nods, and follows Erwin out of the room as Hange and Mina stay with Eve.

By the time Levi returns to the infirmary, he didn’t enter. Only because he saw Yayoi back through the open window. He watches her from the window right outside the tiny infirmary of the scouts.

Levi can’t hear what they’re saying, but suddenly, Eve is laughing and Yayoi is tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear. Levi grits his teeth when Yayoi kisses her hand. How the fuck is he so nice and perfect? Fucking hell, Levi can’t even hate him because of how happy Eve looks.

That damn winer. He has no idea how Eve was kissing Levi’s skin just the other day, not even thinking about her damn fiancé from how much she wanted Levi.

“So,” a voice appears next to him, and he looks to his left, before he tilts his head up to look them in the eyes. “Eve’s back in the scouts.”

“Nice to see you, too, Mina.”

“How is staring at her and her fiancé going to do anything?” Mina sighs, a bit dramatically despite the elegance behind her movements.

“Don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Oh, Levi.” Mina gives him a look, something akin to teasing despite the blank expression. “After ten years—”

Levi rolls his eyes, turning to face her. “What do you want, Mina?”

“What do you want, Levi?” Mina squints. “You know, if you let me finish, I was about to say that after ten years, the offer still stands.”

“What the hell am I going to with your stupid favors?”

“Well, you can tell me to find out why Eve really wants to marry the last type of guy she would ever date.” Mina tilts her head, and Levi wavers. “There’s a reason why she wants to marry that man, and I can find out for you.”

Levi groans. “Mina. There are people like that Eren brat. People who can turn into titans. Soldiers just died because of—” me. “The point is that this whole thing isn’t my first priority. So, don’t bring this up again, Mina.”

“You’re talking a lot of nonsense for someone who claims they don’t care.”

“It’s not that I don’t care—”

“Ah, so you do admit that you still—”

“Mina. I’m serious. Stop this.” Levi gives her a glare.

Mina gives a light nod. “Suit yourself.”

Levi just gives a deep sigh, watching her for a moment. Mina meets his eyes, and raises a brow.

“What?”

“Nothing. You look well.”

Mina offers a humorless smile, and her eyes felt vacant in a way. “Sure. I have a horrible life right now, and the only good thing I have is seeing my sister alive,” Mina’s eyes go to the window where Eve’s room is, and they can distantly see her talking to Yayoi.

“How shit is your life?” Levi raises a brow. She doesn’t look it. Mina still appears as elegant and graceful as she did when Levi first met her. No strand of hair out of place, and her skin is clear. She even smells nice.

“Well, I’m childless. Husband-less. No complaints about his absence, though. Got no one to worry about except my eldest and youngest sisters.”

Childless? Levi frowns. But as he recalls, the last he heard about Mina was that she was with child. Erwin told him about it.

He makes no comment about it, and only sighs. “Yeah. Sounds pretty shitty.”

Mina is pleased to hear the nonchalance in Levi’s voice. It felt like it was exactly what she needed, someone who doesn’t pity her. She glances at him, looking down to his feet. “You can’t walk properly.”

“Yeah.”

They stay quiet for a moment.

“You want a beer?”

And just like that, the two fell back into their old dynamic. Mina gestures to the side. “Thought you’d never ask.”

“I have something for you.”

Levi was in the middle of sipping from his glass of beer, when Mina suddenly speaks up. He watches her pull out a book from the small satchel she had slung on her shoulder. “What’s that?”

“It’s a book.”

“Duh. I know what books look like, you fucking nerd. Why are you giving it to me?”

Mina looks hesitant, and for a moment, Levi wondered if he had offended her. However, she just slides the book towards him. “I think you’d find it interesting someday.”

“Oh, yeah?”

“Yeah,” Mina is unusually gentle.

“Is it from the academy?”

“No… actually, I pulled some strings just to get a copy of this, so I can own two, and give you the other.”

Levi snorts, picking up the book. “That rare, huh?”

“I know you like books.”

“…Thanks.” Levi mutters, not sure why Mina would go through lengths just to give him a copy. Especially the way she worded it. Pulling some strings meant she had to use some underground connections or something. Mina did mention her… unique set of connections around the country. Legal and otherwise. Levi sighs. “I can’t read this until the whole operation is over, though. It’ll distract me.”

“Read it when you have time.”

Levi exhales, giving her an appreciative look. He wouldn’t admit it, but he did miss her. Quite a lot, actually. Mina was his only friend outside the military. He raises his glass towards her and she clinks it with her own. The night is filled with small talk and silent shared judgement about the others in the tavern.

“What’s the hold up? Erwin’s never late. At this rate, the damn MPs will show up first. That’ll be our luck.” Levi grumbles before bringing his cup of tea to his lips. “Eh, who can say? They’re probably taking a shit. Duty calls, right?”

After his drink with Mina, Levi came home by the end of the night. Across from him sits Eren, and the boy chuckles a bit. “You sure are talkative today.”

“So what if I am? Doesn’t mean I was talking to you.” Levi mutters. He tries to get up, but the pressure on his leg sends a sudden jolt through his side. Levi winces and he instinctively grabs his thigh.

Eren notices and he shrinks. “It’s my fault, sir. I made the choice. If I didn’t, none of this would’ve…”

Levi looks at Eren, still seeing him as a child in a way, and it makes him think about how Eve cares for every single child she comes across. Eren takes first priority right now, given how attached Eve is to the brat. So, Levi sighs. “You made a judgement call. No one expects you to be clairvoyant.”

“My judgement call costed you your entire team…”

“That wasn’t your fault. You were just doing what you were told, by senior scouts. Don’t blame yourself.”

Eren looks down at the table, still disappointed. “My transformation almost killed Dr. Zackly. I wasn’t looking where I was transforming, and it was too late before I even realized she was in my vicinity. I’m sorry, captain. I know that you, um… you care about the doctor. I won’t be surprised if you hate me.”

For some reason, finding out how Eve was injured felt even more painful. There was no doubt in his mind that Eve was only within Eren’s vicinity because she was going to check on him, or even whisk him far away so he didn’t have to shift as a titan. And she got caught in an explosion, sending her towards trees where the sharp branches cut through her thigh. It’s a damn miracle she survived. Why is that woman so damn stubborn?

“Eren. I don’t hate you.” Levi ignores the first part of what Eren said. “Here’s a tip. Once you become a scout, you got to learn how to move on from people dying. Doesn’t matter how tragic shit can get. Doesn’t matter who. Scouts move on. Most people can’t do it, but us scouts aren’t like most people, that’s why we’re here. You need to learn how to move forward as a scout.”

Eren slowly nods. Levi looks relieved. He really didn’t want Eve’s kid to think that Levi hates him.

When Erwin and the others arrive, Eren is surprised to see Mikasa, Armin and Jean with the commander. Then, they discuss their theory, something that almost broke Eren’s mind.

“You’ve identified her already?” Eve asks, gaping at Erwin as she looks over the documents he handed to her. “How?”

It has been four days since the mission. Eve had just been discharged from the hospital, and is allowed to walk freely now. However, she is not yet entering the field, as per Erwin’s instructions—despite her insistence to wear the ODM gear again.

Now, she wears a comfortable dress that reaches her lower leg, to accommodate the wound on her thigh. She stands in Erwin’s office, and on the table sat Levi.

“Cadet Arlert has a solid theory, with enough evidence. Even Hange is supporting it,” Erwin tells her. “The suspect is a soldier from the 104th cadet corps. She trained with our new recruits, chose the Military Police, and is situated in Stohess District as of right now. Her name is Annie Leonhart.”

Eve goes through the documents that continued Armin’s statement, reading them. “Why did she want Eren?”

“That shall remain unanswered, sadly. Not unless we finally capture her.” Erwin tells her. “Levi here has a suggestion on how we capture Leonhart.”

Eve looks at Levi, someone she hasn’t seen since the last time he was with her in the infirmary. Levi never visited her again after that, and it was obvious to Eve why.

However, Levi explains the plan to Eve so calmly. It was like nothing happened between the two of them. After Levi explains the plan, she looks at Erwin. “Why aren’t I part of it?”

“You’re still recovering.”

“Yeah, but I can walk properly, I can still control the gear.”

“You can,” Levi mutters. “But it’ll be difficult.”

“You’re going to capture her in broad daylight, and Stohess has people in it. You need to evacuate them quick, so you can take the female titan off guard in human form,” she tells them. “You can’t evacuate anyone before you capture her, or else it’ll alert the female titan and she can flee. Or worse, transform right there and then. You’re going to need to evacuate the civilians during the capture.”

“We already know this, Eve.”

“My point is that my family lives in Stohess,” Eve informs them through a sigh. “Narcissa, Mina, Yayoi, even my sisters are locked up in that place. If things go south and Leonhart assumes titan form, people could get hurt. If you’re not going to put me back to work, then at least grant me the opportunity to get my family out of the city first.”

Levi can see how that complicates things, and he looks at Erwin. “We need to get them out secretly somehow.” It felt strange to say that, even though nine of the people he is talking about attempted to kill the woman he—

“If we are not evacuating the entire city before the capture, and only a select few, we are no more selfish than normal men,” Erwin says.

Those words bring a harsh blow towards Eve and she stares at him with an expression akin to murder. Even Levi looks surprised.

“Excuse me?”

“We cannot smuggle out actual inmates, Eve. I don’t think the Military Police will grant that without being suspicious.”

“These are my sisters,” Eve gives him an incredulous look. “And you’ve known them for twenty years!”

“Eve.” Erwin stands from his seat, a solemn yet decided expression on his face. “You are allowed to evacuate Wilhelmina and Narcissa, but your sisters who are in prison remain in their cells. No special treatment.”

“Erwin…” Eve says his name in disbelief of what she is hearing.

“You are both dismissed.”

Eve gapes at him, watching the way he sits back down and continues to write letters. She hesitates but complies, leaving the office with Levi behind her. Eve glances at the way Levi slightly limps on his step, trying his best not to though.

Levi looks at her, seeing the way her face is mixed with anger, pain, betrayal… but with a quiet trust she has always put on Erwin. Levi frowns. “Why the hell are you trying to save them? I bet they’d try to kill you the moment they’re out of their cells.”

“They’re family, Levi. And even if they do try to kill me, that won’t change the fact that we share the same blood,” she quietly says, and after a while, a wistful smile appears. “And I’ll be sad if they die. Truly sad.”

“But why? You know what they did. What they tried to do.”

“Yeah…” she agrees, and looks at Levi. “Will you… help me?”

“With what?”

“Breaking them out and stashing them somewhere? If the titan appears, people who can’t run away are the most vulnerable.” Eve steps forward. “Will you help me?”

Normally, Levi would report this type of behavior to Erwin, since Eve is clearly going against Erwin’s instruction. But the pleading and persistent hope in Eve’s eyes make him shift his course.

He sighs. “I’ll see what I can do. Can’t promise anything, though.”

“Levi,” her voice pulls him back, and he looks at Eve. “Should we talk about what happened back in the infirmary?”

Levi slightly wavers, but brushes it off. “I don’t know what came over me. You should just ignore everything I said.”

“…Oh. Okay,” she softly says. “If that’s what you want.”

God, just fight me already. Yell at me, scream at my face and tell me I’m out of my damn mind. Slap me for all I care, just don’t agree with everything I fucking say, you fucking brat.

“Yeah.” Levi mutters and walks away.

“Hey,” she stops him again, and he turns back with a horrible eagerness that he wishes he didn’t show instinctively. “I can still take a look at that ankle? I tried kneeling earlier to stretch, and I can handle it.”

Levi should say no. He should turn around and just leave her there. But he also knows that Eve is the only person in the Survey Corps who is the most knowledgeable about bones and muscles, and none of the other doctors in the regiment was able to help Levi in the most comfortable way. Still, Levi should say no.

He nods, stupidly enough. And he almost took it back, if it weren’t for the pleased smile on her face. Levi just wants the ground to swallow him up, and never release him. Levi leads her to his own office, and he takes a seat. Eve closes the door and removes her jacket to give her more room to move.

Instinctively, she goes to a shelf and takes some hand sanitizers and lotion. It barely processes in Levi’s mind that she knew where he would put that shit in his office. Levi follows her with his eyes as she kneels before him, and he unlaces his boots.

Eve takes the heel of his foot, and settles it on her lap before she starts pressing into some spots as if to look for a certain one. When Levi lets out a surprised grunt when a sudden pain jolts him in his seat, she stops and gives him a bright look as if to say ‘found it’. Levi says nothing and just watches her work.

“So, how are you feeling? Have you decided the members for your squad yet?”

“If you’re going to start small talk to distract me from whatever pain is coming, like you do with your other patients—don’t bother. Just do it.”

Eve holds back a smile, and her soft hands continue to massage where his ankle ached and swelled. Then, she pauses before pushing her entire arm into the heel, and there was a loud crack under Levi’s skin. He lets out a satisfied grunt and leans back into his chair to let out a breath.

Eve smiles at him, amused by how he reacted. “Don’t be mistaken, Levi, it’s still going to hurt when you walk. But at least the ache you feel whenever you don’t move, is gone.”

“…Thanks.”

“You know, I haven’t done this for anyone in years. I was wondering if I can still do it.” Eve continues to massage his foot after squeezing some lotion onto her hands, and he just watches her from above.

Afterwards, Levi listens to her voice as she instructs to him what medicine he should take and where to buy them, as well as exercises he can perform to speed up his recovery. Levi’s chest physically aches at the way she speaks to him. She had no idea what she does to Levi without even fucking trying.

Eve sanitizes her hands and starts putting Levi’s foot back into his boot. He just lets her, and Eve looks up at Levi, only to see him already watching her.

Without looking away from her gaze, Levi frowns. He had so many things to say, but if she really wants to marry this Yayoi person, who was Levi to stop her?

So, he averts his eyes. “Thank you.”

“Anytime, captain.”

Eve leaves his room, and Levi sits there with a grimace on his face. He looks down at his foot and rolls it, feeling only a dull ache now. At least now he can tell the difference between the pain he feels in his leg and the pain he feels in the rest of his being.

Chapter Text

“How are you feeling?”

Eve smiles at Mina. “I’m okay. You don’t need to keep coming here, you know? It’s dangerous. Not to mention, this is a restricted area. Stop worrying.”

Mina shakes her head. “Life gets lonely when you have no one to worry about.”

“…God, you sound like Erwin.”

“You say that quite often,” she mutters while brushing Eve’s hair with a comb.

The two sisters are inside Eve’s room in the castle. Eve is seated in front of a small mirror, and Mina does her hair. Right now, the rest of the scouts are discussing their next move, although, it was only with a select few. Eve didn’t attend, only because Eren is growing more and more independent by the second, and she trusts that Eren will tell her the things she should know.

That, and because she’s following the plan of a certain someone.

“Because it’s true,” Eve looks at Mina through the mirror, and the younger woman only shoots her a brief look. “Seriously, though. What’s been going on between you and—”

“Eve.”

“I’m just asking! It’s not a big deal…”

“Eve…” Mina says in a more amused tone.

Eve turns around, looking up at her tall sister. “Come on. Just tell me. What is it? There’s something going on, right? At least tell me that!”

Mina doesn’t give anything away on her face, and she only forces Eve to face the mirror again. “Do you want a braid or just a simple style?”

“Mina,” Eve whines, a rare display of childishness from her. “You can just tell me, come on! Are you and Erwin fu—”

“Eve!” Mina looks scandalized, but still remains calm.

“Sorry, but you know what I mean!”

“I do know what you mean. I’m just choosing not to answer. Now sit still.”

Eve huffs, crossing her arms. They stay quiet, and Mina gently brushes her red hair before Eve feels her begin braiding it.

Mina hesitates, but continues to calmly stroke Eve’s hair. “We… touched this morning. That is all,” she mutters.

Eve raises her brows, and turns to look at her. “You touched?”

“He held my hand.” Mina is uncharacteristically flustered.

Eve is amused. “How scandalous.”

“Oh, shut up.”

“So, you’re telling me, that in the twenty years of knowing one another, all that you two have done is hold hands?” Mina doesn’t answer Eve, but avoids her eyes instead. “What even was the context?”

“He was, erm… helping me get on a carriage.”

Oh, Erwin. You stupid man. Eve just holds in a laugh, shaking her head over her sister and oldest friend. “Not only did you just hold hands, it wasn’t even for the purpose of holding hands!”

“Well, assist or not, it was lovely. His hands are very soft.” Mina flushes, and it was a rare sight to see her look smitten.

“Oh, I wonder what he will do next. Will he, I don’t know, touch your arm next? Or better yet, your hand again but for longer than two seconds?”

“…You’re making fun of me.”

“Yes, I am.”

Mina scoffs, and Eve just laughs before teasingly holding onto her hand.

“Oh, come on. I was just playing. But honestly, Min. You’re both in your thirties. Why can’t the two of you just pound it out?”

“Eve!” Mina blushes scarlet red, and it only makes Eve laugh louder. “…Erwin is a gentleman.”

“Every gentleman can get rough in bed. I bet Erwin is a beast.”

“By the walls, Eve,” Mina couldn’t help the short chuckle in her voice, and her face flushes scarlet. Thankfully, Eve cannot directly see her face, because Mina’s eyes fill with embarrassment when she suddenly remembers a certain memory.

Then, Eve turns to look at Mina with a more affectionate expression.

Mina gives her a suspicious look, but still looks relaxed. “What?”

“There’s, um… something I need you to do for me.”

On the other hand, in light of the recent mission’s outcome, the military police have sent word to the scouts that Eren Jaeger be taken to the capital. It was because of their failure, and Eren will be taken under their custody again.

Of course, the scouts won’t comply to that easily.

Eve enters Levi’s office when she hears him say to come in. Levi looks up from cleaning the mantelpiece of his fireplace, a bit surprised to see her, like he was expecting someone else.

“I’ve spoken to Mina. She and Narcissa will be leaving tonight. Your plan worked.”

Levi relaxes, and gives a single nod. “Good.”

It looks like Levi is cleaning just before they leave today. Eve is already dressed in a semi-formal attire, but Levi is still missing his jacket and cravat.

“Are you sure about this?” Eve hesitantly asks.

“Mina is a smart person. She will evacuate with Narcissa, with no questions asked.” Levi tells her before going to the closet where his jacket was hung. “I told you. She won’t ask why you need them to leave the city temporarily.”

“Yeah, but why did I have to say that you’re asking that as a favor?”

Levi reaches into the closet, sighing. “Because she’ll listen. Does it matter why? You got them out of the city, didn’t you?”

Eve frowns a bit at his tone. “What aren’t you telling me?”

“I don’t have to tell you everything that goes on in my life, Eve.” Levi coolly tells her as he looks through the closet.

A closet that was very familiar, too. Once Eve realizes this is the office reserved for the captain of the scouts.

Levi pulls out a black jacket, to match with his black pants. He wasn’t in uniform, but he was still preparing for a formal attire to accompany Erwin in the capital, and since he was injured, he cannot come with Hange and the rest to capture the female titan’s human form.

“This involves my sisters,” she looks at him in confusion. “Does she owe you a favor or something?”

“No.”

“Then why was Mina not even questioning this?”

“Because it’s me asking. Are we done here?”

“What is the matter with you?” Eve looks bewildered. “You’re confusing me a lot lately.”

“Tch. Like you aren’t doing the damn same.” Levi doesn’t even look at her when he goes to the mirror to shrug on the jacket, but it feels too uncomfortable to wear that way.

“I’m doing the same? You literally push me away ten seconds after being nice to me.” Eve frowns. “What is it that I’m doing wrong here?”

“I don’t want to talk about this.” Levi lowly says, turning to face her but not exactly meeting her eyes. “You got what you wanted. Your nicer sisters are out of the city. Sorry, can’t do anything about the shittier ones in prison. Not saying they don’t deserve to be there after the crap they did to you.”

“They’re still my sisters.”

“Yeah, yeah, blood is thicker than whatever.” Levi walks past her to grab the cravat folded neatly on the desk. “I get it, alright? I said I’ll see what I could do. I saw. Can’t do anything about it, Eve.”

“Or you’re just too afraid to disobey your commander.” Eve frowns, crossing her arms. “Can’t say I’m surprised. It isn’t the first time.”

Levi sends her a glare, placing the cravat around his neck but not tying it just yet. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“You heard me. This isn’t the first time you chose to follow Erwin instead of doing right by me.”

Those words make Levi’s eye twitch, and he looks at her while. “Do you realize that if your sisters go missing, the MPs are going to hear about this and our suspect might figure it out? You could go to jail for breaking them out, and considering how your dad didn’t try getting them out of prison, there’s no telling that he won’t do the same for you. There’s nothing we can do. They’re staying in jail, Eve. And the MPs are obviously more likely to evacuate civilians first than criminals.” Levi huffs. “Just trust Erwin. If this goes well, we’ll have the female titan in custody tonight. Now give me a fucking break. You, me and Eren are the only ones left in my squad, both of us are injured while Eren is going to be bait. Ever stopped for a minute to think about how shitty our situation is? This goes beyond your psycho sisters. You understand?”

Eve lets out a shaky breath, and her shoulders sag in defeat. When she looks at him, he wavers upon seeing the way her eyes shine with fresh tears. She is already dreading the possible deaths of the sisters she hasn’t spoken to in ten years.

He stays in his place, watching as a tear slides down her face, and she quickly wipes it away while averting her eyes. Levi’s stomach fills with flames, hating the fact that he made he cry. Fucking hell, the hatred he feels for himself right now just tripled.

He reluctantly approaches her, placing both hands on her shoulders and feeling the way she tenses up under his touch.

“Look. I don’t like this either, but we got no choice. We need to see this shit through so we have something to prove to the court. Think of Eren. The MPs won’t waste a goddamn second from dissecting him if we lose our custody over him. We fuck this up, and Eren’s taking the brunt.” Levi points out, and his hands squeeze her shoulders gently. “I can’t promise shit about your sisters, but I can swear to you that I’ll protect Eren whatever the cost. That’s something I can definitely do.”

Eve looks into his eyes, as if to survey if he was being genuine or not. Levi isn’t sure if Eve can see that he actually was being genuine. Although, she reaches for the untied cravat around Levi’s neck and does it for him instead. Levi slowly releases her shoulders to give more room, and his eyes never leave her face even when she concentrates.

Once she was done, she smooths her palms over his chest, her gaze locking with his. Levi’s face remains expressionless, but deep inside, he was so taken aback by how fucking beautiful she is. God, his eyes could melt and he wouldn’t mind.

Then, he does something completely stupid. Something he didn’t even think about first before he acts. Fuck, it’s like Levi’s body moved faster than his idiotic brain.

He leans in to press his lips into hers, and the gesture makes Eve freeze. When Levi finally realizes what he just did, he pulls away before Eve could even react to what happened.

“Shit, I’m sorry. No. I didn’t—Fuck!” Levi backs away, turning so he didn’t have to face her. “I wasn’t thinking. No. You should go. Just—”

“Levi…”

“Just go, Eve. I’ll handle everything else as best I could.” Levi hurriedly goes to his desk to pretend like he’s busy, and he doesn’t even meet her eyes.

Eve stays, observing him for a moment until Levi could feel himself physically shrink under her scrutiny. Then, he hears the door open and closing, the sound giving him so much relief that he ended up hunching over his desk to lay his chest and head on it, groaning in frustration over how dumb he actually is.

“Stay in Trost? What are you talking about?” Yayoi asks in between chuckles.

“I mean just that, Yae. But I can’t tell you why yet.”

“That’s concerning.” He looks a bit worried already as Eve sits him down on the bed in her room. She tries not to think about what transpired on her bed a few nights ago. “Should I be worried?”

Eve musters half a smile. “About me? Never. I just think it’ll be messy when we return Eren to the MPs. It’s safer for you to stay here in Trost.”

Yayoi nods. “Alright. If that’s what you think, then I’ll stay.”

Eve sighs in relief, placing her hands on his shoulders as she stands before him. “Thank you.”

Yayoi pulls her in for a hug, and nuzzles his head into her chest. Eve embraces him tightly, closing her eyes to feel his warmth more. She truly wanted this mission to be a success.

Later on, she was now inside a carriage with Erwin, Levi and Mina, on their way to Mitras to pick up Narcissa and her children. Mina insisted on coming, even though she could very well stay in Trost already. The two women sit across from the two men. Erwin subtly looks at Mina, who is staring out of the window. Levi glances at Eve, who feels his eyes on her as she reads through the journal she writes about Eren.

Somehow, there is tension in the air. Unspoken words clinging into the space between them all.

Levi glances at Erwin, who immediately looks away from staring openly at Mina, and he clears his throat. Levi rolls his eyes at the not-so-discreet way that Erwin was acting, like a flustered teenager being caught staring at the girl he likes. Ridiculous.

The carriage behind them carried Jean, Mikasa, Eren and Armin, who were the most crucial part of their plan. Eve wanted to look behind them just to make sure if the kids were alright, and she anxiously scratches against her palm.

Levi notices this and sighs. “They’re fine, Eve. Stop that.”

“I didn’t say anything.”

“You’re worrying about the brats. It’s annoying.”

“I wasn’t worrying.”

“Yeah, right.”

“Okay, you know what—”

“Enough,” Mina scolds. “Let’s all stay calm about this.” The last thing she wants is to be stuck in a moving carriage while the two strongest soldiers of the scouts argue.

Levi grumbles under his breath, looking out of the window while Eve does the same. Mina holds back a smile when her eyes meet Erwin’s amused ones.

They take a break later to eat, and Eve goes to check on the teens in the other carriage. They were fine, but Eve still makes them eat double rations just to be sure. They continue their journey to Mitras and they part with the 104^th members.

Eve gives each of them a hug, reassuring them that they’ll be okay and they can do it. Armin was the most nervous one, which is why Eve holds him the longest. It must be because whoever this Annie Leonhart is, she is someone important to Armin. And here they were, about to capture her for being a titan shifter.

They reach Narcissa’s house, and her kids are ready to go. She carries a small bag, essentials for her newborn. Eve greets her with an embrace, and kisses her niece and nephew. Erwin and Levi watches as Mina leads Narcissa and her children into the carriage.

Levi contemplates for a moment before approaching the window of the carriage to speak to Narcissa. Meanwhile, Mina faces Erwin and Eve.

“I have a feeling that this has something to do with Eren’s trial?” Mina asks, wrongfully so. “The judge is papa again, right?”

“Yeah…” this wasn’t why they were here, but Eve can’t tell her about Annie Leonhart.

Mina just nods. “Alright,” she looks at Erwin. “Stay safe, both of you.”

When she turns around, Erwin falters. He steps forwards instinctively. “Mina.”

She turns, eyes hopeful but she was still calm. “Yes?”

Erwin doesn’t say anything, and only glances at Eve. She receives the message loud and clear, and she offers them a smile. “I’ll go talk to Izzy and Levi.”

Erwin looks grateful for that, and Eve glances at Mina to send her a subtle wink. Mina wanted to strangle her, but she remains collected as she faces Erwin. Eve goes to Levi and Izzy, seeing the way Levi leans against the unmoving carriage while Narcissa leans out of the window to chat, and she cradles her baby.

“Looks like they’re working things out.” Narcissa giggles. “Mina’s divorce is doing her good right now.”

“Is that supposed to be funny?” Levi mutters.

“Oh, Lebi,” Narcissa coos to tease him. “Worried about Mina, are you?”

“Don’t call me that. Veers will think that’s my fucking name, idiot.” Levi glares. “And why would I worry? I don’t care.”

“You say that but you’re here to see us off,” Narcissa chuckles, reaching over to ruffle Levi’s hair like he does with her all the time. “You love us!”

Levi’s glare hardens and he clicks his tongue while slapping Narcissa’s hand away from his hair. He straightens up when he sees Eve approaching them.

“How’s it looking?” Eve asks.

“They’ll be taken to an inn, at Trost. It’s already prepared. You got nothing to worry about.” Levi informs.

Eve smiles, looking at Narcissa. “That’s good. You’ll be comfortable there.”

“I sure hope so, because no one’s telling me anything about why I had to leave my house,” she sounds rather amused than serious.

“It’s complicated. I just need you both to trust me.” Eve reaches over to hold her sister’s hand.

“I do. Which is why I’m following my big sister,” Izzy has a tender expression on her face. “I’ll follow you wherever.”

Eve sighs in relief, kissing Izzy’s hand before letting go. Mina and Erwin’s conversation seemed to be done when Mina takes a step back and slightly bows her head at Erwin before she boards the carriage. Of course, Erwin offered his hand to assist her like how Mina told Eve.

His touch lingered, though. Even when Mina was seated, Erwin’s hand still enveloped hers. He releases her and the carriage door closes. Levi, Erwin and Eve watch as the carriage moved with the horse to leave.

Then, Eve glances at Erwin, who has a wistful yet relaxed expression on his face. Eve isn’t sure what to make of it yet, but it definitely had something to do with Mina. Eve was curious of their relationship, but she won’t pry.

Erwin clears his throat, and tells the others that they will be making their way to Stohess now to meet with the MPs and their commander. Levi and Eve share a quick glance before following behind Erwin.

Eve’s fears were brought to life when she hears the crackling noise of thunder from afar. She was on her way outside with Levi to meet with the other MPs, when the ear-piercing sound and golden light takes away her attention. She scrambles to the window, eyes wide with her heart thumping.

It wasn’t Eren, it was even worse. The female titan is now standing in the middle of Stohess, and from the looks of it, she is destroying a certain building that probably shielded Eren and the others.

Eve’s heart drops, and her feet immediately tries carrying her to the door, when a hand grabs her wrist to pull her back.

“Oi. Where the hell are you going?”

“Look! She’s destroying that building with Eren inside. She doesn’t care anymore if she kills Eren, she’s desperate. She could obliterate the entire city!” Eve pulls her hand away, and starts walking faster, but the ache in her thigh and hip makes her slow down.

Levi is apparently right behind her, despite the limp to his walk, and he stops her again by grabbing her hand. “Hey. Neither of us can fight and we’ll just be in the way. Let the scouts handle this. We can’t do shit while injured.”

“But… Eren is out there—”

“Eren will pull his shit together and fight the bitch. Trust him, Eve. The kid’s angrier than all of us combined. We have our own job to do. Come on.”

Eve swallows, but lets Levi lead her away from the window. Levi glances at the vacant expression on Eve’s face, and he sighs.

When they meet with Erwin and Nile, they had their guns aimed to Erwin, which immediately makes Eve try to interfere angrily. “Hey. Hey! What the hell is going on here!”

Nile reels back in surprise, looking at Jean, the fake-Eren, then back to her. “Eve? What are you doing here?”

“She is here as a scout, Commander Dok.” Erwin answers. “You will address her as Executive Officer Zackly.”

Nile looks irritated even more. “Were you in on this, Eve? You knew about the titan loose in the city right now?! This is treason! I am well within my rights to shoot you right now!”

“Think, Nile. You’re a hair trigger away from making the biggest mistake of your life.” Levi’s harsh words are paired with a calm tone.

“We need to stay calm in light of the situation! We can’t point guns at each other while the bigger enemy is destroying your homes as we speak!” Eve yells. “Tell your men to stand down.”

Before anyone could react, another crackling of lightning sets off from a distance. Eve falters, and she hears the familiar howl fill the air across the district.

Nile visibly wavers, but he hardens his gaze after he was told by a few of his soldiers that two titans are fighting in the narrow streets, wreaking debris and havoc upon residents. In other words, people are dying during their brawl.

Nile angrily points the gun at Erwin and Eve now, and instinctively, Eve steps in front of Erwin. Nile yells at Eve to step aside, but she stands her ground. Nile steps forward, and pushes Eve aside, sending her falling to the floor while Nile grabs Erwin by the collar with fury in his eyes.

Levi flinches upon seeing Eve fall limp to the ground, and she tries to get up, but winces before slumping back on the floor. The legendary section commander in the history of the scouts, ripping her stitches open on the floor of Stohess. Levi barely notices himself approach her, tugging her back on her feet while Erwin and Nile settle things.

Eve lets him assist her, and she clings to his shoulder while clutching her hip where the wound must’ve burst open from her harsh fall. Levi glances at her dress, and sees the blood seeping through the cloth. It makes his eyes flash with rage.

“Take custody of Erwin Smith. Our focus is evacuation.”

“Sir!”

“Levi. Eve. Stay here. A pointless death wouldn’t suit either of you.” The MPs scatter, and one of them grabs Erwin’s arm to lead him away.

“No. It wouldn’t. Any more than it suits anyone else.” Levi glares at Erwin, since the commander didn’t bother to show his concern over Eve when she was pushed aside.

Nile walks up to Eve, sending her a glare. “I’m only doing this because I respect you as a soldier, Eve.”

“Thank you, Nile.”

Nile just walks away and gets to work. Levi grits his teeth, eyes following Commander Dok with a murderous glint before.

When they were practically alone, Eve leans her weight on Levi more, holding onto him. Levi ignores the dull ache in his ankle when added with more weight, and just leads her to a cart with a horse. Eve says nothing as Levi helps her sit down, and Levi nods at the scout/coachman to tell him to take them far from the fight.

Levi sits down next to Eve, with struggle to move his injured leg. “Let me look at your thigh.”

“Levi…” she breathes out, shaking her head.

“Tch.” Levi glares, grabbing her to flip her skirt up to view her wound. Eve pouts, but doesn’t fight back, only because it’s nothing he hasn’t seen before. Levi takes some fresh bandages and some stitches in a bag, cleaning her wound before expertly sewing her up in a moving carriage.

Eve watches him, offering a weak smile. “Isn’t it difficult to stitch in a moving vehicle?”

Levi snorts, recalling that similar question being asked by Isabel when they first met. “It takes great skill and control to hold a needle in a moving vehicle, and still manage to sew straight.”

Eve relaxes, despite the distant noises of buildings being destroyed. She tries to ignore it, trying her best not to imagine her sisters in the prison, possibly being the last people to be evacuated. It brings a swollen lump in her throat.

Levi finishes stitching, and wraps her thigh with a clean bandage before pulling her skirt back down. “That damn commander of the MPs. A fucking cunt.”

Eve snorts, and sits properly now, leaning her back against the wooden edge of the cart. “Give him a break. Being commander is a big job.”

“Yeah. No shit. Didn’t mean he had to fucking push you like that. I could fucking beat the living shit out of him.”

Eve glances at Levi, amusement in her eyes. “You’d beat up the commander for me?”

“Not for you. For myself.” Levi grumbles. “The bastard was so arrogant. Could’ve derailed the entire mission.”

Eve sighs. “Would you believe me that Nile and Erwin used to be inseparable like brothers during our time at the cadet corps? Things change once you become in charge of the lives of thousands.”

Levi mulls over her words, and the sounds of titans growling loudly around them only made the two of them keep quiet. Both of them knew that people are currently dying, and here they were. Far away from the scene.

Eve has never felt so useless.

Finding out that the female titan encased herself in an unbreakable shell was not the hard part. Of course it wasn’t, despite the disappointment on every scout’s face from everywhere they look.

No. The hard part was the casualties. As Eve’s cart passes by the city jail, she can feel a dreadful heat in the pit of her stomach upon seeing it in ruins. Like it was stepped on by a gigantic foot, as if it was just an anthill. Eve just averts her eyes and focuses on where they were going.

Levi had left her in the carriage a while ago, and now, she was being led to wherever the commotion was. The rest of the scouts carry on with their job, despite their complete failure yet again. The MPs have been tasked to identify bodies while the scouts handle Leonhart.

Later that night, Eve sits in a temporary room, clutching a piece of paper with writing on it from the nearest hospital who had been identifying corpses. She stares at the names, numb and sick to her stomach. The pain on her thigh felt nothing compared to whatever it is she is feeling.

Then, there was a separate paper, containing four other names. And Eve could just stare in disbelief as she reads the names over and over.

She barely notices the frantic knocks on her door, or the soft calling of her name. All she can do is stare at the information she received.

The doorknob jimmies, and it swings open, revealing Levi who appears in disbelief. Eve wipes away her tears quickly, mustering a small smile. “Captain. Did you need something?”

“Eve…” Levi’s eyes are wide and at loss for words. “I didn’t know they would…”

Eve rapidly blinks, swallowing as she stands up to try her best on looking calm. “No one could’ve known.”

Levi frowns, and his face displays the rare look of a crumbling heart. He doesn’t know what to say, so instead, he closes the door and approaches her, taking her arm to pull her into a tight hug. Eve is surprised, and almost pushes him away, but the warmth of his body makes her relax, and her eyes begin to sting. Then, his chest wrecks with helpless sobs as she cries into his shoulder. Levi closes his eyes and places his hand on the back of her head, pulling her close.

“I told them to leave, why… why would they come back?” Her voice cracks. “They shouldn’t have came back, Levi. W-We told them to leave.”

“I know.”

“We told them to stay out of the city,” Eve sobs, and her body grows weaker as they slowly descend to the ground. Levi clutches her before she leans forward and opens her stitches again. “Why didn’t they listen? Levi, why couldn’t they do the one single thing I asked them to do?” Eve’s body shakes.

“We did what we could. Eve, hey,” he pulls away to cup her face. “You did what you could. You and I couldn’t have predicted this. It’s not our fault,” he tries to reassure her, but it wouldn’t work.

Eve sobs into his chest. “They’re gone. Because of me, Levi. They wanted to make sure I was okay, and they…” her words sound incoherent from how she was crying at this point. “The only sisters I had left who loved me, and I still lost them. Levi, it… it hurts so much, I feel like I’m dying over and over,” she rambles, sputtering out cries in between while hot tears stream down her face. “L-Little kids, too. Kids who haven’t even lived a life—!”

“Eve,” Levi takes her wrists. “We couldn’t have known.”

She says nothing else. Instead, Levi feels her continue to cry in his arms. And just like that, she reverted to her three-year-old self, the version of her who was an only child.

Not receiving word from her father made things even worse. Eve is starting to wonder if he thinks that she has died too, considering the number of his daughters who perished in one day.

Eve was too lost in her grief to even care that there were titans literally inside the walls. When she returned to the castle with the rest of the scouts, she was greeted by Yayoi. Upon seeing her state, he just frowns with worry. Levi watches as Eve drops her gear and just approaches her fiancé tiredly, before he welcomes her into his chest and arms.

Levi eyes them for a moment before retreating to his own room. He removes the jacket around his shoulders and places it inside his closet. Like a reflex, Levi starts cleaning his room to de-stress. Somehow, his eyes go to the familiar white mug on his table, and it makes his blood boil. He never once used it to drink. Instead, he places little trinkets in it, the ones that Veers would give to him without even noticing. Like a crayon, a tiny chalk, even a small wooden wheel for a toy cart Levi got her for winter.

Levi’s hands shook and he harshly grabs the mug to brace himself with throwing it into a wall like a damn child on a tantrum. But he couldn’t do it. He couldn’t throw it. Instead, Levi lets out a deep breath and just views the trinkets inside. There is a tiny folded paper lodge inside the mug, and Levi opens it up, seeing the odd drawing of six stick figures. Levi would recognize himself due to the grumpy expression drawn as his face, right next to a woman with red hair. Their lines as arms were connected, like they were holding hands.

He feels a sudden sting behind his eyes. Damn it. Levi didn’t realize how attached he had become towards that damn family. After visiting them every month for the last five years, he should’ve expected himself to grow attached.

And now, they were gone.

Goddammit, Mina. The one favor I ask of you, and you couldn’t even make it fucking happen. What the fuck happened to you? I thought we had a deal.

With that, Levi decides to go to the tavern and drink beer alone.

Chapter Text

Levi doesn’t see Erwin for at least the next three days. The last time Levi saw Erwin was during the funeral for Eve’s sisters, and the two children. It was held in Stohess District, and only a few people came. For some reason, Premier Zackly was not present. But the families of Eve’s convicted sisters were there. What’s left of them, anyway. Some also perished due to the brawl between titans.

Eve’s two stepmothers were present, though—and they both sent angry glares towards Eve with their tearful eyes.

During the funeral, Eve was strangely calm and semi-expressionless—in a way where her eyes were not vacant with obvious grief, but she was too calm to be someone who had just lost eleven of her sisters all at once. At least Yayoi was there by her side, while Levi and Erwin maintained their distance.

Days after the funeral, Erwin would be too busy with talking to the higher-ups. It was strange that Erwin wouldn’t ask Levi to accompany him. He always did that whenever he leaves headquarters.

Then again, it wasn’t like Levi had the energy to accompany him anyway. All Levi did was clean until sweat matted his shirt into his body like a second fucking skin.

Levi grimaces, and he takes a shower for the second time this morning. When he gets to the dining area, he sees Eve serving Eren a plate of steaming food, all while with a small smile on her face. Levi can faintly hear her talk about the dish and Eren listens attentively while humming from time to time.

When Levi enters the room, Eren immediately stands to salute. “Heichou.”

“At ease, Eren. It’s too early in the fucking morning,” Levi tiredly says. “What’s going on?”

“Oh, uh… the doctor is showing me how to cook.”

“Right.” Levi nods, taking a seat. “Who are you going to cook for?”

Eren’s face flushes. “W-What? No one! It’s just… my mom never got to teach me some of her cooking. I was describing my favorite meal to the doctor and she offered to help me recreate it someday.”

“Isn’t that something?” Levi mutters. “What’s your favorite meal, then?”

Eren hesitates, unsure why both of his superiors are… acting as if everything was normal. Like how the only people living in this huge castle now is just the three of them. Like how Eren is partially at fault over the deaths of Eve’s sisters. Eren had no idea how to say sorry, but it was like Eve wasn’t giving him an opportunity to, since she was being so nice to him as she usually does. Eren didn’t want to question it, in fear of upsetting her.

“My mom used to make this slow-cooked steak during occasions. Mikasa really liked it.”

“Oh, so Mikasa liked it. I see.” Eve chuckles, sitting with them so she can eat as well.

He sees the flustered look on Eren’s face and Levi scoffs. Damn brats. Just do it while you’re still young. Don’t fucking be like me.

They eat together, and Eve would talk about the food with Eren, explaining to him how to make it taste a certain way. Her love for cooking was showing, and Levi rarely got to see it, even back then.

It was a quiet morning for the three of them, until a messenger from headquarters report a series of missing persons cases, one including the section commander Miche Zacharius.

Apparently, there are titans within Wall Rose now, which makes Eve question if the walls have been breached.

Later that evening, Eve is uneasy as she watches the other scouts get ready, from the window of her room. She heard that some members of the 104^th are also gone. The only thing that brings her comfort about this is the fact that Nanaba is with them. From what Eve can recall, Nanaba was one of the most formidable cadets during Eve’s time as section commander.

She sighs. It was difficult to be losing her mind worrying about those teenagers. Obviously, they can handle themselves. Still, Eve can’t help it.

There is a knock on her open door, and she turns to see Levi wearing his suit again, with the jacket draped around his shoulders. They were both still off-field, after sustaining their injuries, which is why they weren’t wearing their uniforms. Despite that, they’re still going to work.

“We’re about to leave. What’s taking so long?”

“Sorry. I’m… worried.” Eve exhales, but musters a small smile towards Levi. She walks to her desk and places a slip of paper on the surface before facing Levi. “About the kids.”

“They’re not kids. Not right now.” He frowns. “You don’t have to come with us.”

“No.” Eve clears her throat before grabbing her jacket. “I’m just being dramatic.”

“You’re not.”

“Levi…”

“Hey.” His tone becomes determined, giving her a firm gaze. “I need you to pull yourself together. If you don’t, I’ll be forced to tell you to stay behind.”

“That’s not necessary, captain,” she quietly says, keeping her eyes on the ground.

Levi softens. “I’m not saying that as your captain, Eve. I’m saying that as your friend. If you think you can’t handle the mission ahead, I’m going to need you to stay behind. I don’t want…” he pauses. “I can’t risk you being harmed in any way if you are in no condition to watch over yourself.”

Eve gives him a deepened gaze, and she lets out a breath. “Those kids mean something to me, captain. They’re genuinely all I have left. I’ll be damned if I’m not there to make sure they’re okay.”

She gives him a final look before slipping past him. All she has left? But she’s getting married soon. Levi frowns, the hell is she talking about?

Levi blinks a few times before looking towards the Eve’s desk. There was a single slip of paper on it. Levi was curious, so he glances back towards where the others were, before he makes his way to her desk. Levi picks up the thick piece of paper, frowning as he reads the neat cursive-written words.

Don’t worry about them. I think it suits you.

Levi’s brows knot in confusion. He flips the paper over, and he softens. Levi’s lips part once his eyes settle on the other side of the little paper.

It was a sketch, styled in a way that Levi somehow finds familiar. Only because Levi asked the same artist to draw something for him. This sketch though, was of a young woman with short dark brown hair. Paired with green eyes that Levi was very familiar of. Although, this is the first time Levi has seen her this way.

Her green eyes are barely seen due to her cheeks being pulled upwards by a wide open-mouthed smile. It was like she was in the middle of laughter. Her face is youthful, and remains a young age inside the four sides of the paper. It seems that she is standing next to a tree, one that resembles the one from the Zackly mansion’s courtyard. Her height was emphasized in the portrait despite not showing the full body, since her head reaches a tall part of the tree behind her.

At one corner of the portrait, there is a dark smudge of brown, one that is unmistakably dried blood.

He feels his spine fill with chill, and Levi’s eyes falter before he flips the paper again, eyes scanning the words once again while he connects the dots in his head. The handwriting was now familiar to Levi’s eyes. For some reason, his sharp memory forces him to recall ten years ago, when he stepped into the balcony of the Zackly family household, and meets a woman staring at a portrait.

Levi swallows, and he lowers the portrait back on the desk before leaving the room.

Eve sits next to Mikasa in the carriage, and her eyes were vacant, despite the fact that she has been listening attentively to the conversation between Armin, Hange and Levi. Even when Eren loses it and starts yelling at the priest in front of them, Eve makes no move of interference other than grabbing Eren and sitting him back down without another word.

Levi pulls a gun towards the priest, but Hange tells them that threats don’t work. For some reason, Eve is becoming irritated by the whole conversation, but she keeps quiet.

“Since when are you a geologist? Or are rocks just that fascinating? You look like you’re about to drool.” Levi’s bored tone pulls Eve back out of her mind.

“Oh, this? This isn’t a rock. It’s a hardened piece of skin left behind by the female titan.”

At the mention of the female titan, the pit of Eve’s stomach fills with a horrid feeling, and her mouth suddenly felt disgusting and tangy.

Hange starts talking about how the fragment broke off, and when the female titan’s real name is mentioned, Eve briefly closes her eyes. She almost blocks out the entire conversation, and comes to when she hears Hange speak directly to her.

“So, thoughts? Eve?” Hange asks with a reluctant voice.

Eve blinks, lifting her gaze towards them and seeing how everyone is now looking towards her. It was obvious that they were trying to see if Eve had been paying attention, given how quiet and distant she is.

Eve takes a moment of silence before she answers. “I agree with acting at night when titans are immobile, but that completely goes against the point of doing expeditions in daylight to avoid any complications with the horse and the direction we’re heading. Especially within Wall Rose and Maria where there are narrow streets, meaning more titans and lesser room. No light to properly used ODM gear either. The titans may be immobile, but that doesn’t mean they’re completely unable to attack if we get too close. I still think it should be during daylight.” Eve tells them at lightning speed, and Hange raises their brows. “As for Eren’s ability to harden his skin, I don’t think we can train him to do something that we have no knowledge about. It will be based on Eren’s instinct, as far as I can tell. Only Eren can know if he’ll be able to harden his skin. If he’ll be able to harden his skin, he can do so much more than seal holes. In fact, with that sort of ability, Eren himself can build more walls—”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa,” Hange waves, chuckling laced with nervousness. “We’re getting too ahead of ourselves, Eve… wow, I… I’ve got to admit. I didn’t think you were paying attention.”

“You asked for my thoughts, there you have it. Livelihood.” Eve softly says, shrugging. “That sort of ability can change lives.”

Levi looks at Eren, and sees the pressure clamoring down his body because of Eve’s blunt yet very true words.

“…You think you can do it, Eren?” Hange asks. “Patch up the holes?”

“Doesn’t matter what he thinks. He will do it. Failure isn’t an option.” Levi gives Eren a look. “You signed up to be a soldier because you want to serve the people. This is it, Eren.”

Eren straightens up. “I won’t fail you, sir! I will seal those holes!”

“That’s the spirit, Eren!” Hange pats his back before glancing at Eve, whose eyes are distant once again.

They reach the district, and the scouts get moving. Everyone in the city was evacuating, all because titans were coming towards their direction.

Levi returns to their lodgings, where he was right behind the priest after showing him reality. When he looks around, Eve was nowhere to be found. Sasha delivers a letter addressed to Hange from the commander, just as the priest reveals the person who may know something about the titans and the royal family.

However big the revelation must have been, Levi can’t function properly while knowing that Eve wasn’t present. He looks for her, discreetly slipping away from the group so he can look around. Eventually, he finds her at the balcony of the building, watching the crowd of people walk to evacuate.

“Eve.”

She turns, seeing Levi approach. Eve immediately composes herself. “Sir.”

“What are you doing here? The priest just gave us some information. It’s not much, but it’s a start.” Levi tells her. “It involves Christa Lenz, from the 104th. And, uh… Braun and Hoover.”

That catches her attention, but worry fills her face. “What about them?”

“Seems like she’s somehow involved in this whole titan and royal family business. And as for the boys… well, I’ll tell you on the way.” Levi stands a few feet away from her. “Come on. Eren might look for you.”

Eve softens, but she sighs. “Captain, I’ve been thinking.”

“About what?”

“My function here in the scouts.” Eve lowers her gaze to the ground. “It appears that I have lost my usefulness already. I don’t think I’ll be of much help in the upcoming missions the regiment will take.”

“…the hell are you saying?”

“I… feel like I should—”

“Actually, I’m going to stop you right there.” Levi frowns, holding up a hand. “You’re not useless to us, Eve. In a way, you keep Eren going. He still needs you around. Eren won’t be so compliant or comfortable around me or the other scouts if you aren’t there to provide reassurance and sense of safety. I know I treat him like a soldier a lot, but he’s still just a kid. And he still gets frightened by his abilities sometimes. He needs you there to help guide him into this. So don’t even try thinking about quitting on me.”

Eve is taken aback by his response. “But, captain… I haven’t been helpful at any other aspects other than with Eren.”

“The reason why we’re on our way to claim Wall Maria is because of Eren. And he won’t be where he is now if it weren’t for you.” Levi gives her a firm look. “The scouts owe you for whatever state Eren is in now. Hell, even the entire 104^th is more comfortable when you’re around. You take care of them like they’re you’re own. Don’t say you’re useless because half of the new recruits wouldn’t be so hopeful if you never inspired them to do better. They know who you are, Eve. Doesn’t matter if you think your prime was ten years ago, you’re still the Eve that scouts look up to. And I’m not saying any of this just to cheer you up, because you’ve done it for me. I look up to you.” Levi tells her, and she stares at him with gentle eyes. “Fucking hell, you have no idea how much I looked up to you back then. Even now.”

Eve cracks a small smile. “You look up to me, huh?”

He glares at her. “I said so much other shit, and that’s what you got?”

She chuckles, glancing at him with lighter eyes. “Thank you. That made me feel a lot better.”

“Tch. It wasn’t meant to be a compliment. I’m just telling the truth.” Levi relaxes upon seeing that the tension on her shoulders have vanished.

“Erwin has lost his mind.” Eve huffs as she rides her horse from on top of the wall. “Is he being serious?”

“When has he ever made a proper joke? You sure you can handle this?”

“If you ask me that again—”

“Fine! Fucking hell, sorry for being fucking concerned.” Levi huffs. Eve holds back an amused smile. “I’ll meet you at Erwin’s, yeah?”

“Sir!” Eve nods, before she glances at him. “Be careful.”

Levi looks at her as an acknowledgement before they part directions. Levi rides down the wall to make his way to headquarters, while Eve manages to find Christa and the others, but not without finding out that Ymir is actually a titan shifter, the same as Eren. Christa reveals her true name to be Historia Reiss, and Eve was surprised to hear that.

“Reiss as in… the noble family?” Eve asks as she stands next to Hange. “Didn’t their family suffer tragic homicides five years ago?”

“That’s what they say,” Hange tells her. “You familiar with the Reiss family?”

“I guess… Frieda Reiss was a childhood friend, but we grew apart as teenagers,” she shrugs. “When I heard that she got murdered in that chapel along with the rest of her family, I attended the funeral years ago. Her father was there.”

Hange nods. “That would be Christa’s father, too. Her mother was a maid in the Reiss family home, and he had an affair. We’ll learn more about that once we get back.”

Eve sighs, watching as Hange walks away. She eyes the way Christa remains by Ymir’s side on the stretcher, both girls looking worn out. She catches sight of Eren helping Reiner climb up the wall, and Eve follows with a small smile on her face. “Reiner, good to see that you’re alive. You, too, Bertholdt.”

“Hey, doc,” Reiner chuckles as he climbs over before sitting on the ground with Bertholdt. “What did we miss?”

Sasha and Connie approach Eve, greeting her with wide grins before Eve embraces them. They both look tired, but it took one warm hug from Eve for them to feel more energized. “Where’s the captain?” Connie asks.

“He’s going to your commander to inform him personally of what happened.” Eve tells them as they all sit together for a moment. Eve looks at Reiner and the cast of his arm. “Let me take a look at that.”

“Huh? Oh,” Reiner hesitantly offers his arm and Eve examines the bite mark. It looks harsh and his bones must’ve suffered.

Eve hums. “I’m going to have to meet you at the infirmary back in headquarters. This arm needs some correction,” she tuts. “You got bitten and survived? I’m impressed, Reiner,” she smirks.

Reiner just lightly chuckles, but Connie lights up. “He got it because he saved my life, doc! Reiner here loooooves me.” Connie teasingly coos while slinging his arm around Reiner’s shoulders.

Eve just laughs. “Alright, alright, he loves you. Give him some space, Connie,” she smiles, and Connie sheepishly complies. “Alright, this is nothing I can’t fix. You’ll be back on your ODM gear in no time.”

Reiner stares at her, and a grateful smile appears on his face. “Thank you, doctor. You’re really the mother of the scouts, huh?”

Eve snorts, rolling her eyes before patting his back, but she gives Armin a brief look before glancing back at the others. “Alright, you guys. We’re going back to headquarters. The able-bodied ones, assist someone who can’t walk. Get to HQ.”

After saluting Eve, the rest of the scouts start leaving, until Hange’s squad and a few of the 104th remain.

Eve looks at Eren. “Come on, kid. You are rendezvousing with the captain, then come look for me. Reiner, we’re heading straight to the infirmary, you and I.”

Reiner stands. “Actually, we need to talk to Eren for a second, is that okay, doctor?”

Eve nods. “Make it quick. I still need to check on Ymir,” she tells them before turning around to walk with Armin and Mikasa towards Hange.

She can feel her stomach filling with dread, and she fights the urge to remain at Eren’s side. Take the bait. Take the bait. Do it.

After a while, Eve feels a sudden course of energy thrum through her body, and she rips her hood off before using her ODM gear to maneuver herself towards the two men. Mikasa copies her, and they move at the same speed, with Eve aiming for Reiner and Mikasa aiming for Bertholdt. Although, for some reason, Eve’s hands faltered. Her hesitation was clear, even when she made a clean slice of Reiner’s arm.

It was too late. Reiner and Bertholdt both transform, and the steam was scorching enough to blow them all away. Eve pierces her gear on the wall, and she grunts before holding her thigh as she remains slightly standing against the wall.

Mikasa looks at her with worry. “Doctor?”

“I’m fine, I just…” Eve wavers, wondering why these people close to her would choose to lie. “Eren!” She yells when she sees Eren be clutched inside the Armored titan’s fist.

Eventually, Eren transforms, and the rage building inside him has converted into an ear-piercing growl and scream. Mikasa almost goes after him if it weren’t for Eve telling her to stay put. Eve looks above them, and sees Bertholdt’s Colossal titan situated on top of the wall. Eve feels her heart sink as she imagines if any of the people she was with above the wall were injured from the explosion alone.

Eren was taken. Along with Ymir.

As Eve sits on the surface of the wall, defeated, she couldn’t help a tear escape her eyes. She was worn out, exhausted with trying to fight back. She sits next to Hange’s unconscious body.

From a distance, she can see Mikasa jolting awake. It makes Eve falter and immediately limp towards Mikasa and Armin. Mikasa was already thinking about going after Eren, so Eve grabs her arm.

“Hey. We’re not going anywhere without a plan. Sit down, and eat.” Eve shoves her own ration into Mikasa’s hand.

“But Eren is—”

“I know. But we can’t do anything right now.” Eve says with an exhausted tone. “He’ll be okay.”

Mikasa looks like she was about to break. Being apart from Eren was something she couldn’t take, but she nods at Eve and sits down with Armin. When Eve sees another soldier approach them, she offers a smile. This must be the man who saved Mikasa and Eren, so Eve decides to give them space.

She returns to Hange’s side, just holding their hand for any sign of consciousness. Most of Hange’s skin was burnt red, and Eve had to frantically do everything she can to avoid permanent damage.

They’ve been bested, yet again.

On the other hand, Levi watches as Erwin returns with Commander Pyxis. Just on time, the advance squad arrive from Section Commander Hange’s side of the wall. Levi felt his chest cave in when he recognizes Sasha, one of the brats that Eve has taken a liking to.

Three titans, from the recruits of the 104th cadet corps.

“The scouts faced them! The Armored titan and the Colossal! But by the time our unit arrived on the scene, it was too late…”

Levi falters, and he glances at Erwin, who also looks his way. Erwin returns his gaze to the messenger. “And what happened to Eren Jaeger, and the third titan?”

“They were taken, sir. By the Armored and Colossal.”

Great. More reasons for Eve to lose her mind about. Fuck, Levi can only imagine what she’s feeling right now.

“The superior officers. What is their status?” Erwin asks.

“Section Commander Hange and her entire squad were unconscious when we left for our journey, sir. Along with the other recruits of the 104th cadet corps. The only superior officer awake when we left was Dr. Zackly, Sir. She was tending to the injured soldiers when we left five hours ago.”

That brings a spread of relief to Levi’s chest, and he somewhat relaxes.

All of them gear up on their horse and ride on top of the wall. Even from a distance, Levi can see the few soldiers, and can make out the figure of Eve, just watching as the crowds of scouts and MPs make their way towards them.

The soldiers stop in front of the injured ones, and Eve watches as Erwin climbs off his horse. Erwin looks at her, and she realizes that this was the first time he faced her ever since Mina’s death.

Eve looks him in his blue eyes, and somehow, they look duller compared to how he usually looked. There were circles underneath his eyes and his expression was slightly blank, apart from the inch of warmth upon seeing Eve alive and safe.

Eve’s chest filled with a cold feeling, but she pushes it down. “I assume that you’re taking horses over the wall?”

“You assume correct, executive officer. That is precisely my plan.” Erwin nods.

Before Eve could respond, Moblit arrives to inform Erwin of the situation. Eve steps back to let the commander do his work, but a hand grabs Moblit’s ankle. They all look down and see Hange crawling, demanding to be given a map. They all listen to Hange’s thoughts and come up with a plan, with Erwin leading the scouts. Then, they start preparing.

“You look like shit.”

Eve turns around, seeing Levi still wearing his suit. She sighs, giving him a look. “What are you doing up here? It’s difficult to get back down, you know. Your ankle is still healing.”

“I came to see you.”

She softens, but gestures to herself. “Well, now you have.”

“…You’ll get Eren back, Eve.”

“I know.”

“So you should sit this one out.” Levi frowns. “Let the scouts do the work. You don’t have to be in the field right now, not in your state.”

Eve narrows her eyes. “I know that you’re looking out for me, captain, but as long as Eren is in danger out there, you’ll never be able to keep me here.”

Levi exhales. “Well, I tried.”

Eve’s hand goes to the injury of her thigh. “Besides. I can ride and maneuver just fine. It’s the walking that hurts like a bitch,” she musters a small smile.

Levi huffs, but it sounds like a beginning of a chuckle. “Yeah, can’t argue with that one. It’s the same for me. But I don’t like working while I’m not in my best physical form.”

Eve nods. “That’s understandable.”

He takes a step forward when one of the scouts yell that they’re ready to march forth. “Don’t die. That’s an order.”

Eve looks a bit amused. “Sure, captain. I’ll see you later.”

Levi nods, watching Eve leave with the other scouts. He glances at Hange, who was lying on their back after losing an argument with Moblit about riding on horseback to Ragako. Moblit offers to go by himself, and just left.

“Oi. Quit moving.” Levi scolds. “He was right, you know. You’re in no condition.”

Hange lets out a weak chuckle. “Seems like we keep hitting bumps on the road. Aye, Levi?”

“Tch.”

“…I know you want to go with Erwin and the rest,” Hange quietly says. “So don’t scold me for wanting to do the same while in this form.”

“I’m not saying that you’re wrong for wanting to be useful. Yeah, I’ll admit that I’d rather be out there with the scouts than here among the injured, but I’m not about to burden them by trying to save me if I fuck up because of my injury. We’re doing them a favor by staying behind.” Levi slowly sits down next to Hange. “So let them do the work. Trust your comrades. They’re doing the same for you right now.”

Hange sighs, rubbing the side of their face but wincing upon the burn. “Shit. I feel like I’d be a hundred times worse if Eve wasn’t here,” they let out a weak chuckle. “She did more for the scouts here than I did today. And I’m not the one who just lost eleven sisters in a day.”

“Don’t compare yourself to Eve, you’re both different leaders. Neither of you is less than or greater than the other.” Levi frowns. “So, shut up and rest. I’ll be here.”

Hange reaches out for Levi’s hand, squeezing it with their own. “Thanks, Levi. You really are one of the greatest friends I have.”

“Yeah, yeah. Shut your face. Go to sleep. Idiot.” Levi grumbles, watching Hange close their eyes and doze off. As they sleeps, Levi takes his jacket off and lays it on top of Hange.

Eve listened to Erwin as he relayed the plan to the rest of the scouts. Just a little earlier, Eve embraced Mikasa and Armin to tell them that everything will be fine, and that they will get Eren back. Then, they ride.

“Be on the lookout! All riders, assume formation!” Erwin’s commanding voice booms through the open space, and the scouts follow.

As they all ride, Eve finds herself being among Mikasa and Armin. She can see Erwin and the others from the far distance. They were nearing the forest, and Eve assumes that Reiner and the others can already hear them approaching.

Then, she sees red smoke signals surrounding them, telling the scouts that there are titans around the area. Eve knows that Erwin will persevere and push for the forest anyway, which is why she yells for the scouts to prepare their gears so they can move.

They hear a familiar noise of a titan transforming, and Erwin commands the scouts to scatter. Eve switches to ODM gear and zooms through the trees with the other scouts. They hear a titan roaring, and Eve spots an unfamiliar titan from a distance.

One of the scouts prepares to kill, but Connie yells for them to wait. It was Ymir’s titan form.

Eve lands on Ymir’s shoulder. “Ymir, why are you alone? Where are the others?”

She doesn’t receive a response, and Ymir just looks around among the scouts, as if looking for someone. Then, Christa greets her happily from afar, and Eve almost loses her balance when Ymir suddenly bolts from the tree to swallow Christa.

Eve’s heart drops. “Christa!” She yells, and before she could follow them, another crackling of thunder appears ahead; and the Armored titan shows itself once again.

Ymir clings to their shoulder and Eve yells for the scouts to get on their horses to follow them and not let them get away.

Eve goes full-speed, vigorous with her movements despite the pain on her thigh. She is not going to lose two kids today, not on her watch.

As they chase after the Armored titan, Eve listens to Mikasa swear that she won’t hesitate on killing them this time, not even when Ymir gets in her way. Eve is inclined to agree with her. As much as Eve cares for Ymir, Eve can’t lose Eren or Christa.

“Mikasa!” Eve shouts as a signal, and Mikasa immediately pierces her wire towards Ymir, and pulls herself to the air. Eve watches as Mikasa swiftly slices her blades through Ymir’s eye and Eve deploys her own gear to get to Eren, but she hits Reiner’s hands when he decides to cover Bertholdt and Eren with it.

Mikasa goes for the kill, but Christa blocks her way from Ymir. The members of the 104th cadet corps are now in deep feelings of betrayal from Bertholdt and Reiner, and Eve listens to them say they couldn’t believe they were able to sleep next to their victims during the attack on Shiganshina district five years ago. Eve’s own heart fills with chill.

Eve looks to where Hannes was yelling at them to get back down, and she turns around to see that Erwin was leading a horde of titans towards them. Eve gasps, eyes wide with shock before she pulls herself together. “Everyone! Get back to your horses, now!” She yells, but sees them hesitate. Eve flashes them a furious expression. “Do it!”

Without another word, they return to their horses while Eve remains on Reiner’s shoulders. She looks at Erwin’s horde from a distance before glancing to where Bertholdt and Eren were hidden beneath Reiner’s hands.

Eve takes a moment to just stare at Bertholdt through the small slit between Reiner’s enormous titan fingers.

Bertholdt stares back, wondering what the war chief wants from her in the first place. A question for another time.

“I’m sorry for your loss, doctor,” Bertholdt says, and Eve falters for a moment, and stays silent.

“…Bertholdt, Reiner. I hope the two of you know that I once considered you both as my own,” she places a hand on Reiner’s knuckle, almost affectionate and laced with sadness. “But the next time I see you, I won’t hesitate in driving a blade through your necks.”

From within Reiner’s protective hands, Eren feels Bertholdt shudder in fear beside him. Eve turns to look at Christa for a moment, who is still holding onto Ymir.

“Eren. Christa. We’ll come get you. I promise.” Eve says before deploying her gear to return to her own horse.

Eve watches as Erwin’s horde clashes with the Armored titan, and the scouts disperse to retreat together. Once they’ve retreated far enough, Eve glances at Erwin, who is still determined on retrieving Eren.

“All soldiers, charge!” Erwin shouts, lifting his sword to the air. “There is no future where humanity can inhabit these lands without Eren. We recover Eren and retreat immediately!” Erwin tugs on his horse to prepare the charge. “Your hearts and souls to the cause!”

The scouts follow behind their gifted leader, charging towards the Armored titan with incredible speed.

Eve’s heart is thumping, and it was like it relocated into her ears from the way it was pounding. Somehow, a wicked smile appears on her face. This was the first time she ever felt truly free in a long while. This single mission gave her the sense of what she has missed all these years.

The thrill and excitement of always being at the verge of death, all for the same cause that Eve has strived to dedicate her entire life towards, years ago. The true meaning of being a scout. It was as if all of Eve’s burdens were taken away from a single moment, once she realized that this is what she has always lived for. This is what her life should still have been. The life of a scout who has dedicated their mind, body and soul into the cause.

Although, that happiness was short lived.

Eve’s mind goes blank once she catches sight of Erwin’s arm being plucked from his horse by the jaws of a titan. The scouts cry out desperately for their commander while Eve watching in pure disbelief.

Eve was even more astonished when Erwin still continued to shout commands, even while a titan chews on his arm.

“I said advance, goddammit!” Erwin yells at his horrified scouts. “Eren is right in front of you! Do not falter!”

The scouts managed to pull themselves together and follow their commander’s orders, continuing their charge towards the Armored.

Eve hesitates, and eventually grunts in anger before pulling her horse back in order to turn around. She frantically rides towards Erwin, and due to the speed of her horse, she went stumbling once she got off to run towards Erwin.

“Erwin!” she kneels next to him, and his arm was bleeding at a rapid rate. Eve’s hands shook, not expecting to see Erwin in any way injured, much less amputated. “Oh, fuck. Oh, fuck.”

“Eve…”

“Shut up,” Eve takes her hood off and wraps it around his arm, and she frantically looks around to see a few scouts making their way towards them. “Keep titans away from here as long as you can while I patch up your commander!”

The scouts nod and immediately try to fend off the titans nearby.

“Eve…” Erwin slurs out. “Stop. Go save Eren…”

“The kids are on that now. You need me more.” Eve’s voice is shaky as she pushes the cloth of her cape into Erwin’s stump, doing her best to stop the bleeding. It’s no use, so Eve takes off the belt buckle of her gear, but Erwin weakly stops her.

“Don’t. You need that… to maneuver.”

“I need to stop the bleeding, Erwin.” Eve tells him, trying to calm down as Erwin’s blood gets everywhere on her clothes.

“I’ll be fine, I can still move.” Erwin assures her, but his voice is still slurred and his face is distant.

“Erwin, stop being a fucking idiot and stay still for once!” Eve pushes him back on the grass, looking back to where the scouts were fighting. She is not losing him, too.

Erwin pushes her, not enough to hurt, but enough for her to back off in shock. “I’m fine.” He firmly states, and miraculously pulls himself back on a horse before leaving Eve there.

Eve’s wide eyes just follows after Erwin for a few seconds before she gets on her own horse to ride towards the scouts. By the time she gets there, Erwin was cutting through Bertholdt, and sets Eren free. Eve gasps, and immediately launches herself into the air go try catching Eren, returning him back on her horse.

Erwin yells for them to retreat, and the scouts finally head home.

“Eren!” Eve pulls him to sit behind her, and yanks the gag around his mouth. “Are you okay?”

“D-Doctor…” Eren looks like he is still in shock.

Eve barely got to speak when a sudden force shakes the ground, and the air fills with dust. Something knocks Eve and Eren off their horse, and Mikasa was right behind them. Eve coughs as she tried to get up, only to see Mikasa and Eren hurt as they sit up.

She immediately goes to them. “Is everyone okay? Come on, we need to go!”

Although, Eren and Mikasa couldn’t move. Not because of injuries, but they were too transfixed by a certain titan in front of them.

Something incredibly odd happened. Somehow, all the titans began devouring the one that Eren and Mikasa were so focused on. And as Eve overhears Hannes say, the titan who devoured Eren’s mother. The titan who killed Carla.

Eve watches in horror as titan upon titan began swarming the one who killed Eren’s mother, as if to kill it with the purpose of inflicting pain. Eve pulls herself together before shouting for Eren to carry Mikasa and flee.

Eve runs from next to them, and Armin arrives with an injured Jean, and an extra horse.

“Go, and take Mikasa, Eren.” Eve calmly tells him, helping Mikasa on the horse.

“But what about—”

“Eve!” They turn to see Commander Smith on his own horse, and Eve immediately gets on. “All soldiers, full retreat!”

Days later, at the top of Wall Maria, a figure stands over the shoulder of a fur-covered titan sitting on the seemingly cemented slab of the wall. He fixes the glasses resting on the bridge of his nose, and his torso is bare as he looks ahead, sensing something amiss in the air.

Reiner and Bertholdt struggle to climb the wall in their exhausted form. That, and Bertholdt had to carry a sleeping Ymir over his shoulder. Once the man on top of the steaming titan’s shoulder catches sight of the three, he skillfully leaps off the titan to make his way towards them. Ymir is placed on the ground to continue resting while Reiner and Bertholdt catch their breaths.

The man with the glasses raises his brows. “You’re back earlier than expected,” he glances at the sleeping woman, and frowns. “I didn’t tell you two to bring me another person.”

“S-Sir, this one’s different. She’s the one who ate Marcel.” Bertholdt explains.

The man hums, his face filling with pensiveness. “I see. Then go find Pieck.”

Reiner nods, and makes his way to Ymir to take her, but the man stops him.

“No, let her rest for a while. We have something more important to discuss,” he cocks his head towards a different direction, before Reiner and Bertholdt follow behind him. They make their way towards a young woman, her expensive clothes are covered in dirt and her hair is messy, the lace barely holding the hair strands together.

She was on her knees, her wrists are tied behind her back and her head hangs low. The breeze making the loose strands of her hair sway. As the three titan shifters stand before her, and they can see how exhausted she is from struggling against them.

The man squats in front of her to be in level with her eyes. “So, you ready to talk yet?”

She lifts her head, and despite her exhausted body, her eyes are filled with anger and hatred in her green eyes. A piece of cloth is stretch between her upper and lower teeth, gagging her. When the man reaches over to remove the gag, she recoils in the process. Her mouth is free, but she does not speak.

Except now.

“You’d be more in luck if you kill me instead.”

“I saved your life.”

“Which was in danger because of you,” her tone is laced with indifference. “But you do not scare me.”

The man sighs. “Very well.”

He pulls on her gag once again, and she does not fight back. Reiner goes to follow behind the man with the glasses, while Bertholdt hesitantly looks at the young woman. She notices that he was still there, and she meets his eyes.

He feels his body freeze from the icy gaze she had. “I… I’m sorry. For your loss.”

From those words, her eyes slightly softened, but she lowers her head again and stares at the ground as she did before. Bertholdt returns to the other titan shifters, and tries his best not to feel any shitter than he already does. Ah… what an eventful day.

Chapter Text

By the time the scouts returned to Trost, Levi was already waiting by the gate, as if he knew when they would get back. Levi first sees Erwin, and the state he was in. Pale, and missing one crucial limb. Levi doesn’t question it yet, and assists on taking Erwin to the infirmary.

Despite her exhaustion, Eve still did the check-up on Erwin. She even helped stabilize his arm and stopped the bleeding entirely. Erwin was asleep the entire duration of the operation.

By the time Eve was done with the emergency surgery, she passes out on the spot.

Levi instinctively catches her limp body, and he feels how cold her skin is. Her lips are purple and her face is pale. The woman had been through so much in the span of a day, and it prompts Levi to carry her to another room in the infirmary, not even minding the fact that he was still limping.

She lays on the bed for the next half hour until she wakes up. Always on time. It always took her thirty minutes after passing out. Levi was already sitting next to her, so his face was the first thing she sees.

Levi softens. “Welcome back.”

“Captain…” she whispers. “Is… is Erwin awake?”

“Still out cold. But they’re saying his arm will be fine. Thanks to you.”

“I’m glad.” Eve quietly says. “How’s your ankle?”

“Tch. You were thrashed around after a titan was thrown literally right in front of you, and you’re worried about my fucking ankle?” Levi shakes his head. “You’re unbelievable.”

Eve musters a lopsided smile, her eyes still a bit closed. She tried sitting up, and Levi helps her as she thanks him quietly. He offers her some water and she drinks it without realizing how thirsty she is. Levi offers her a plate of cut fruits, and she eats wordlessly.

Levi watches over her the entire time, and the silence is comfortable. He was about to say something, when there was a knock on the door before it opens. Someone pokes their head inside, and Levi recognizes him to be Yayoi Tietjens.

Eve sighs, smiling a bit as Yayoi enters the room, carrying a fruit basket. “Hey, beautiful. I got you some food, and a drink. Only grape juice, though.”

Eve chuckles. “Bring it over here,” she turns to Levi. “You ever had grape juice? You’ve got to try this, captain.”

Levi stands up. “No thanks. I’m going to check on Erwin anyway.”

“…But you can stay—”

“I’m checking on Erwin. I’ll be back to check on you, though. Bye.”

Levi practically runs out of the room, and he sighs in relief once he left. He makes his way to Erwin’s frowning a bit as he imagines ways he can strangle that winer in his sleep. That damned man.

It takes a few days until Erwin can finally regain consciousness and retain it, without going to sleep after a few minutes. Levi sits nearby his bed as they speak to Commander Pyxis. Eve and Hange enter the room, along with a cadet that Levi was familiar with. Then, the three of them explain what they’ve theorized.

As Levi listens, the weight on his chest grows, and his eyes slowly widen. “So, you’re telling me I’ve spent all this time and energy… running around killing people?” His voice held a certain depth that makes him think about every single titan he has ever slain.

“We don’t have proof yet,” Eve tells them. “But based on what we’ve seen so far, and the tests we’ve ran back in the past… this theory shouldn’t be ignored. There’s a way for humans to turn into titans. We still don’t know how or why… but it’s a start.”

They all fall silent, and the others leave. Only Levi and Eve remain with Erwin in his room. As Eve watches Connie leave from the window, she couldn’t help but feel saddened by his own loss as well. As if she hasn’t had enough of loss recently. Eve just felt bad because Connie is still just a child.

When Levi and Eve turn to look at Erwin, he had a fascinated smile on his face. Levi looks in disbelief, while Eve only… falters. Levi questions the smile, and Erwin recomposes himself, talking about how they were an inch closer to the truth.

It occurs to Levi that Erwin is elated because of his dream. And Levi suddenly understood why Eve barely reacted to his smile. She knew about Erwin’s dream of learning more about life beyond the walls. She has known even before Levi met the two of them. And this dream is what places a great wall between Erwin and Eve, not letting them be romantically involved back then.

When Erwin finally calms down, Eve sits on the edge of his bed.

Erwin looks at Eve. “Levi, will you give us a minute?”

Levi glances between the two of them before wordlessly exiting the room. Once the door closes, Eve sheds the mask of an executive officer. Now, she was just Eve. Erwin’s dearest friend.

“You’re a bloody idiot.”

Erwin sighs. “So I’ve been told.”

Eve grits her teeth. “You know you can’t keep going on dangerous missions with just one arm, right? You won’t even be able to maneuver right,” she scoffs. “And the next mission is Wall Maria, isn’t it?”

“I don’t know yet.” Erwin ignores what she said in the beginning. “We still have Historia Reiss’ connection to the secrets of the walls.”

“You know that’s a stretch, right? We don’t even know if that priest was telling the whole truth.” Eve quietly says. “And you shouldn’t even be thinking about missions yet while you’re recovering.”

“Hm. I’m the commander of the scouts. Injured or not, the scouts come first. Humanity comes first.”

“Spoken like a true commander,” Eve offers a small smile.

Erwin tries to return the smile, but he couldn’t even force one—despite his own disturbing smile from earlier.

Eve stares at him for a moment. “I wanted to give you something.”

She reaches into the pocket of her jacket for a piece of thick paper. She slowly holds it up for Erwin to see, and he softens. Waves of emotions flash across his face all out once, and he looks at Eve with deep blue eyes. “How did you…”

“It found near the carriage, where Narcissa and her kids were…” Eve softly says, viewing the drawing on it. “In all the years I’ve known you, I didn’t know you could draw this well,” she places the paper into his hand.

Erwin lifts it to his eye-level, and he softens. “It was a secret hobby. I don’t think it would inspire scouts across the country when they find that their commander likes coloring.”

Eve chuckles. “This isn’t just coloring. You’re very talented, Erwin,” she looks back at the paper. “I’m guessing that you’re the artist behind Levi’s portrait of me. No wonder I looked really good in that one,” she slightly teases, and Erwin softly huffs an amused sound.

Erwin just stares at the paper, even seeing the speck of dried blood in the corner, making it look like a dark brown smudge. It wrenches his own stomach.

“I didn’t know she carried this with her,” he softly says.

“It must’ve been important to her,” Eve says. “When was this?”

Erwin looks like he is reminiscing upon a memory, and a wistful smile appears on his face. “You know what? I won’t be telling you that.”

Eve smiles. “You can keep your secrets.”

Silence fills the air, and Erwin’s face molds from contentment into regret.

“I realized it too late, Eve.” Erwin’s voice is heavy, as if it pained him to speak. “She was right there. And I was a coward.”

“Oh, Erwin…” Eve sighs, reaching for Erwin’s lone hand to hold.

“She had no idea,” he shakes his head. “No idea how much I loved her so.”

“I’m sure she knows, Erwin,” Eve squeezes his hand gently.

Erwin shakes his head. “No. What I’ve shown to her was never enough…” he sighs. “I always thought that I would be the first to die between Mina and I. I never envisioned… ah, perhaps that is why I never committed,” Erwin’s tone is of disappointment, and full of regret. “Oh, Eve. You have no idea how much I love you so, but the love I feel for Mina… it is different. It is something that I know would transcend all the love I have ever felt in my life, if only I wasn’t so much of a coward. I almost had everything,” Erwin briefly closes his eyes.

Eve doesn’t say anything, but the look on her face was enough to tell Erwin that Eve was trying her best to hold herself together.

“There is nothing I hate more than having unanswered questions. What would me and Mina could have been like? What ill fate has she met, for us not to have discovered a body to bury?” He sighs a long breath. He dislikes thinking how Mina’s body may have been torn beyond recognition. “Now, I shall never know. And it plagues me.”

Hearing the deep sadness and disappointment in Erwin’s voice was something Eve was not used to. Erwin has always been so sure of himself, enough to command an entire military unit. Now, however, Erwin was just like anyone. Mourning a lost love. It wrenches Eve’s soul.

He stares at Mina’s portrait, sighing as he remembers the day he sketched it. “Although, I know that I would have been bad for her. I already was, wasn’t I? Eventually, I’d have set her aside in pursuit of my goal. The very same thing I have done to you.”

“Erwin…”

“No need to comfort me, Eve. She was your sister. By all counts, she and I were nothing and that is my own fault. My missing limb is nothing compared to the loss of Mina.” Erwin softly says. “Missed opportunities never cease to amaze me on how much they could break someone,” he cracks a wistful smile. “I don’t think I’ll ever be the same again, and it is all because of a love that never saw the light of day.”

“I wish she and Narcissa didn’t come back for me,” she quietly says.

“I don’t blame them. They were scared for you.” Erwin tells her. “Any sister would come back after hearing the explosion. Even you. I think that is what we failed to consider.”

Eve takes his hand and holds it as he clutches the portrait. “You can have this back. To remember her by.”

Erwin looks grateful, but he frowns. “I don’t understand how you forgive me so easily. You know that it was under my command that the scouts push forth with the female titan’s capture. You know what that led to.”

“You’re commander of the scouts. Everything you do, you do for humanity.” Eve tells him. “I’ve been struggling to accept that, but I’m trying. Because I know that you can separate being the commander and being my friend. You did right by the scouts.”

“But you lost your sisters. That is something I can never atone for.”

“Well… you’re welcome to try.”

Even in the darkest of moments, Eve still manages to make Erwin snort in amusement. The two life-long friends share a smile just before Erwin was told to rest again. As Eve leaves his room, she catches him staring at the portrait once more just before she closes the door.

Back in the castle, Eve checks up on Eren, only to find that Levi was already inside the cell. They seem to be having a long conversation about something when Eve arrives.

Eve enters the cell and goes to sit with Eren on his bed. “Didn’t expect the two of you to be here together like this.”

Eren smiles a bit, reluctant. “Captain is just here to tell me that he’s, uh… recruiting my friends into his squad. As the replacement.”

Eve raises her brows, looking at Levi. “Oh?”

Levi nods. “Well, what choice do I actually have?” He sighs. “I guess it’s a bonus that one of them is excellent.” Reminds me of you ten years ago.

Eve chuckles, patting Eren’s back. “That’s wonderful news. That means you get to spend more time with them.”

“Yeah… but it’s the Special Operations Squad,” Eren quietly says. “I’m not sure if my friends are ready to be the highest-ranking team in all of the scouts. I mean… we’re all still new at this. We just graduated a few months ago. I’m at an advantage because I can turn into a titan. They can’t. I’m just, uh…”

“Eren’s worried that his friends will die.” Levi bluntly says. “He doesn’t have to worry about that gloomy brat, though. But the rest? Yeah, Eren does have a point.”

Eve clicks her tongue while glaring at Levi, as if to scold him. She turns back to Eren with softer eyes. “Your friends will be fine. I’ve seen what they can do, and I can confidently say that they were better than I was at that age,” Liar, Levi thinks. “And it’ll be easier for you all to work as a team, since you consider one another as family anyway.”

“I-I guess… but still,” Eren sounds sheepish, almost embarrassed that he’s worried about his friends. “It’s wishful thinking to want my friends to be safe since we’re scouts, but… I don’t know.”

“Well, you can forget about negotiating with me. I’m telling them tomorrow anyway, whether you like it or not.”

“Oh.”

Eve snorts. “Well, at least with them being part of your team, it’s easier for you to protect them, if they need it.”

Eren slowly lights up. “Yeah. I guess that’s right.”

Levi frowns. “That’s it? That’s all you needed to hear to stop this tantrum?”

“I-I’m not throwing a tantrum!” Eren immediately defends himself, but shrinks under Levi’s gaze. “…Sir.” Eve suppresses a smile before Eren turns to her. “Oh, um… your fiancé was here earlier, doctor. He got me to take some stuff up your room. I hope you don’t mind.”

“That’s fine, what did he bring?”

“Oh, it was a box. I didn’t get to see. It’s heavy though.”

Eve frowns and pulls out her notebook and pen. “You can still feel heavy objects despite your titan abilities?”

Before she gets to write, Eren stops her. “I-It’s not a big deal. I mean, yeah, I feel stronger. But I can tell if something is heavy for other people… if that makes sense.”

“Interesting,” she hums, jotting words down while Eren and Levi just stare at her. “Also, I think I have an idea what Yayoi sent to my room.”

“What is it then?”

Eve closes her notebook, offering a smile towards Eren. “I think it’s my wedding dress.”

Levi blinks, and Eren lights up. “You have a wedding dress now? Does that mean you set the date already?” Eren sounds a bit excited.

Eve nods. “Yeah, but it got postponed so we’re moving it to the end of September.”

That’s in two fucking months.

“That’s great! Congratulations!” Eren happily tells her. “Are we all invited?”

“Every scout is invited.”

“Isn’t it a little early?”

Eve and Eren turn to Levi, who has a deep frown. “Early? For what?”

“You know what I mean, Eve.”

She chews on the inside of her cheek. “It wouldn’t hurt to have a rainbow after a heavy rain. Don’t you agree, Eren?”

“Uh… well, sure.”

“So, it’ll be nice to have something to look forward to,” Eve smiles, and she genuinely looks happy. Levi can’t be angry at that.

So, he just huffs. “I better be invited.”

Eve lights up. “You’ll have a front row seat.”

Somehow, Levi thinks that’s even worse.

Soon enough, the other 104^th members have joined them in the castle. On their very first day as part of Levi Squad, Levi makes them clean the entire castle before they could even pick one room for themselves. Once they were done, they all slump to the ground in exhaustion.

Eve brings them water, and laughs at their state, to which they all groan at. Levi watches from a distance how Eve easily makes the brats comfortable around her. She truly makes it effortless to hang around a bunch of kids, and knowing everything she went through, it was impressive how she can still manage to bring comfort for these teenagers.

Plus, it wasn’t exactly an unpleasant sight to see Eve around children.

“Oi.” Levi calls out, and the cadets immediately straighten up to stand with salute. “Rest for today. Especially you, Eren. We’ll discuss the titan experiments tomorrow. Hange’s going to want to examine you.”

“Sir!” Eren nods.

“Eve. I need to talk to you.” Levi tells her before walking off. Eve just tells the kids to go clean up for dinner later, and she follows behind Levi.

“Did you need something, captain?”

“Cut the bullshit. Don’t call me captain if it’s just the two of us.”

“…okay? What’s the matter?”

“I need you to keep a close eye on Historia.”

“Is this because of Ymir?”

“No. It’s because the priest said that she knows the secrets to the walls,” Levi scoffs. “But I don’t think she knows that she knows something.”

“I’ll keep a lookout.”

“Good. I hope you become unbiased when it comes to your kids.” Levi raises a brow.

Eve smirks. “Technically, they’re your kids, Captain Levi of Levi Squad.”

“Well, you’re my second. They’re your kids just as much as they are mine.”

Eve’s eyes narrow teasingly. “Co-parenting?”

Levi couldn’t help the huff of amusement. “Seems so.”

“Daddy Levi, then?”

Levi’s eyes flash, and he scrunches his nose in disgust. “Don’t ever call me that ever again.” He shakes his head, muttering under his breath as they walk together to return to the brats.

Eve laughs. “Well, that makes me Mommy, doesn’t it?”

Levi practically snaps his head towards her, and his mind stops working. “You—what, I—”

Eve’s laugh increases upon his reaction, and he glares, but turns away to hide his burning ears. “Oh, your face. That was golden.”

No one would guess that Eve lost all her sisters just a few weeks ago, from the way she looks right now. She looks like she’s incredibly happy. Has Levi seen her this overjoyed before? The last time would be when…

When he defeated her in a sparring match, and Levi was celebrated by the scouts.

The realization makes Levi waver briefly. Can this Tietjens man truly make her feel this way?

Levi glances at Eve. “You look better.”

“I am,” she sighs in content. “Look at them,” Eve nods towards where the rest of Levi Squad were laughing together as Connie chases after Sasha for stealing a piece of bread. “It’s good to see them like this after what happened. It makes me happy.”

Levi softens. So, the reason behind her happiness wasn’t exactly her fiancé, but the children. He hums. “It’s cute for now. It’ll get old pretty soon, though. Damn brats.”

Eve widens her eyes and grins. “Did you just call them cute?”

Levi rolls his eyes. “I meant—”

“You think they’re cute! Oh, this truly is the best day ever.” Eve walks with a spring on her step.

“Whatever—hey, watch where you’re going—” Levi grabs her arm when she almost walks into a smale crater on the ground. Eve gasps a little at the sudden gesture, but lets Levi pull her aside. “Fucking hell, Eve. You have eyes, don’t you?”

Eve averts her gaze, and slowly pulls herself away from his hold. “Sorry. I’ll be careful next time.”

Levi frowns at the way she avoided his touch. Was Levi that disgusting to her now? Enough for her to recoil? Levi decides to put some minimum distance between them as they walk back. They return to the kids, and Eve announces that she will cook soup for dinner, to which they cheer for.

Levi drinks his tea as he watches the cadets assist Eve in cooking soup, listening to them laugh from time to time whenever someone cracks a joke. It was relaxing in a way. Taking a break was a good thing for the scouts, Levi was almost glad that Erwin lost an arm so they could all get a damn moment of peace while their commander rests.

They all eat together, and the cadets even attempt on letting Levi join the conversation. Levi would speak sometimes, but otherwise feels content in just listening.

When it was time to go to bed, Eve visits each of them to make sure they’re doing well. Eren got his room tonight, and he finally left the cell and settled into his own room. Thankfully, his room was just a few doors down from Eve and Levi, and right next to Mikasa’s. The others were on the upper floor, only because they enjoy the view there.

Just earlier, the others have poured their hearts into Eve to talk about how they were feeling. Connie is still coming to terms with his village and family’s probable fate, Sasha is considering visiting home just to see if the kid she saved was okay, Jean just received a letter from his mom and he reluctantly admitted to Eve that he misses his mother a lot, Armin has been wishing that he could fight as well as he could logically think.

Eren was being Eren, and he was thinking of ways to impress the captain as usual—plus, another speech about eradicating titans. One that Eve enjoyed listening to, since Eren does get passionate sometimes.

And then, there was Historia. She insisted that Eve begin calling her Historia, out of respect for Ymir. Historia talks about how she wishes that she could see things in Ymir’s perspective because she believes that this is all just a big misunderstanding. When Eve asks where Historia’s loyalties lie, she answered that it was with humanity, unless Ymir shows her a different path. Until that happens though, she is with the scouts. Eve believes her.

Eve carries a lamp to Mikasa’s room, her final stop for this evening. When Mikasa lets her in, Eve asks how she’s doing.

Mikasa looks a bit reserved, so Eve sits her down and she lights a candle.

“You know you can tell me anything, Mikasa. And the only person who will know about it, is me.” Eve reassures.

It was true. Eve doesn’t really see the point of telling someone’s secret thoughts to another. It loses the meaning of a secret, since a secret is meant to be something that only a select few know.

Mikasa fiddles with her fingers, looking down at her lap. “I don’t like being still.”

Eve sighs, sitting next to her. “I saw you get grabbed by a titan, Mikasa. If it weren’t for Jean, you could’ve broken more vital bones in your body. All you need now is to rest.”

“I should be there for Eren’s experiment tomorrow, not lying in bed.” Mikasa sounds genuinely upset, so Eve places a hand on hers to stop her from peeling the skin from the corners of her nails.

“Listen, no one but Erwin, Hange and your captain knows about this, but there are times where I just pass out from mental exhaustion.” Eve gives a sheepish grin, and Mikasa looks at her with wide eyes. Before Mikasa expresses her worry, Eve waves her off. “It happens a lot, but it can’t really be identified as an illness. It’s nothing serious. I just sometimes forget to take care of myself. I always feel better after resting.”

Mikasa slowly lowers her head. “I… do get headaches sometimes.”

“All the more reasons for you to rest. Eren will be fine. I’ll be there the entire time to look after him for you. Armin will, too. Don’t you trust us?”

Mikasa looks at her again, and her beautiful features only make Eve smile to comfort her once again. The teenager nods, and Eve is relieved to see that.

“Don’t worry. I won’t let you rot in your room doing nothing. I’ll see what I can do so you can stay in shape.”

“Thank you, doctor.” Mikasa holds both of Eve’s hands, and they share a meaningful glance before Eve leaves her room.

Eve carries her lamp through the corridor, and jumps when she sees Levi once she lifts the light. “Fuck. Walls, you scared the shit out me.”

Levi raises a brow. “You’re a doctor that used to face titans on a monthly basis, and I scared you? How disappointing.”

Eve huffs. “You do have a scary face,” she smirks.

“How are they?”

“They’re good.”

“Tucked them in real nice, didn’t you?” Levi sarcastically says.

“I did, yes, and they enjoyed it very much.” Eve grins. “What are you doing out? Were you waiting for me?” She teases.

“What if I was?”

Eve’s smile slightly fades, but she just lifts the lamp to his face so she can see him better. “Does your ankle still hurt?”

“…A bit.”

“Come on, then.” Eve follows him to his room. Levi takes a seat and watches as Eve kneels down easily now. She must’ve healed quicker than Levi.

Eve takes off Levi’s shoe and lathers her hands with the lotion that Levi uses on his skin. She begins massaging his ankle, and it felt nice. Levi listens to Eve hum absentmindedly, as if treating Levi this way was second nature to her.

Then, when she pushes at the heel again, a satisfied grunt escapes his throat upon hearing a certain crack in his foot. Levi doesn’t miss witnessing the way Eve suppresses an amused smile.

“Good?”

Levi sighs, relieved as he nods. Eve gets up to wash her hands in the bathroom while Levi wipes the excess lotion on his ankle. It was surprisingly easy and calming. The way Eve’s humming echo in Levi’s bathroom while he pushes back his chair into the small table to hide the seat. It was like they’ve done this a thousand times.

Maybe because they have.

When Eve returns from the bathroom, she was wiping her hands with a clean rag that Levi uses to wipe his own after cleaning. “Need anything else, captain?”

“No. Thank you. Get some rest.”

Eve nods. “Alright. Good night.”

She walks to the door, and Levi feels himself falter. Soon enough, he was walking to the door to hold it back from being opened, and Eve looks at him in surprise.

“I changed my mind. I actually do need to discuss something with you.”

His close proximity makes Eve waver, but she stays still in her place. “And that is?”

He rests his forearm against the door, and Eve can feel his breath hitting her face. As a reflex, she presses her back against the wall to maintain a good distance. She keeps an expressionless face, wanting to seem unfazed, but she can feel her heart pounding within her ribcage.

“Does your precious Yayoi know about us?”

“Us?” Eve feigns innocence. “What do you mean?”

The corner of Levi’s lips quirk into a small smirk, but he leans closer. For some reason, Levi was quite bold tonight. Is he drunk? Eve tries to inhale his breath to catch any hint of alcohol, but there wasn’t any. Is it worse if Levi was completely sober?

“In your words, does your fiancé know that we used to sleep together?”

Eve does her best not to flinch, and keeps the amusement on her face. “That was almost ten years ago. I don’t think my fiancé would care.”

“But you never told him.”

Eve blinks, and her silence was enough of an answer.

Levi hums. “That’s interesting.”

“Where are you getting at with this, Levi?”

Another rare moment of her saying his name, and goosebumps form on Levi’s skin. He doesn’t make it obvious, though, and for once, he decides to take control of the situation. It’s about damn time he does.

“I just want you to admit that you think there’s still some shit going on between us, and you’re hiding our past from your fiancé because what you have with him is nothing compared to what we had. And he would fucking hate me,” Levi tells with a straight expression. “Not really worried about that last one. The feeling will finally be mutual.”

Eve is still trying to hold onto control, as she lifts an amused brow. “You hate my fiancé?”

Levi’s gaze hardens. “You have no idea the things that cross my mind whenever I see you with him.”

Eve tilts her head, feigning innocence with a smile. “That sounds like a you problem. I thought we were done discussing this. You tell me not to talk about this again, when it’s always you who brings it up. Do you want me that bad?” Eve teases, a smirk playing on her lips.

Although, she was startled by the way Levi suddenly grabs her arms, squeezing her flesh as if to restrain himself. “You have no fucking idea how much I want you.”

Eve falters upon hearing his breathy words, and she stares into his icy grey eyes. Levi sees the slight crack in her resolve. The perfect composure she has mastered through the years of being a section commander as well as the eldest of the Zackly sisters. Levi can see through it, and deep down, Levi knew that there was a part of her that wants him just as much as he wants her.

So, why the fuck are they being like this? Levi just wants to snatch that damn ring off her finger and fuck her until she doesn’t even remember what Yayoi Tietjens looked like. Wouldn’t that be something.

Eve slowly wriggles out of his grasp, not looking away from his eyes as if she would lose an unspoken game if she does. “You’re tired. Get some rest.”

“I’m not fucking tired, Eve.” Levi glares. “And yeah, you’re right. I keep bringing this up before I tell you to shut the fuck up about it. Can you really blame me? I can’t fucking stand this. How the hell can you stand this shit?!”

“What are you talking about?” Eve hisses. “Why are you being like this? It’s been ten years. Move on like the rest of us!”

“You talk big, as if you’ve moved on.” Levi shakes his head, eyes clouding with anger now.

“I have!” She holds up her hand, showing off the shiny ring. “I’m getting married in two months.”

“Like hell you are,” Levi grits his teeth, grabbing her wrist. “You’re not marrying that cunt.”

“Levi!” Eve never used to reprimand him for his language, but it seems like insulting Yayoi Tietjens gets on her nerve.

“You talk about moving on when just a week ago, you practically fuck me on your bed, and then you’re kissing me like you were starved in hell.” Levi glares at her, and she frowns while pulling her hand away from his grasp. “If you really had moved on, you wouldn’t even keep that damn mug.”

“A mug? You’re worked up like this over a stupid mug?” Eve stares in disbelief.

Levi softens, and he stays quiet, just staring at Eve.

She blinks, realizing what she said. Eve recoils a bit. “Levi—”

Levi grabs her arm and drags her towards him. “If you really thought that mug was stupid, you would’ve thrown that shit away ages ago.”

Eve’s breath hitches, and her eyes blink a few times. “You’re one to talk, considering how you commissioned your commander to create my portrait for you.”

Levi smirks. “And here I thought you liked the portrait. You looked quite pretty in it like you usually do.”

Her heart jumps. “Levi.”

“After you left, he asked me what I wanted for my birthday, and I told him that I wanted you,” his tone is teasing, but Eve falters. “Then, he gave this to me during the small gathering. Which you would’ve attended, if you didn’t fucking leave me ten years ago.”

Eve mirrors the amused glint in his eyes. “Oh? Then I suppose, I should be impressed that Erwin can create such a beautiful portrait in only one week.”

“I just accepted his gift. It would be rude not to.”

“Did the gift come with a frame? Did Erwin tell you to have it placed on your desk?” Eve challenges with a soft voice. “Face it, Levi. I think you want me more than I want—”

Levi had enough, and he roughly pulls her towards him, pressing his lips into hers to quiet her. Eve’s words become muffled by his kiss, and Levi slowly steps forward with force, making Eve walk backwards until her back hits the door.

He pushes her against it, and Eve grunts against his lips. She reaches for his chest to push him away, but her resolve continues to crumble until her lips begin responding by moving against his. Levi cups her face, and the force behind his kiss makes Eve let out a whimper, her hands grasping onto his shoulders to hold herself up. Levi grunts, grabbing her waist to hoist her up, not even pulling away from her lips while he forces her legs around his waist before he takes her to his bed.

It was frantic, just like the rest of their desperate encounters. Levi clambers on top of her, almost as if his lips couldn’t resist remaining on hers. The wet smacking sounds of their mouths were obscene, primal. As they kiss, Levi reaches for Eve’s blouse to unbutton them, and his fingers were shaking. Aching to touch her skin.

Levi breathes heavily after pulling away for just a second. “Tell me to stop. Right now.”

“Stop talking before I change my mind.” Eve’s voice is hoarse, and her lips are slightly swollen.

Levi doesn’t need to be told twice, and he pushes the blouse off of her before latching his lips into her exposed collarbones. Eve holds back a moan as she digs her shoulders back into the mattress, but Levi wants to hear her. He takes his own shirt off, throwing it across the room before pulling Eve up just so he could remove her brassiere. Levi sighs once her perfect breasts are bare to his eyes, with her nipples standing in attention. He wastes no time with dragging his tongue against one while tweaking the other, and Eve finally lets out a moan.

“Be fucking quiet, or the kids will hear you,” Levi whispers, but there is a hint of amusement in his tone. She was being very pliant to him tonight, it was a change of pace from the past. Usually, Levi was the one being controlled.

Eve gives him a glare that he couldn’t see, too distracted with suckling onto her breasts until they were flushed and raw. Levi trails his lips downwards and hikes the skirt up her thighs before pulling her panties down with aggression. She gasps when he forces her legs apart, and the cool air of his room meets with her glistening cunt.

Levi’s gaze turns heady as he stares at her wet pink pussy, twitching around nothing. The last time, he wasn’t even allowed to touch her and he only watched. This time, Levi drags his lips down her thighs, impatient to taste her so he went straight for it. His force makes Eve slightly move upwards the bed, and he breathes heavily through his nose while the wet obscene sounds of his tongue licking her cunt fills their ears. Eve covers her mouth, muffling her moans while her other hand reaches for the headboard of the bed to prevent herself from hitting her head.

“Fuck, I missed this messy fucking pussy. Always so fucking wet for me.” He murmurs after pulling away for a split second to rub his fingers against her clit, and she was too overwhelmed with pleasure to even hear him. Levi watches Eve struggle not to make a sound, in fear that the cadets will hear her, and Levi’s face fills with want, as he licks her slick from his lips.

Levi grips her thighs, pressing his entire face into the apex of her thighs, kissing and sucking while he hums in content. “L-Levi, wait… stop…” She whispers, but he doesn’t let up, and Eve’s thighs begin to shake around his head, she couldn’t help but release. Her breaths heave out in heavy pants, and her pinkish skin glistens with sweat.

He sits back up, wiping his mouth obscenely with his hands before he pushes two fingers inside her. She was still sensitive from her orgasm, but welcomes the intrusion nonetheless by spreading her legs. Eve’s eyes are half-lidded, and she stares at her with flushed cheeks. Levi swallows, and his breath hitches at the sight of her being spread out like this. It was a familiar sight, and for the past ten years, he had dreamt of nothing except this whenever his hand was around his cock, or when his subordinate would offer herself for his pleasure. It was always Eve in his mind. No person has ever come close.

“You’re mine.” His voice shook with desire. By the time Levi was unlacing his pants, his hands are trembling more than ever. He struggles to remove his remaining article of clothing, and once he was bare just like Eve, apart from the skirt around her hips, Levi grabs her thighs and pulls her close so he could lean down to kiss her.

Their tongues press against one another, intertwining like precious ropes as Levi reaches to the left for a silver packet.

Before he could tear it open, Eve grabs his hand and shakes her head. “I need you. Just you.”

“Eve…” Levi’s voice was strangely tender.

“I’ve never… with Y—” she stops herself from saying his name, and just reaches for Levi’s shoulders. Her pupils are blown out wide, clouded with the pleasure he gave her as she pulls him close. “Just you. You’re the one I want. Levi, please.”

He swallows, not used to Eve begging him for anything. Her face was flushed, and her lips were so inviting. He leans down to press their lips together again, and the silver packet was forgotten as Levi lines himself up into her.

As he begins to push in, he realizes how different it was to have no barrier between them. Levi hisses out in pleasure when the head of his cock is suddenly swallowed by her cunt, and she wails before she covers her mouth with a shaking hand. Levi keeps pushing himself inside of her until her warmth enveloped his entire length.

“I’m the one you want, isn’t that right?” Levi’s forehead glistens with sweat as it drips down onto her chest, and she lets out gasps of whimpers.

“Levi, Levi, L-Levi, fuck,” her eyes are glistening as well, like she could sob from how good it feels.

Levi was about to lose his fucking mind, and he couldn’t control himself anymore. Without even thinking, his hips move in a punishing pace. He was fucking her like he hated her so much, and in a way, that could be true.

He wraps a hand around her neck, not to cut her air supply, but to press the sides of her neck. Levi suddenly felt the urge to wrap both hands around her slender neck. While he chokes her, Eve’s soft hands travel up Levi’s arm in such an affectionate manner, contrasting the way his cock was pistoning in and out of her, hitting the spot that knocks a moan out of her mouth.

“L-Levi…” she quivers, and her body convulses out a second orgasm. Seeing her be wrapped around her pleasure only heightened Levi’s. They face one another, both watching as they reach the heights of their own pleasure.

Levi can’t imagine what he looks like right now. He is very sure that there is drool forming at the corner of his mouth, and he looks like Eve was the one fucking him instead of the other way around.

“I’m going to cum, I’m fucking cumming,” Levi grits his teeth, and the unmistakable sounds of their skin slapping together fills the room, along with the wetness of where they were joined.

“Inside me, please,” she whispers, and he was startled by her words. Before he could pull out, Eve locks her legs around his hips to secure his place. Levi’s eyes are wide, but his hips never stopped fucking into her.

“E-Eve, I’m about to—”

“Please, cum inside me. I want you to fill me up.”

“I-I can’t, Eve,” Levi whimpers, struggling to push her legs apart to release him, even when his cock is twitching at the idea of filling her up with his seed, seeing his cum drip out of her.

“I’ll be okay, I promise,” she whispers into his ear once she pulls him down.

Levi grunts, and his movements become sloppier as he chases his high. He kisses her skin everywhere his lips could reach, and he stills. Levi grabs Eve’s hips and pulls her flush into him like instinct, and he spills himself inside. Eve nearly sobs in ecstasy as she finds another release. She feels his warm cum shoot into her walls, and she relaxes into the mattress. Levi gasps out as his cock spurts stream after stream inside of her, his body twitching as he releases an unbelievable amount of his seed into her.

He slumps down, collapsing on top of Eve in exhaustion as he catches his breath. His cock was still pulsing inside of her as he closes his eyes. Levi can feel her fingers threading through his sweaty hair, scratching his scalp affectionately. After a while, Levi pulls himself out, and his cum seeps out of her used cunt. Levi groans at the sight, unable to resist pushing two fingers into her as if to plug her little hole to keep his cum inside her.

Eve moans, and spreads her legs even more. Despite his own exhaustion, his urges take over and he drags his tongue up the slit of her pussy. Eve gasps, and she reaches for his head to push him away, but Levi persists. He pries her legs open to eat her out, tasting his own cum and her slick mixed together as he pulls another orgasm from her. Eve was trembling, whimpering as she pushes and pulls his head, away and towards her needy pussy. Levi cleans her up, licking his own lips afterwards before he lies down next to her on his bed. He was too exhausted to make it to the shower, and ignores his own disgust at the thought of his own sweat and cum seeping through his sheets.

Levi turns to see Eve passed out from cumming so hard, and it amuses him. He sits up to force himself to the bathroom to clean her up quickly. Afterwards, Levi scoots closer towards her and places the new sheets over their bodies. He pulls her close until he was spooning her, his chest against her back. Levi closes his eyes and goes to sleep as well.

Chapter Text

When Levi wakes up, it wasn’t because of the sun shining on his face like usual.

No, it was because he was no longer holding anything. Or anyone. The warmth in his arms that lulled him to sleep has vanished, and it slowly woke him up. Levi blinks a few times before he squints, shifting in his bed to sit up.

In the moonlight, Levi can make out a figure sitting on the end of his bed. It was Eve, and she was slipping on her brassiere before grabbing her shirt that was thrown on the floor.

“Leaving already?” Levi’s deep sleepy voice makes Eve immediately turn to look at him.

The light in the room is minimal, but from the shadows of her face, it seems like she is smiling at him. “I thought you were asleep.”

“Is that why you’re in a hurry to leave?” He leans against the headboard, face expressionless to not give anything away.

A soft huff of a chuckle leaves her lips. “Well, I can’t be raising your kid in nine months’ time. I need to drink some tea.”

Levi feels the heat in his chest travel upwards to his neck and ears. He looks away when Eve smirks, standing to button her shirt back on. For some reason, Levi was imagining Eve’s stomach protruding, carrying his unborn child. Levi has no idea how to feel about that just yet, but he didn’t recoil at the idea.

He pushes away all those thoughts and shrugs. “Fine. But come back here after. It’s still late. We can still sleep.”

Eve pauses, and her eyes survey Levi’s face. There is a hint of warmth in her gaze, as if to say that Levi’s offer was tempting enough as it is, but something was holding her back. And Levi had a clear idea on what it is.

A small smile still plays off on Eve’s lips, and she walks up to the side of the bed. Levi was still undressed under the sheets, and as he was leaning against the headboard, his scarred yet lean torso was exposed with the sheets settling on his lap. He watches as Eve stand next to the bed, crossing her arms.

“It doesn’t bother you?”

“What does?”

“That I’m getting married to someone else in two months.”

Levi shrugs, going to the other side of the bed to slip on his boxers and shirt. “Why does it matter? You’re going to leave him anyway.”

Eve raises a brow, and her soft amusement returns. “You’re quite confident.”

“Am I wrong?” Levi didn’t bother to look at her while he slips on some pants.

She pauses. “Yes. You’re wrong. I’m marrying Yayoi Tietjens, Levi. This…” she gestures between them, and Levi stands until he was standing across from her. “I can’t deny and say that there’s nothing going on, but I’m not leaving Yayoi.”

For only the slightest bit of a hint, Levi’s eyes falter for a split second. “Why not?”

She shakes her head. “Because… because I love him.”

Levi narrows his eyes at her, and blinks. “You love him?” He asks again, and she nods, but Levi can tell that she desperately wants to avert her eyes from his. “That’s bullshit, Eve.”

“I’m not lying to you.”

“Yeah. You are.” Levi calmly says. “Either you’re lying to me now, or you’ve lied to me the entire fucking time we’ve known each other.”

“…What are you saying?” Eve frowns, but her voice is soft. She didn’t want to start an argument in the middle of the night, and possibly wake someone up in the castle. The 104th might go into shock once they find their captain and his second, arguing inside the captain’s private quarters while barely dressed.

Levi’s piercing glare shoots through her body. “Because I know what it’s like, Eve. I know what it actually feels like being in the receiving end of your love. You wouldn’t fucking cheat on Yayoi with me if you actually love him. It’s either you do love him, or you never loved me ten years ago. So which is it, huh?” Levi approaches her until he stood in front of her. Eve’s face is filled with incredulity. “What, did you cheat on me back then, too? Is that how you love somebody, Eve? You cheat on them with someone you actually feel a sense of fucking passio—”

Levi barely got to the end of his sentence, when a sharp whipping sound cracks through the air. Levi’s neck is craned to the side, and a hot sting grows on the side of his face. Levi stays still for a moment before he looks back at Eve. Hurt and guilt flash across her face, and she stares back at him in shock. They remain quiet for a moment, and the minute Levi sees the way her eyes begin shining, his resolve falters.

Eve walks past him to aim for the door, and Levi closes his eyes in brief frustration. He turns around and follows Eve, grabbing her wrist and pulling her back into his chest until her back is pressed against him. “I didn’t mean that. I’m sorry. Fuck, my mind just goes goddamn insane sometimes because of this. I’m sorry,” he quietly says, and his lips brush against her hair as he embraces her from behind. “I’m sorry, please. Stay. I didn’t mean it.”

Eve shakes her head, but Levi grows desperate.

“I know you wouldn’t do this to someone you love. I know you. I know you feel guilt, but not enough to stop. Because you feel something for me,” he speaks into her ear, and he begins to feel her relax in his arms. “Please stop denying it at least. Tell me I’m not alone.”

Eve’s eyes close, and she leans back into him until the back of her head rests on his shoulder. “You’re not alone, Levi…”

“Then leave him. And be with me instead.” The soft plea sends shivers down her spine. “Leave him.”

Levi feels her shake her head no. And she whispers. “I can’t…”

Those two words awaken something in Levi, and he takes her arms to slowly turn her around. “What do you mean you can’t?”

Eve blinks, and she stammers. “I… I’m not going to leave him, Levi.”

“You said you can’t. What the hell does that mean?” Levi looks concerned, yet half-murderous. “Is he blackmailing you? Using you for money? What is it?” Before Eve could respond, the calmness in Levi’s body is fading. “I’ll fucking gut him if he’s hurting you in any way, Eve. I swear to fucking God, I’ve killed people for lesser reasons—”

“Levi! He isn’t hurting me! I just used the wrong word. Yayoi isn’t like that, you can trust me on that.” Eve reaches over to calm him down. “Calm down, please.”

Levi complies, but his body is still tense. “Just tell the truth, Eve. Why are you picking him over me?”

Eve’s chest ached at the sound of Levi’s voice breaking mid-sentence, averting her eyes. “The sun rises in a few hours. Hange and their squad will be here. I need to organize a plan for today’s experiment, to make sure Eren won’t overwork himself.”

Levi’s shoulders drop in disappointment. “Fuck you, Eve. You always run away. From any real problem. You keep running away from me, Eve,” he quietly says. “And there’s going to be one day I stop chasing after you.”

A chill runs down Eve’s spine, and she practically bolts for the door. Levi was alone in his room again, and as he thinks about his final words to Eve, the more he begins to wonder if he was actually telling the truth.

For the next few weeks, Eren was trained vigorously. They were trying to see if he can also perform the skin hardening abilities that the female titan can do, but nothing ever happens.

During one of the experiments, Eren’s titan roars before collapsing on the ground. Hange yells for him to get up while Levi frowns, watching as Mikasa frantically gets off her horse to go to Eren. Eve follows behind her and uses her blades to cut Eren out of the titan body. Hange pulls Eren out and demands for Moblit to sketch his face, but Eve gives Hange a sharp look. It was enough for Hange to realize themselves getting carried away.

Later on in the temporary cottage they were staying in, Eve watches Mikasa sit next to Eren’s unconscious healing body. Armin stands next to Eve, worried. “He’ll be okay, right?”

“He’s healing quite fast, so that’s an improvement at least.” Eve nods, parting Armin’s back. “He’s pretty tough, huh?”

Armin nods, and Eve smiles before ruffling his hair, making the blonde boy flush and smile a bit.

They both look towards the door when another person arrives, and Eve remains calm upon seeing Levi.

Levi looks at Eve. “How’s he doing?”

“He’s stable, and will probably wake up in a few hours. Turning three times today really took a toll on him. We shouldn’t have pushed it.” Eve mutters, glancing at the way Levi’s dressed. “Where are you going?”

“Headquarters. I’m going to report some shit to Erwin. I was hoping you’d come with me while Eren sleeps. You can bring a cadet.”

Eve hums, looking at Armin with a soft smile. Armin nods, and leaves the room to prepare their horses. Eve approaches Levi. “Why am I coming along? Moral support?” She teases.

“Erwin said in his letter to me that he wants to see you.” Levi bluntly says before leaving.

Eve sighs. After their whole argument that night, Levi has been cold to her lately. He barely entertains the conversations she would begin, especially with topics outside work.

She doesn’t blame him. Eve has been a real asshole lately.

She turns to Mikasa, who was still attentive to Eren. Eve pats her shoulder for reassurance, and Mikasa relaxes. “We’ll be back. Make sure Eren eats and hydrates, hm?”

Mikasa nods, not taking her eyes from Eren. Eve smiles, before leaving the two alone.

In Trost, Eve and Levi were in Erwin’s room where they tell him of the experiments with Eren, and how they all failed. It was difficult to coax out the titan ability of hardening their skin, and if only they could get through Annie Leonhart to find out how she does it.

After the brief meeting, Erwin asks for some time alone with Eve, and Levi complies by taking Armin with him as they walk down the corridor.

Well, Levi is already at Trost, he might as well do this shit now.

Levi turns to Armin. “Stay here and wait for Dr. Zackly. I’m swinging by the castle to pick up a few things. If I’m not here by the time the commander is done with the doctor, leave without me. I’ll be back in the cottage by sundown.”

Before Levi walks away without another word, Armin steps forward. “S-Sir, can I ask what you’re going to pick up? I can do it for you and save you some time and energy.”

“I gave you a command, Arlert. Stick with it.”

“…Y-Yes, sir. Sorry, sir.”

Levi nods and leaves. Armin returns to his post by the commander’s door. In the commander’s office, Eve tells Erwin that she is getting married in a month.

“That is wonderful news, Eve. I’m glad you’ve found someone.” Erwin smiles, a genuinely happy one. Although, when Eve sighs and sits down on the chair, Erwin knots his brows. “Are you not happy?”

Eve looks at Erwin, a grim expression on her face. “I have something to tell you, but you need to give your word that you won’t tell Levi or anyone else.”

Erwin’s smile fades into a frown. “You seek my dishonesty towards my captain?”

“Just give me your word, Erwin. Because I need someone to know.”

Erwin observes her face for a few seconds before affirming a nod. “You have my word.”

With that, Eve tells him everything. Erwin listens without making a sound, focusing on her words and voice for the next five minutes. After she finishes explaining, Erwin had to sit down.

Eve nervously stares at him. “So?”

“Oh, Eve.” Erwin palms his forehead, stressed out. “How have you not told Levi yet? This is for sure driving him up the walls. You do know how he feels about you, do you not?”

Eve sighs deeply. “I know, but I… can’t fully commit to him, Erwin. Not until I… you know.”

Erwin nods. “Right. I do understand your viewpoint, but I beg you to see Levi’s own viewpoint. He has no idea—”

“I know what he thinks, okay? But I can’t do anything about it yet.”

Erwin stares at her for a moment, as if thinking deeply of something. It was like his mind was concocting a plan of its own, the familiar thinking face he uses as a commander is now being used on how to remedy his friend’s situation.

Then, he tilts his head slightly. “We need to commence the Wall Maria operation as soon as possible. Taking back our lands is now our top priority.”

“…We can’t do anything about that unless Eren can harden his skin.”

Erwin stands up. “We will figure that out. For now, I advise you to tell Levi of your situation as soon as possible. He will need an answer eventually.”

Eve hesitantly nods before leaving his office. Outside, she sees Armin standing on guard, and she looks around. “Where’s your captain?”

“He went to the castle, doc. He said he was going to pick up some stuff.” Armin tells her, and she knots her brows in confusion. “And he told me that if you and the commander are done before he gets back, we should return to the cottage by ourselves.”

“Right…” she nods, and the two of them make their way to the stables. Levi probably want to bring some things to the cottage.

By the time they return, Hange and Moblit were there, and they were both disheveled. Especially Hange.

Receiving the news of the priest’s death was something that made Eve incredibly suspicious. Levi arrives later and was informed of what has happened.

While Levi reads an urgent letter from Erwin, Eve speaks to the group. “So, if the interior MPs know about Pastor Nick, they probably know that he’s been with the scouts for a long time, right? Being interrogated as well?” Eve questions. “It’s only a matter of time before they try to come for us next.”

Levi’s gaze hardens, and he lowers the letter. “We’re leaving. Make it look like we were never here.”

They stood on a cliffside, watching as MPs swarm the cottage they were staying at. Had they left a second later, they would’ve been captured or killed.

Apparently, the MPs wanted the scouts to surrender Eren and Historia, and they paused all scouting activities beyond the wall. That means they cannot begin retaking Wall Maria without being labeled as fugitives, it was outrageous.

As Eve listens to one of the cadets say that the commander of the MPs came for Erwin as well to take him into custody, she widens her eyes. She literally just left his office a few hours ago, and now he’s being treated like this by the military police?

When Hange says that they’ll be going after Erwin, Eve steps forward. Although, Levi stops her from going further by blocking her way. “Oi. You’re needed here. Not there. Erwin will be fine.”

“You know what the MPs are like,” her breath hitches. “They’ll beat him to a pulp. How does he defend himself with one arm?”

“Calm down. I’m sure Erwin already has a plan, and he knows that I’ll make one of my own. You’re staying with me, do you understand?”

Eve clenches her jaw. Levi narrows his eyes.

“You want to leave Eren so badly?” Levi bluntly asks. “Be my guest. But don’t come crying to me if Eren or Historia are both hurt, and you weren’t there to do anything about it.”

Eve softens, and Eren widens his eyes. “C-Captain—” Eren stutters.

“I’ll stay.” Eve simply says before going to the horses.

Levi nods, looking at Eren who lowers his gaze. “I know guilt tripping is a dirty move, but I’m not sorry. We need her in our team. Her abilities with the ODM gear will be wasted if she goes with Hange. Now come on. We’re going to Trost.”

The plan went south so incredibly fast. As Levi shouts a familiar name he hasn’t spoken in years, his body reacts by throwing his blade across the area towards the figure in front of him.

Why the hell is he with the military police?

From afar, Eve jolts on her feet upon hearing gunshots. “What’s going on over there?”

Mikasa lowers her head. “The captain left a message. He told me that it’s not just titans. We’re fighting humans, too.”

The rest of Levi squad looks in disbelief, and Eve’s heart drops. Eren and Historia.

She yells out commands and they go where the shots were being fired. “Go find Eren and Historia! I’m going after your captain!”

They all comply without another word, and Eve parts ways with them. She spots Levi zooming through the gaps between buildings, and she makes her way towards him.

“Captain!”

Levi looks up, eyes widening. “Wait, Eve! Go the fuck back!”

“What—!”

A gunshot goes off from behind her and Eve immediately pulls herself with the wires of her gear until she was midair next to Levi. They barely react when a barrel was thrown towards Eve, causing her to lose balance.

The force of the air slams them through a tavern, and Eve crashes on the bar with a pained groan. “It’s Captain Levi and Section Commander Eve of the scouts!” One of them yells in panic.

Levi heavily pants, and grabs Eve to drag her behind the counter with him. She slumps on the wooden floorboards with a grunt, but hides with him. He frantically checks her head where she was hit, and she hisses at the light bruise forming there.

“Why the hell are you here? You should be with Mikasa and the others!” Levi hisses once he was sure she wasn’t extremely injured. “I fucking told you to stick with them!”

She was panting heavily. “You were being shot at, was I supposed to just leave you alone?!”

“Well, congratulations! Now we’re both being shot at, and the fucking brats are in danger!”

“Shut up, I’m just trying to help!” She yells. “And the 104^th are going after Eren and Historia right now, they’ll be fine! Tell me what the hell is going on?!”

“Thought I smelled a rodent!”

Eve feels a sudden chill down her spine, and everything goes still. She turns to Levi with wide eyes, and his expression was filled with coldness and hostility. He meets her eyes, and it was enough of an answer. Eve knows who the man is, and she suddenly felt a burst of murderous rage. All the anger and pain she felt from the loss of her sisters came back, the feeling she desperately pushed down for the past few months. Levi had to grab her wrist to stop her from getting up.

As Kenny continues to talk, Levi indulges him. Eve listens to the way they speak so familiarly, and she gives him a questioning look. He ignores her for now by reaching for one of the liquor bottles to look at Kenny’s reflection.

As Levi speaks to Kenny, he nudges her shoulder to nod towards the shotgun underneath the counter. Eve nods, slowly passing it to Levi.

“Hey, Levi. I didn’t know you were friends with the Zackly redhead. You know I tried to kill her, right?” Kenny snickers.

Levi feels his other fist clench. “I heard it was the other way around.”

“She’s the only one I never get to kill! It still kind of bothers me, you know.” Kenny smirks, and Eve sits in shock. “Maybe I’ll get the job done this time.”

“Yeah. Maybe.” Levi slams the shotgun on the counter above his head, and immediately fired towards where his reflection was.

Kenny was blown backwards through the door, and Eve quickly bolted for an exit. Levi throws a chair outside as a decoy and it gets shot, before Eve swiftly uses her gear to pierce through the shooter, and Levi uses this as a window to slice his blades through their torso.

The two of them escape together, balancing each other’s movements as they go. Eve turns to Levi, pointing to the distance. “There! I see them!”

Levi squints, seeing the carriage where Eren and Historia were both passed out. Before Eve could even react, she sees Armin shooting a person with a gun. It makes her falter, but before she grabs Armin to save him from getting shot, another pair of arms grabs her by surprise and she feels a sudden pain at the base of her nape… and her vision became dark.

Chapter Text

Eve wakes up, not in a slow manner, but she gasps awake at the thought of being apart from the 104^th. When she attempts to move, she realizes that she was tied to a tree while standing up, the rope around her was keeping her upright.

There was a soft crackling noise of fire nearby, and she looks to her left, seeing a few men and women camping out in the woods. It was already dark out. She must’ve been asleep for hours. Oh, fuck no. What happened to Eren and Historia?

“Hey, you’re finally awake.”

A rough gruffy voice makes Eve snap her head to the right, only to see Kenny the Ripper in his full glory. Although, it was obvious how much he aged, compared to the last time Eve saw him. Eve falters, a venomous look on her face. “Kenny.”

“Little red,” he greets, a smirk on his face as he squats in front of her. “Long time no see.”

Eve’s glare could gauge his eyes out, and it entertains him for a moment. He has no right to call her that. It took years for Eve to reclaim that nickname, with the help of Miche Zacharius. That nickname haunted her for years, and without Miche, Eve would not be able to finally relax and have good memories from being called that way. Kenny does not deserve to call her that again.

“Decades of being in the shadows, and you finally show your face to me again. I was starting to believe I hallucinated you.”

Kenny chuckles, adjusting his hat on his head. “What can I say? It’s easy to hide from smart people. They never really consider a simpler explanation.”

“And that is?”

Kenny smiles at her, almost entertained by the way she responds to him. “Saw you with Levi. You two close?”

“I’m tied to a tree and you’re concerned about how Levi and I know each other?”

“Hm. First name, huh? So you are close.”

Eve clenches her jaw. “It’s not like he has a last name.”

Kenny chuckles, taking a while before he replies. “Isn’t he a big shot captain now, though? That’s a title you use before a first name.”

“Why am I here?”

“Well, the last time we saw each other, I never got to take you up on that drink I offered.”

Eve’s breath hitches, and she remembers the day he killed her entire squad. Her first time as a squad leader, and they all died at the hands of Kenny the Ripper. She remembers cradling one of the youngest in her team, and her hands were covered in their blood.

Kenny walked up to her as she helplessly caresses the cheek of her fallen comrade, who lay limp and lifeless in her arms. She didn’t fight back, since she knows that she will lose. At that moment, Eve accepted her fate; to die with her comrades.

However, Kenny the Ripper had other plans. And it was worse than death.

“I’ll let you go alive. Warn the scouts next time. Little red. Don’t fucking mess with my territory.” Kenny lowly tells her, turning around to walk off. He pauses for a moment, but looks over his shoulder to look at her again. Eve was no longer paying him any attention, and her eyes were on the corpse of the teenager in her arms, and she is gently stroking her cheek. “Sorry, kid. Maybe in a differently life, I’d treat you for a drink.”

Eve only sent him a tearful glare, much like what she’s giving him now.

“I’m sure you compensated very well with providing me a whole bottle.”

Kenny laughs. “Ah, right. The wine. That was a really nice touch. Your sisters are insanely smart. I should probably ask for some advice the next time I kill someone. How are they by the way?”

“They’re dead.”

Kenny’s head lifts, lips parting in surprise. Eve frowns at that reaction, because what’s it to him that her sisters are dead?

However, Kenny stands up and approaches her, but still maintaining some distance. “All of them?” His voice held an odd tone. “As in, you are the last Zackly daughter?”

“Yes.” Eve tries her best to keep her composure.

“…Huh…” he trails off, gaze directing towards other things before becoming distant. He seems to be in deep thought as Eve observes him quietly, just before he snaps out of it. Then, he returns to this unbothered expression he had earlier. “Damn. Sorry.”

Eve snorts, shaking her head. “You’re sorry you didn’t get to ask them about murder,” she huffs. “And they’re not insanely smart. If they were, they wouldn’t have been caught. Landing them in jail. Caged, while several titans trample on their prison cells. In a way, they died in a far worse manner than what they planned with me. Many would’ve preferred to die by poison than being crushed to death by debris and titan feet.”

Kenny smirks. “I like how you think, doctor.”

“I can’t afford failures if I’m an officer of the scouts. I lead soldiers, and leaders need to be careful with strategies to make sure their people survive. I’m sure you can say the same.”

“Yeah. I can.”

“So, why am I here? Not many people can boast about knocking me out, you know.”

“I kinda need you to, uh… just stay here and do nothing,” Kenny explains while making hand gestures, and it reminds her of an awkward presentation that amateur cadets would make for her during her time as section commander. To an extent, it amused Eve. “You know, I saw the way Levi reacted when I grabbed you. You know, he tailed me for a good few hours before I tired him out and outran him.”

Eve softens. Levi ran after them for hours?

Kenny sees her face and chuckles. “Ah… knew it. You know, I’ve never seen Levi date, but I had a feeling that you’re his type. Independent, aggressive like him. Tough as shit. Takes care of people,” he nods. “Saw the way you were about to save that kid from the cart before I knocked you out. You’re the golden sister among the twelve, huh? No wonder your sisters wanted you dead. They were jealous.”

Not all of them, Eve wanted to say, but it felt pointless now.

Kenny looks at the ring around her finger, nodding towards it. “That him?”

“Levi and I aren’t dating. I’m engaged to someone else.”

“Oh, so you used to date.”

Eve glares at him, and he chuckles, as if to say, I was just messing with you.

“The ring’s not his style anyway.”

“When I’m free, I’ll rip your throat out,” Eve was vibrating in anger. Kenny the Ripper has taken so many wonderful people from Eve, she might lose her mind if he takes the 104^th as well.

“Easy, little red. It was nothing personal, you know. Me trying to kill you back then. Wasn’t against you. If it pays, it pays. Anything to keep myself alive down there in that hellhole.” Kenny sighs. “I didn’t even know anything about you until I found out I failed to kill you, because I wanted to know why. Next thing I knew, Levi joined the scouts. Still don’t get why, but anything for a life outside the underground, huh? Not even Levi is immune to that temptation. Titans be damned.”

Eve listens to him, and she frowns. “How do you two even know each other?”

Kenny smirks, giving her a subtle look. “You hungry? I got some soup for you. We’re heading to the chapel in a while. That titan boy is there with the king’s daughter.”

“The king’s daughter?” Eve looks confused. “Chapel… are you talking about Reiss? Historia’s father?”

Kenny nods. “Yeah. The current king is a fake. The real royal bloodline is with the Reiss family, so… the titan boy needs to be eaten by a titan of royal blood. You get the picture, right? We can’t be free from the titans if that boy’s titan abilities isn’t with a royal bloodline.”

“…What the hell are you talking about?” Eve asks, puzzled.

Kenny waves her off. “It’s complicated, kid. Just eat your damn soup.” He slices the rope and pushes a bowl of soup and a cup of water into her hands before lazily aiming a gun to her head. “Hurry up.”

Eve glares, but she slides down the ground due to her aching legs. “I’ve never been held at gunpoint to eat mushroom soup before.”

The smirk on Kenny’s face grows. “You won’t be the first.”

“You couldn’t have tied me up sitting down? My legs hurt, I don’t think I can walk,” Eve winces, not even bothered by the gun to her head.

“That was the point.”

Levi listens to the broken screams of the MP in front of him, his face is blank yet menacing. The other scouts watch in silence, uncomfortable with watching their captain torture someone so easily.

“I’m going to ask again. Where’d your captain take them?” Levi’s voice is strangely calm, but the coldness behind his tone was hard to miss. “Tell me quicker. I can slice through a titan’s neck easily, what do you think I can do with yours?”

The soldier grunts, blood seeping through his arm and forehead as he looks up at Levi with bruised eyes. “I-I swear I don’t know. Kenny Ackerman never tells us anything, we just do what we’re told.”

Levi raises a brow, and Mikasa glances at them with surprised eyes. “Ackerman, huh? What do you know, I finally learned something new about that piece of shit.”

“Please, I’ve told you everything I know!”

“Not nearly enough,” Levi’s eyes flash with rage as he makes a move to break his fingers.

“Okay! Okay! I-I know that Kenny took the redhead somewhere else. She wasn’t with the kids. That’s all I know!”

Levi grabs his arm. “Why is she being separated from the other fucking hostages?”

“I-I don’t know! It was on his orders! He said that the woman is off-limits!”

“That’s not enough. Where’d they take them? You still got plenty of bones for me to break, I suggest you start talking.”

“Are you insane?!”

“Maybe.” Levi leans down. “So, you better start telling me where the fuck my executive officer is, or you’ll see just how insane I can be.” 

It was odd to be in the same room as Premier Zackly again. The last time Erwin saw him was during Eren’s hearing, which was months ago. As he sits in the carriage with him, the premier discusses military related topics with Erwin, especially the coup d’état.

“Perhaps death would’ve been easier for you. So, tell me. Why didn’t you just do as you were told?”

“I’m not sure—”

“Why don’t I tell you my own reason?” Zackly cuts him off. “I’ve hated those arrogant bastards for a long time. Those self-assured pigs. They feed from gilded troughs and pretend their shit was gold,” he says, and Erwin watches the way the premier’s fists clench. “It’s a personal reason, Smith. Those bastards once humiliated my Irene decades ago. And they never bothered handling the incident in Stohess. I’ve always wanted them to get what they deserve all this time for everything they have done to my family.”

As Erwin recalls, Irene Blackburn is the name of Eve’s mother. Erwin remembers her from the portrait that Eve kept in her old office. It felt strange to listen to the premier talk about this. Usually, he is always business oriented, and he never speaks of his personal life in a work setting.

Zackly glances at Erwin after his long silence. “I couldn’t care less of how our coup affected humanity. All I wanted was to see them lose everything before I kick the bucket. It was worth it. I’m telling you this because we’re the same. You put yourself above humanity because you thought it was pointless to save it, if you weren’t alive to see it.”

Erwin glances at Zackly, and he thinks about what Eve told him, the secret she keeps from everyone. The secret she keeps from Levi. “And what would Eve think of your perspective on this, commander?”

Zackly hums. “My daughter has always known of my hatred for the royals and its flimsy council. She and I are similar in that way.”

“You should tell her that once in a while.” Erwin boldly says. “Your absence during the funeral of her sisters have changed the way she looks at you. I’m sure you are itching to remedy that. Sir.”

Zackly says nothing for the rest of the ride, and Erwin was relieved to have gotten that off his chest. Neither of the two were aware of Eve’s kidnapping.

On the other hand, Levi, Mikasa and Hange sit in a carriage while Armin mans the horse. They all listen to Hange talk about the Reiss family. Levi couldn’t focus. He was thinking way too much about Eve and her safety. He doesn’t know what Kenny might do to her, and the only hope Levi has is that Eve is a hostage, which means she is alive.

Hange notices the look on Levi’s face. “Hey. Eve will be fine. There’s no way she isn’t putting up a fight to make things difficult for that.”

Levi frowns, looking at Hange. “You don’t understand. Before I even met Eve, Kenny has already tried to kill her, twice. Under different circumstances. I can’t fucking—” he pauses before looking back at Mikasa, who is staring at him in silence, but her eyes only tell Levi that he is showing too much emotion than necessary. He clears his throat. “What about you, brat? You related to Kenny Ackerman or something?”

Mikasa explains how her father comes from a race east from here, and how they were driven out until there were only a few left. Mikasa was too young to understand nor ask questions before her parents died, so Levi didn’t push.

When they reach the destroyed building, Levi sees Kenny again at the underground chapel of the Reiss Family. As Levi dodges the bullets, he angrily attacks him with a blade. “What did you do to Eve?! What do you want from her?!”

“Relax! She’s fine! Tucked away somewhere! Thought you’d thank me for it, she doesn’t have to fight us!” Kenny snickers, shooting bullets towards him. “She your girlfriend or are you married now? I saw the ring on her finger!” Levi doesn’t answer, and tries to slash him with his sword, but Kenny dodges easily. “I just thought to ask since you two keep asking me about each other!” He howls some laughter. “And maybe to measure how guilty I should feel when I finally kill her!”

Levi’s eyes flash with anger. He roars a war cry before using his ODM gear to maneuver around the crystallized area. He doesn’t even want Kenny to even mention Eve, let alone think about her.

The thought of Eve getting hurt by Kenny of all people… no one will get out of this fucking cave alive.

Levi and Hange squad fight against the Anti-Personnel Control Squad, all of them are trying to protect Eren one way or another. Hange was injured, and Levi orders Armin and Moblit to take her to safety.

They reach Eren and free him with Historia’s help. There were no time for questions when another titan forms in front of them, much larger than the Colossal. Eren shifts into a titan and saves them all. They find a way out as the chapel collapses on itself, with Rod Reiss as a titan crawling away.

All of them mount their horses and ride their carriages, making a move to follow the Reiss titan as soon as possible. Once Levi regroups with Erwin, the commander notices that someone was missing among the squad.

Erwin frowns as his horse stops in front of Levi’s. “Where is Eve?”

Levi grits his teeth. “I screwed up. Kenny fucking took her right under my nose. I don’t know why.”

Erwin doesn’t look too worried. “Do you know where she may be?”

“No. She’s alive at least. She’s not much use to Kenny if she’s dead,” Levi bluntly says, to try masking how anxious he feels.

Erwin sighs. “She’ll be fine. I’m willing to bet that she’s giving them a difficult time right now. Wherever she may be.”

Eve sits in the room, a bit curious as she explores the interior. Since she’s locked up here anyway, might as well look around.

Although, the one thing that catches her eye is an unfinished chess game on the table. Eve traces the rim of the chessboard, and her mind goes back to her youngest sister. A small smile forms on her lips, and she sighs.

She thinks carefully about what Kenny said to her just before he left with the others, and locked her up in a room.

“Why are you keeping me here? What use am I? Because I’m starting to think that I’m not just some hostage.” Eve presses, stopping Kenny from locking the door to cage her in.

Kenny sighs, frustrated. “Look. I can’t tell you anything, alright? All you need to fucking do is to stay put and wait this out. That’s it. I’m sure you can do that, little red.”

“No, no, wait! Please!” Eve frantically says when Kenny makes a move with closing the door again. “Please… don’t hurt that boy. All he wants is a better life for himself and his friends. A good home. He doesn’t deserve any of this. I know that you can see that.”

Kenny, despite himself, softens at the genuine expression on Eve’s face. Her words somehow reminded him of something, as Eve can tell. It was like he was thinking of someone because of what she said.

“Prove to me you’re not as heartless as I remember you were to be,” Eve reaches for the hem of his sleeve. “Save that boy—”

Kenny pulls his arm away from her. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I follow my orders, little red. I never break my deals, so you’re going to stay put and keep yourself alive,” he sneers at her, a glare in his eyes. “I don’t give a damn if that kid dies. Like I said. Whatever pays.”

Eve stares at him long and hard, before her eyes shift back to her near empty ones. As if in disappointment. Kenny almost froze up, because from her sigh and nonchalant move of taking a step back; it almost felt like it was a test. And he most certainly didn’t pass.

“You haven’t changed a bit. Kenny the Ripper,” she says, monotone.

Kenny blinks before his face hardens with a glare and he slams the door shut. Eve barely flinches, hearing it lock to indicate that she truly was trapped.

And Eve wonders what Kenny meant by ‘I never break my deals,’ and ‘keep yourself alive.’

Hours later, the door swings open, Eve turns and expects a certain hitman. Instead, it was one of his foot soldiers. Eve frowns, because the soldier merely looks at her with grim on their face and her ODM gear in their hands, instead of whipping out some handcuffs and chains.

When Orvud district was finally safe from Rod Reiss’ titan, a few soldiers came to Levi to tell him that they found someone who is still alive.

That is where he found Kenny Ackerman.

The man was half-dead, and barely hanging on. Levi commands the other soldier to leave them, and he stands before the man who raised him.

Then, Kenny tells him everything Levi has always wanted to know about Kenny, including who he was to Levi. Afterwards, he gives Levi a small syringe case and… a familiar book.

Later on, Levi leaves the area while holding the things that Kenny pushed to him, head hazy of the information he had to absorb within just one minute.

When he arrives back in headquarters, he sees a familiar head of dark red hair from a distance, and she was surrounded by the 104^th. Levi falters, and he approaches the team, where he catches her eye.

Eve forms a small smile. “Captain.”

“Are you injured? What did he do to you?” He immediately asks, not caring that the young cadets were watching.

“I’m fine. He didn’t really hurt me or anything,” she sheepishly says. “He gave me food and kept me in a room, though. I don’t know why.”

Levi knows why. Kenny told him earlier. He only nods at Eve. “Alright. Does Erwin—”

“He was the first that found me,” she waves off. “He knows I’m okay.”

“Uh, captain, not to interrupt this, but the commander was looking for you. He has Historia in his office, they wanted to discuss something with you.” Armin tells him.

Levi sighs. This would be about Historia’s heritage. Erwin probably wants her to rule as queen like he said. He spares one last glance towards Eve and she was already looking at him. Their gazes remain on one another for a few seconds before Levi makes his way to Erwin’s office.

Days have passed, and Levi still has no idea how to tell anyone of his newly discovered identity. He doesn’t know how to tell Erwin that he’s related to Kenny Ackerman, and that their bloodline was different from all the others. He isn’t too sure what Erwin would do.

So, he goes to the person who might understand.

Levi knocks on the door, but the slight impact of his knuckles push the door slightly, telling him that it’s already open. Levi decides to push it further, until the sight before him makes his breath catch in his throat.

A simple yet eye-catching white dress wraps around Eve’s body, accentuating her collarbones and exposing her shoulders while also having long sleeves. Eve stands before a life-sized mirror, admiring the dress she is wearing. She seems like she doesn’t even notice Levi by the door.

On her face, there is uncertainty. As she smooths down her palms on the fabric of the dress, there is a slight frown on her lips. Shouldn’t any bride look happy upon wearing their wedding dress?

“You look nice.”

Eve whips her head around and sees Levi, and there is a brief look of surprise on her face.

He leans against the doorframe, crossing his arms. “What’s the occasion?”

Eve snorts softly at his jesting, sending a playful glare. “The wedding is in three weeks. Yayoi sent me a letter saying that the venue is set. All that’s left is checking if the dress fits me.”

“Hm. Right.” Levi tilts his head, inspecting her from head to toe. “It looks a bit wide on you.”

Eve scrunches her nose. “Right? It is a bit wide, yeah,” she turns back to the mirror with a frown, and reaches behind herself to try pinching the dress. “I look like a bloody whale with this dress on.”

“What’s a whale?” Levi grumbles, closing the door before he approaches her from behind.

Eve is startled when he pushes her hands away, and decides to pinch the dress himself, making it fit her body. “It’s a mythical sea creature. It’s enormous.”

“I’m just going to assume that was a metaphor for being overweight,” Levi sighs. “You’re not. Hell, you’re skinnier than I remembered.”

Eve exhales, inspecting herself on the mirror again. “Only because the food they serve in the scouts is shit.”

“You were never one to complain.”

“That used to be when I had my own kitchen in my office,” she smirks at his reflection, before handing him a clip.

“Who the hell cares if you’re big or small?”

“I do.”

Levi scoffs. “What a waste of worries. I wouldn’t care. Not really in a position to. My height says everything,” he glances at their reflection as well, over her shoulder. His eyes scan her white dress as he takes the clip from her hand. “You know, I never pictured this to be your wedding dress at all.”

“You’ve pictured me in a wedding dress before?” she raises an amused brow.

Levi glares at her before clipping the dress, and she hands him another one so he could repeat the process from her neck to the small of her back.

Eve just hums. “Yayoi picked this one for me. I actually wanted the wedding dress of my mother… but that would be in my father’s house,” she mutters. “I’d have to talk to him so I can use it. Not really up for a family reunion right now.”

“Right.”

Levi finishes clipping the back of her dress and he steps back. Eve slightly turns to check the back in the mirror, and Levi just watches her with careful yet longing eyes.

He wanted to tell her the truth. But seeing her look pleased with her wedding dress… he couldn’t bring himself to ruin that.

A small smile forms on her face while staring at her reflection, and she turns to look at him. The sun from the window making her brown eyes look more prominent, and her hair glows underneath the white see-through lacy veil. “So, how do I look? Am I bride material now?”

Levi couldn’t answer. He just stares at her, and she turns to look at her reflection again. Although, she must have turned too quickly since one of the clips blasted off. Eve curses under her breath, and she looks for the clip. Levi picks it up, and she gives him a sheepish smile before going back to the mirror. He returns the clip to the dress, and feels his fingers trace the fabric of the dress, just below her spine.

When he looks up at her reflection over her shoulder, Eve is watching him carefully, and he can see her fingers nervously fiddling with one another.

He couldn’t help it. Levi leans forward to press his lips on the exposed skin of her shoulder. Eve sighs shakily, and instinctively tilts her head to the side. Levi presses kisses from on her shoulder, to the edge of her collarbone, to the side of her neck, to her jawline, before he grabs her waist to turn her around. His lips chases her own, pressing together until Eve lets out a surprised hum, and she is backed into the mirror.

Levi slips his tongue between her lips, touching her own until they moan into each other.

Why is he doing this? She’s going to be someone’s wife in a few weeks, why can’t they stop this? Levi shouldn’t do this.

His breath hitches when he feels her reach for his belt, undoing them before unlacing his pants. Their breaths grow heavy, but they couldn’t pull away from one another’s lips. He reaches for the skirt of her dress, hiking it up her thighs to pull her panties down. Levi grabs her legs and lifts her skirt up, the white dress spilling over their hips, as if to shield what they were about to do. He slides his palm against the cleft of her thighs, feeling how wet she was already.

Levi grunts, pulling away from her lips to kiss her neck. He pushes his fingers inside her, and Eve grabs his shoulder to keep herself upright, her other hand wrapping around his cock. They gasp, and waste no time as they begin to move their hands and fingers while moaning into each other’s mouths. The mirror against Eve’s back is rocking back and forth from their movements.

Levi pulls away from her lips when she twists her hand around his pulsing cock hisses into her neck while thrusting his fingers into her, their union hidden underneath the skirt of her wedding dress. Levi must be so fucked up for thinking this is hot and erotic. She’s going to be someone’s wife soon, and here he was, making her cum around his fingers in the wedding dress she will wear for their declaration of marriage.

“You still want me,” Levi growls into her ear. “Just me and no one else. Not even your bastard of a fiancé can make you feel like this.”

Eve wails during the end of a particular thrust, and she tightens her legs around his hand. Levi speeds up his thrusts and hears the faint squelching from under her dress.

Levi pulls away to grab Eve’s face, his thumb and other four fingers squeezing her cheeks together. Eve lets out a grunt from the rough action and gives him a pleading look. “You’re dripping wet. You’re going to make a mess of your dress. That what you want? A reminder of how wet your cunt was when I fucked you with my fingers in this dress while you marry some bastard?”

“L-Levi—”

“That’s right,” he grunts. “Fucking say it, Eve,” he lowly tells her while ramming his fingers into that spot inside of her, her arousal drips down his palm and her own hand around his cock has gone stiff and unmoving from the overwhelming pleasure he gives her. “Mine.”

Eve gasps, and they come out shaky from the impact of his fingers. Levi captures her lips again, biting on her lower lip to make her whimper. He smirks a bit, enjoying the occasional moments of Eve submitting herself to him.

Levi fucks her fist in a desperate pace, his tongue shakily swiping against hers. Eve breathes heavily while letting out a quiet moan into his mouth. Once he feels her legs shake around his hand, that was how he knew that she’s finished, and Levi grunts as he fucks her fist a few more times before he reaches his high. As he gently rubs her clit to ease her from her own high, he finds his own release, and some getting on the skirt of her white dress, a low moan exiting his throat. Eve feels her hand be covered in Levi’s warm cum, and they both slump against the fogged mirror behind them.

He rests his chin on her shoulder, eyes fluttering shut as they pant quietly. Levi listens as her breaths slowly even out, and he can feel his heart thumping incredibly fast.

“…Don’t marry him, Eve…” Levi quietly whispers, his tone is tender as his fists tighten around the bunched up skirt of her wedding dress. “Don’t marry anyone else.”

Eve doesn’t respond, and they stay in that position for a few more seconds. When Levi couldn’t take the silence anymore, he leans back to look at her. Eve’s eyes are grim, and she watches him with an afflicted expression.

Levi falters, and he clenches his jaw. He pulls his hand out from under her skirt, and sets her down harshly. Eve grabs a hold of the mirror to steady herself and stammers when Levi hastily pulls his clothes back into himself while averting his eyes. She barely gets a word out when Levi speedily exits the room, the door slamming shut behind him.

Eve shakily covers her mouth, before palming her forehead. Her eyes sting with tears, and she closes her eyes with a few tears running down her cheeks, her hand returning to her mouth to muffle the sobs that follow.

Chapter Text

The news of Historia’s upcoming coronation spread across Paradis. It happened quite soon, and humanity rejoiced for their new sovereign. All was well.

Eve hasn’t spoken to Levi ever since that day inside her room. She never wore the wedding dress again, and decided to send a letter to Yayoi, saying that she requires a new dress. There was no way she would wear that one for her wedding. Though, she didn’t return it to the tailor’s either… she bought it off with what little fund she had left.

Now, Eve watches as the crown is placed on top of Historia’s head. A proud smile forms on Eve’s smile, and she glances at the 104th. Eve could’ve sworn that Jean wiped a proud tear from his eye. As Historia faces the people in the room, Eve subtly looks towards Levi from the far right, next to Erwin. He isn’t clapping, but he is so focused on Historia, and his eyes are relaxed. He even appears to be proud, as much as he can appear to be.

Eve softens, and she looks back at Historia as she is led to the balcony, where crowds of her subjects were waiting. Eve follows, grinning as she watches the people of Paradis celebrate their new queen.

Afterwards was the feast.

Eve danced around with the cadets, laughter echoes in the room along with music. Jean would spin her around before Connie would enthusiastically clap around her. Then, Eren would place her hands on his shoulders as they dance clumsily while laughing. At some point, the lively music turns more mellow, and the commander asks for a dance.

Erwin is quite tall, so he had to slightly crouch down, and it makes Eve snort.

“There is a reason why we never dance,” Eve points out, head tilting upwards to meet Erwin’s eyes.

Erwin smiles as he spins her gently. “Today is a happy day. A dance with you is of utmost importance, my dear.”

Eve hums, amused. “You wouldn’t have a broken back if Mina was here.”

The smile on Erwin’s face turns wistful and he sighs fondly. “A dance with her? Ah… I would not be so deserving.”

Eve chuckles, and they dance together. The music ends, and they bow to one another before Erwin goes to ask Queen Historia to dance, an even shorter partner. Eve chuckles upon seeing this as looks around the room and notices an absence from the back of her mind. She glances at the faces surrounding her, searching for the only one that matters to her at this moment.

On the other hand, Levi sits on the steps leading to the empty courtyard. Everyone else was inside to celebrate, and Levi told the guards to leave him in the courtyard since he would like to be alone. Then, Levi drinks on his own, with an empty space next to him as usual.

“I’ve been looking everywhere for you.”

Levi cranes his neck, only to see Eve approaching him. He watches as she sits down next to him and leans against the cemented railing of the wide staircase. Eve notices that he was drinking by himself.

“You were looking for me?”

So they were talking now? “Yeah. You weren’t at the party earlier, I thought I’d find you here.” Eve smiles. “Thank the walls it’s over. Well, not over over, but over for now. It’s better than nothing.”

Levi gives a nod. “I guess, yeah,” he holds up his bottle of beer and drinks.

She watches Levi take gulps of his beer, and was reminded by the times she would see him and Mina drinking together. No one knows that whenever Levi drinks in taverns, there is always an empty seat to his right. This must be the first time he let someone sit next to him.

“Why are you all the way out here? You should be getting shitfaced with the others. You’re a fun drunk, you know.”

Levi softly huffs. “No thanks. I’d rather not do anything stupid in front of the cadets. And it’s better here, anyway. It’s quiet.”

“Do you mind if I join you here? Or should I leave you to it?”

“Why do you want to be here?”

“Honestly, I’d prefer your company right now.”

Levi briefly glances at her. “I’m bad company so I don’t know why you prefer that.”

Eve smiles. “Well, you did chase after me for hours when I got kidnapped. I guess that warrants some recognition.”

“Tch. Hours is an exaggeration.”

“Hm… I think it isn’t,” she teases, amused.

Levi shakes his head, but the corners of his lips are slightly curled into a hint of a smile. Just like that, he couldn’t stay angry at her for so long. Levi hated how easily he forgives her.

“I found out my last name.”

The words make Eve raise her brows in surprise, but she looks delighted. “Really? What is it?”

“Ackerman.”

They share a glance, and Eve’s lips part in realization.

Levi just nods, looking down to the ground. “Yeah… Kenny was apparently my uncle. My mother’s brother. Imagine that.”

Eve notices the usage of past tense, and she remembers that she taught him what that meant. It sends her heart to drop. “Levi Ackerman… it has a nice ring to it. Suits you.”

Another soft snort comes from Levi. “I finally have a surname to give to someone if I get married. Who’d have thought?” His tone held sarcasm, but the words reminded Eve of a conversation they had years ago.

“I can take your surname.”

Eve’s brows shoot upwards in astonishment. “Seriously?”

“…Yeah. Is that bad?”

“You don’t think it sounds a bit… effeminate?”

“Tch. Who cares about that? You’re the one with a surname between the two of us. It makes sense. I’ll take whatever name I can. Who cares?”

Eve presses her lips together, staring at Levi with so much affection. “Yeah. Who cares?”

She never forgot. How could she? It was odd to think that they used to have their entire future planned out, but now, she barely even calls him by his first name. The conversation about surnames was still fresh in Levi’s mind.

A chuckle leaves Eve’s lips, and it makes Levi turn to her. “What’s so funny?”

“Sorry, I just… I was imagining if you and I actually got married and you took my last name, you would be legally called as Levi Zachly,” she snorts, laughing a bit. Levi sighs, but there is a hint of amusement on his face. “That would’ve sucked for you.”

Being married to Eve? Even hypothetically? Doesn’t sound so bad. “Ackerman-Zackly. Zackly-Ackerman. Not sure which one is better.”

“Well, it’s a good thing we don’t have to decide, hm?” She chuckles, but Levi stares blankly ahead of himself. “I’ll be Mrs. Tietjens in a week or so.”

“Mrs. Yvonne Ackerman. Huh. Sounds pretty good to me.” Levi ignores her words. “Eve Ackerman. Tch. Sounds way better than Yvonne Tietjens. Eve Tietjens,” he pauses. “What am I saying… you shouldn’t be a ‘Mrs.’ You’re a doctor. If you were marrying me, I wouldn’t change your last name at all. I’d prefer it if you stay as Dr. Zackly. You worked hard on that title. Why the hell would I want to plaster my name on that?”

Eve holds back a smile. “You’re being silly now.”

“I’m being very serious.”

She rolls her eyes, but an amused smile appears on her face. “You’re just jealous,” she teases while chuckling.

“Yeah. I am.”

His lack of reluctance makes Eve look at him, and they share a gaze for a moment.

“It was Mina, by the way.”

She blinks, surprised by the sudden mention of the third Zackly daughter. “What was?”

“The reason why Kenny took you to a safe place instead of letting you fight,” he mutters. “It was because of Mina.”

She frowns, and her blood runs cold. “What’s Kenny Ackerman got to do with Mina?”

Levi sighs, rubbing the side of his face tiredly. “There’s something you don’t know about her. Something that a lot of people don’t know.”

“What’s that?”

He meets her eyes. “Your sister is a fixer. You can even say that she’s the fixer around here. When I first met her, um… she hinted it to me, by offering me a deal; I can ask her for any favor as long as I watch over you. I didn’t take it, but it never occurred to me that she was the person everyone from the underground was talking about. Mina was kind of a big deal,” Levi sighs. “Didn’t occur to me until Kenny fucking said shit.”

As Eve listened, her chest felt like it was caving in. How much did she not know about Mina? And if she was a fixer, how far did she went? And have people been harmed? “What did Kenny say?”

“Just… stuff.” He seems to be hesitant to share it to her. “All you should know about your sister is that she was a good person, Eve. She never did anything out of hatred. That’s it.”

“Did Erwin know?”

Levi shrugs, not even meeting her eyes. “Not that I know of.”

“Who else knows about this?”

“I don’t know. Kenny reached out to Mina a few weeks ago. They made a deal. In exchange for your safety, he wanted her to find a book.”

“A book?”

While she talks, Levi was already reaching to his side, where a book was previously laying on the ground. He hands it to her and continues drinking from his beer bottle.

Eve takes the book and opens it to the first page.

Ackerman Clan History: The Warrior Bloodline

She widens her eyes, completely forgetting that this book exists as part of Paradis’ cultural heritage as a mythology book. She didn’t think it was real. “Is this—”

“Authentic? Yeah. I read it twice.” Levi mutters, his tone is grim. “In the last conversation I had with Kenny, he didn’t even mention Mina’s name.”

“Then how did you…”

Levi swallows. “Mina gave me another copy of the same book, when we were drinking. I connected the dots, I guess,” he nods towards the book in Eve’s hands.

Eve widens her eyes again, that must be why Kenny looked surprised to hear that all of Eve’s sisters were dead. He even clarified if every sister died, which included Mina. In a way, he looked… upset.

“I don’t think Mina knew about me being an Ackerman. Hell, she didn’t know about my connection to Kenny at all. She just… she just thought that I’d enjoy reading a book.” Levi felt his heart crumble within his ribcage when he thinks of Mina’s selflessness. Levi knew that she cared about him. “That’s how I realized.”

Eve only has one question now. Now that Mina is dead, what happens to her position?

She decides not to ask that, to investigate it on her own in the future. Eve traces her fingers over the edge of the pages. “I’ve never read this before.”

Levi pulls his legs to his chest, placing his arms on the top of his knees and burying his nose into the crook of his elbows, almost to hide. “Good. It’s a load of horseshit.”

“Really?”

“Yeah… it said something about a… host,” Levi sounds uncomfortable now. “And how we… the Ackermans were apparently products of a failed experiment. How we’re practically as strong as titans. I think. I… I didn’t like any of it,” he mutters, averting his eyes from her.

Eve looks at Levi, seeing how much he detests the contents of the book. She feels an ache in her heart. “Come on, Levi. Not everything in the book has to be true, you know. Maybe people exaggerate.”

“The writer was a woman,” Levi mumbles. “And between you and me, I trust female strangers more than male ones. I don’t think she’s lying, but that doesn’t mean I have to like everything she wrote about.”

Eve has no idea how to respond to that. She can’t exactly know how it feels to find out so many things about your bloodline all at once. So, she listens as Levi tells her everything what the book says about the Ackerman bloodline.

Once he finishes, Levi looks hesitant. “I don’t want Mikasa to find this book. I think it’s best that she doesn’t know shit about it. She shouldn’t have to feel like… like she’s a failed experiment.”

Eve is still processing the information about the Ackermans, along with the fact that Mina was practically a criminal who took favors. Who knows how many laws she may have broken? “You should tell Mikasa one day. Not now or next week, but someday. She isn’t fragile.”

“I know, but she already has a lot of shit to deal with. I can’t… I can’t do this to her.”

Eve nods, and they stay quiet for a moment. She briefly chews on the inside of her cheek. “I’m leaving the scouts before the mission to Wall Maria,” she says, and Levi stays quiet so she continues. “Eren doesn’t need my help anymore, and the scouts can handle him. I’ll be surrendering my journals before I leave next week, and I’m going back to my old life,” she softly speaks. “I’ve submitted my notice to Erwin, he approved it. I’ll probably use the time to look into Mina’s… side job.”

“Right,” he monotonously responds before raising his beer bottle to his lips.

He hated imagining Eve getting married, having kids, and growing old with some boring guy who doesn’t deserve a second of her time. But it’s her decision. Who was Levi to stop her?

“Well, have a nice life, Eve.”

There was a certain finality on his sarcastic tone, and it takes her by surprise. She blinks a few times before pushing herself back onto her feet. “Thank you, for telling me about Mina. I appreciate the fact that she trusted you.”

Levi nods.

“You should wrap up. It’s cold out here, your birth month is coming up,” she softly says. “I’ll see you inside.”

As Eve walks away, Levi listens to her footsteps as he gulps down the remaining beer in his hand until the bottle is empty.

He looks up and sees the way the clouds darken, a sign of rain as the quiet thunder noises sounds from above their heads in the open courtyard. He can hear the faint laughter and distinct chatter of people inside the palace, and Levi continues to drink alone while his eyes would glance at the book next to him from time to time. It almost feels like he can hear Mina sighing at him in disappointment.

Then, the fucking day comes.

Many of the scouts were invited, and they were all required to wear formal attire. The venue was in Mitras, and the building accommodating the scouts allowed them to have temporary lodgings for staying the night. It was a tiresome travel from Trost to Mitras, which is why having a place to sleep in for the night was required .

Right now, Mikasa is doing Eren’s tie just after Armin left to go check on the water supply in the building. Eren looks deep in thought while Mikasa loops the tie around itself to make a knot. She glances at Eren and resumes her work.

“Is there something wrong?”

Eren snaps out of it, and he blinks. “Oh. No, not really.”

“You don’t look happy.”

Eren chuckles. “Of course I’m happy. I can harden my skin like Annie now. Historia’s queen. The doctor is getting married… everything is good.”

Mikasa briefly looks at his face before watching her hands on his tie. “The tips of your ears are red. You’re lying.”

Eren pouts, reaching up to cover his ears. “Stop doing that.”

“Are you worried about Dr. Zackly?”

“…No, I just thought…” he sighs. “They genuinely think they’re good at hiding it, but the captain and the doctor have something going on. It’s just, you know… disappointing that they’re not ending up together.”

Mikasa looks amused, but she doesn’t smile. “I never took you for a romantic type.”

“I so am romantic!” Eren scoffs. “You haven’t seen me be romantic at all, so you can’t judge.”

Finally, the corner of Mikasa’s lips curl into a hint of a smile, and she goes back to focusing on his tie. Eren watches her closely, unable to avert his gaze. For some reason, he wanted to reach over to tuck her stray raven hair away from her face so she could see properly.

“I’m happy for Eve.” Mikasa tells Eren. “If this is what she wants, then she should have it. After everything she went through, even a little bit of happiness is what she deserves.”

“Yeah. You’re right.” Eren sighs. “I don’t know what I was thinking.”

“You were thinking about the captain.”

“…He obviously cares about the doctor. He just… doesn’t know how to say it,” Eren shrugs. “He’s just like me…” he mumbles.

“What?”

Eren backtracks. “Uh, nothing.”

“It’s none of our business who cares about who,” Mikasa finishes tying his tie, and smooths her hands on his broad shoulders. She meets Eren’s eyes and softens. “What we can do is support the people we care about.”

Eren looks back at her. “I haven’t asked how you’ve felt.”

“…About what?”

“About the captain being possibly related to you.”

“Oh.” Mikasa averts her eyes, and turns to grab her scarf from the chair. “What about it?”

Days after the coronation, Levi has legally changed his name into Levi Ackerman. Although, people still call him as Captain Levi from habit, it does bring him a sense of relief whenever he is addressed as Ackerman. It makes him feel like he belongs to a group other than the scouts. ‘Levi Ackerman’ feels like his personal life, while ‘Captain Levi’ is his work. It’s good to keep things separate now.

Mikasa hasn’t spoken to Levi about it at all, since she has no idea what to say. It was true that they were only distant relatives, but it was also possible that it was something closer to home. Nonetheless, they share the same blood, and neither of them has acknowledged it.

“Did you talk to him about it?”

“What’s there to talk about?” She mumbles while wrapping the scarf around her neck.

Eren musters a weak smile, approaching her before tugging her scarf off. “It doesn’t match your dress.”

“Oh.”

The scarf falls from her shoulders, exposing her neck and collarbones. For the wedding, she decided to shop with Sasha for something to wear, and one of the decent dresses with a lower price was a red fitted dress with thin straps. Since it was Eve’s idea for the soldiers not to wear their uniform, all the female soldiers had to wear a dress.

Eren’s eyes trail across her pale shoulders, and he meets her gray eyes, where Mikasa is watching him carefully. Eren clears his throat and everts his gaze, handing her back the scarf, to which she clings to as if Eren will take it away from her again. When she looks away, she doesn’t notice the way his cheeks redden.

“I think you should talk to the captain about it. You two are the only remaining Ackermans, as far as we know. Don’t you think that deserves some acknowledgment?”

“It’s just a surname.”

“Yeah. And Captain Levi could be the only family you have left.”

“You and Armin are my family.” Mikasa turns to face him, eyes firm and yet, Eren can tell that there was something else hiding underneath her voice. “That’s enough for me.”

“I’m not saying you should turn your back on us. I’m just saying that maybe you and Captain Levi—”

“Enough.” Mikasa interrupts. “Captain Levi is my captain and nothing more. We share a bloodline, we share a name. That is all.”

Eren stares back at her, but he gives her a nod. Her firm tone only suggested that the conversation is over. Before he could say anything else, Armin returns with a smile. “The hot water is back on.”

Armin proceeds to the bathroom to take a quick shower. If Armin noticed the tension in the room, he didn’t say anything.

Levi hasn’t said a word all morning, even as he rides in the carriage with Erwin towards the chapel. He simply looks out of the window and waits for the ride to end.

Erwin glances at him in silence, noticing how Levi’s entire attire is completely smooth. Not a single crease, or a hair out of place. He looks too clean, and Erwin has an assumption why. Levi stress cleans, and it has been beginning to occur quite often.

Honestly, it genuinely feels like if Erwin says so much as a word, Levi might break the entire carriage with his bare hands.

Regardless, Erwin attempts to do so anyway. “Levi—”

“Don’t say anything, Erwin.” Levi immediately glares at him.

“I’m afraid I cannot just keep quiet,” Erwin frowns. “Surely she has told you of the ridiculous reason behind this marriage.”

Levi feels his chest tighten, and his skin turns cold. He lifts his gaze to Erwin, icy and out for blood. “What?”

Erwin realizes his error much too late. “I assumed… well, I had assumed that she… er…”

Levi looks incredulous. “Did she say something to you?”

“Er… it’s not exactly my secret to tell, Levi.” Erwin averts his eyes out of discomfort.

Levi stares at him hard, and his gaze was practically sharper than the swords that scouts carry. “Stop the carriage,” he speaks to the coach in front of them.

“Levi—”

“I said stop the carriage!”

The force of the abrupt stop makes Erwin sway from one side to another for a moment, and he widens his eyes at Levi, who only crosses his arms.

“We’re not leaving here unless you tell me what the hell is going on.” Levi’s voice is calm, but held a certain edge to it. As if he was not afraid to defy the commander.

“We cannot just stop in the middle of the road. There could be other carriages behind us.”

“I don’t care. Start talking, eyebrows.”

“I’m your commander. I can easily tell them to keep moving.”

“Go for it. I’ll jump out.”

Erwin slightly narrows his eyes before telling the coach to continue. Without any hesitation, Levi braces himself to leap out of the carriage, and Erwin’s eyes widen before stopping the coach again. “Alright, point taken, Levi!” Drama queen.

“Start talking.” Levi sits back down, arms crossed.

“It’s not my place to tell. Eve is an intelligent woman. If she chooses to keep it secret from you, then I will honor her choice.”

“So she does have something to hide? There’s a fucking reason why she’s doing all this shit?” A flicker of hope appears in Levi’s eyes, but it was gone as instantly as it appeared. “If you don’t want to tell me the entire story, at least answer one question, Erwin.”

“Levi…”

“Come on, just one fucking question. Answer it as my friend.”

Erwin sighs, but he nods in defeat, waiting for Levi to ask.

Levi clenches his jaw, staring intently at Erwin. “Is he hurting her? Yayoi?”

Erwin softens. For a moment, he thought that Levi would ask if Eve loved Yayoi or not. But his question did not surprise Erwin at all.

“No, Levi. He isn’t hurting her at all. Yayoi Tietjens is a good man, and he has watched over Eve for the last five years. He genuinely cares about her.”

A flood of relief fills Levi and he leans back into his seat. Erwin watches as Levi tells the coach to move forward, and the horses continues their journey to Stohess. They come closer towards the chapel, inch by inch. And Erwin can see the way Levi tightens the way he crosses his arms over his chest.

They reach the chapel, and the 104^th were already waiting for their captain. They all salute him and the commander before Erwin leaves to go look for Eve. Apparently, Erwin will be walking her down the aisle. Fucking hell.

Eren and the others lead Levi to their seats inside the church, and they were situated just five benches behind the front row seats.

It felt strange, because Levi is aware that Eren is the only cadet who actually knows about him and Eve from ten years ago. Possibly even Mikasa. It makes Levi slightly uncomfortable. It was bad enough that Hange and Erwin knew, but for his own subordinates to have some knowledge that Levi is able to feel romantic feelings for someone… it disturbed him to a degree.

He can see Yayoi by the altar, talking to some guy who is probably the groomsman. They speak so casually and the air around them is light, which makes Levi clench his fist. Does the man even know who he was about to marry? How the hell isn’t he a wreck right now? If that was Levi, he’d be uncharacteristically panicking.

His fists relax.

But it’s not him. Eve isn’t marrying Levi. She’s marrying Yayoi.

Levi stands between Eren and Jean, and he can hear Eren discuss something with Mikasa.

“So, Historia’s not coming?”

“She’s the queen, Eren. She can’t just attend a wedding this far from the palace. But I heard that one of her retainers delivered some gifts earlier.”

“Bummer. The doctor would’ve loved her to be here.” Eren frowns. “I would’ve loved it if she attended.”

Mikasa snaps her head towards Eren, brows knotting together. “Really?”

“Yeah.”

“Historia is in love with Ymir.”

“…What’s that have to do with anything?”

Mikasa looks away. “Just thought you should remember.”

Eren scrunches his nose in disgust. “I’m not into Historia, if that’s what you’re thinking.”

“I wasn’t thinking that.”

Eren snorts. “Right. Well, Historia is just a friend.”

“I know that.” Mikasa mutters, looking back towards the aisle.

Levi notices how Eren glances at Mikasa as she averts her eyes, a small amused smile appearing on the boy’s face. It makes Levi soften, and his eyes wander back in front of himself. He can see Hange approaching with a big smile, waving enthusiastically as they squeeze through the cadets just to sit next to Levi.

“The hell are you doing? You have your own seat!” Levi hisses at them in annoyance.

“I want to sit next to you!” Hange pouts, turning to Jean. “You wouldn’t mind scooting over, would ya? Jean boy?”

Jean is flustered and was about to move, when Levi firmly grabs his arm. “I mind. Whoever planned the wedding’s got to have a seat for everyone, Hange. Go back to where you’re assigned.”

Hange huffs. “At least let me sit here up until Eve arrives!”

Levi contemplates, but releases Jean so he could awkwardly scoot over. Hange grins happily and sits next to Levi.

“What do you want?” Levi lowers his voice, trying his best not to be heard by the cadets surrounding them.

“I just wanted to sit with you!”

“Bullshit. Tell me what it is.”

Hange pouts. “Fine. I wanted to check on you—”

“I knew it. Get up. Go back.” Levi grabs their wrist to tug them forward, but Hange resists.

“Come on, Levi,” Hange frowns. “I’m genuinely concerned—”

“We are not doing this here,” Levi hisses at them. “Now, go back to your fucking seat before I drag you there.”

Hange looks concerned, but they stand to walk away. Levi sighs, palming his forehead before taking out his pocket watch to check the time. Only three more minutes.

This could be the longest three minutes of his life. He’s just wondering now what could happen in three minutes. Come to think of it, three minutes is still ample time for anything to happen. Who knows, maybe someone can fucking crash the wedding and start killing everyone. At this point, Levi wouldn’t mind, honestly. He might even thank them.

Never in Levi’s life has he ever wished for a fucking titan to attack them today… but here he was.

What jolts Levi awake is how the tall doors were suddenly open, only one minute earlier than expected. The guests all turn around, and Levi stands once he realizes something off. Because it wasn’t Eve who was revealed by the wooden doors, it was Erwin.

The guests were enraptured by the commander’s presence that it rendered the chapel silent as Erwin walks up the altar to whisper something to the groom. Yayoi listens with a frown before he is struck by a lightning of concern. Erwin barely finishes his sentence when Yayoi walks past him to leave the chapel.

The groom’s exit elicits a stunned response as whispers fill the room. Levi watches with a grim expression as Erwin walks up to him this time.

“What the hell happened? Is Eve okay?” Levi asks immediately, even when Erwin hasn’t stopped walking towards them yet.

Erwin shakes his head. “She fainted just after we left her dressing room. I brought her to the hospi…”

Levi barely heard what Erwin had to say, since he pushes past his own commander to hurriedly carry himself outside the chapel. He can hear his squad following behind him, equally concerned over Eve.

“Captain!?” Eren stammers, unsure what else to do as they all watch Levi grab his horse from the stable and sets off to the nearest hospital without another word.

He comes to a frantic stop once he arrives. Behind him, Levi can faintly hear the hooves of horses belonging to his squad, but he pays them no mind as he barges into the hospital, ignoring the nurse who calls for him to ask who he was looking for. Levi decides to look on his own by going through different curtains.

When he finds her, Yayoi was standing next to her bed, looking a bit clueless on what to do. He just looks at Levi in surprise when he suddenly barged in.

“Captain Levi?” Yayoi asks in confusion.

Levi ignores him and just watches Eve, who is pale as she sleeps peacefully. She was wearing a silk gown that she was supposed to wear underneath her dress. Somehow, his mind conjures up a similar image, although this time, her chest was not rising upwards and downwards as it currently is. His deepest fear.

He swallows, approaching Eve’s bedside. Levi can hear footsteps behind him and he knew it was the 104^th, looking concerned as well. Levi reaches for Eve’s hand, and he almost flinches from her cold skin. He can feel Yayoi’s eyes watching closely, so Levi pulls away.

“She’ll wake up within the next half hour,” Levi says, his voice is calm as he bore his eyes towards Yayoi, who was still wearing his suit for the wedding.

“This never happens,” Yayoi sighs, glancing at Eve.

Levi bit back his tongue, wanting to say that it does happen. A lot. Before he could say anything, the curtains were drawn again, and Erwin walks inside with Hange.

“How is she?” Hange asks.

Levi crosses his arms. “She’ll be fine. Let’s give her some space,” he looks at the cadets. “Tell everyone at the chapel that the wedding’s postponed.”

“Wait,” Yayoi frowns. “You said she’ll wake up soon.”

“Yeah. And I suggest that she sleeps for the rest of the day.” Levi looks at him, holding back a glare.

Yayoi lets out a hesitant chuckle. “Canceling the wedding for the third time in a row is a bit much.”

“Not if her health is on the line.”

“You said she’s fine!”

“She is.” Levi says through his teeth. “But she’s stressed the fuck out. Why the hell do you think she ended up like this?! You want her to get married while she’s in this state? She needs to rest. To hell with the wedding.”

Yayoi steps forward, his brows knotting as he slowly towers over Levi. “Watch who you’re talking to, captain. Don’t tell me what I can do with Eve.”

Levi just tilts his head, a small movement but it still makes the other cadets shrink from intimidation. “Who do you think you are?”

“I’m her husband.”

The corner of Levi’s lips quirk slightly, barely noticeable. “Not yet.”

Yayoi narrows his eyes. If Levi meant that him being Eve’s captain was more important than Yayoi being her significant other, Levi was legally right. As long as Yayoi was not Eve’s husband yet, Captain Levi’s word is still above Yayoi’s.

Although, Levi’s tone…

Erwin steps in. “That’s enough. It is inappropriate to have this conversation while Eve slumbers,” he looks towards Yayoi. “It’s best if you stay with Eve. I must apologize, but I agree with Captain Levi. Eve needs to rest. As her superior, he gets to make the decision. You can have the wedding on another day.”

Yayoi huffs and glares at Levi one last time before taking his seat next to Eve. Levi grits his teeth, glancing at Erwin. The commander says nothing, neither does the section commander. Levi doesn’t expect the cadets to say anything, so he leaves.

He ends up in a tavern, drinking down to the bottom of a bottle as he sits on a stool until evening. There is an empty seat next to him as usual.

“Another,” Levi calls out after his third bottle. He is tipsy, but he still has his shit together enough to ride a horse later. That’s what matters.

The bartender opens another bottle for him, and was eyeing him with slight concern. Something he ignores.

“Captain.”

Levi blinks, and he shifts in his seat to look over his shoulder. He frowns, looking at the person who called him. “The hell are you doing here?” He watches as she makes her way to the empty stool to Levi’s right, but he stops her as reflex. “No.”

She looks at him for a few seconds, but moves to his other side, sitting on the stool.

Levi’s frown deepens. “I asked you a question.”

“The commander was worried.”

Levi scoffs, raising his bottle again to drink. “There’s hardly a need to. Ackerman.”

Mikasa is just watching him. “I volunteered to look for you.”

Levi briefly looks at her. “Well, you found me. Happy?”

Mikasa stays quiet, just looking at the counter. Levi eyes her again, and there is a slight pressing feeling in his stomach that makes him feel concerned over the brat.

“Oi. Why are you really here?”

“I wanted to talk to you.” Mikasa meets his eyes. “We haven’t really… us being Ackermans. Eren said I should talk to you about it.”

Levi suddenly felt awkward, and the alcohol in his system definitely didn’t help. “What’s there to talk about?”

For the first time, Levi witnesses the strong Mikasa shrink a bit, and she nods before sliding off the stool. “My exact thoughts. I will wait by the door for you so I can assist you to come home when you are ready, captain.”

Before Mikasa could salute him, Levi grabs her wrist and sits her back down on the stool, glaring. “I didn’t say you should leave. Sit down, brat.” Mikasa is a bit wide-eyed, but she complies. Levi sighs. “So, you want to find out just how related we are, huh?”

Mikasa nods, and Levi shrugs.

“I don’t have anything to tell you, kid. All I know is that my mother is Kenny Ackerman’s sister. They were part of a family that was driven out of high society, and they ended up in the underground. My mom whored herself. Sold her body to keep herself alive. That’s how she got me. I don’t even know who my dad is,” Levi mutters, and Mikasa listens quietly. “Whoever he is, I hope he’s dead.”

Mikasa isn’t fazed by his words, and just remains quiet.

“I bet you had a horrible dad. Knowing him being an Ackerman, he was probably fucked up just like the rest of us.” Levi huffs with a humorless smirk.

Mikasa shakes her head. “My father was gentle. He was kind, and always smiled at me. He kept me and my mother alive and happy. Both my parents were good people who were just trying to get by.”

Levi glances at her, and sees the hint of grief behind her eyes. Well, at least there’s another Ackerman that broke the cycle of being a shitty person. He gives a single nod. “Good for you.”

“It was short-lived. They died when I was much younger.”

“Yeah. I know. I heard during Eren’s trial.”

Mikasa touches the red scarf around her neck. “My father said that he was just a child when he was separated from his family. He thought they were dead. He grew up in an orphanage, and the only way he knew he was an Ackerman was because of a letter in his pocket.”

Levi watches as Mikasa reaches into her uniform, pulling out a rough-looking piece of paper, having many creases to it that hints its age.

“I carry this with me all the time now.” Mikasa hands the paper to Levi and he reluctantly takes it.

He keeps his eyes on her as he unfolds the paper, and he goes to read it. Levi’s eyes soften, and a lump forms in his throat. He takes in the handwriting on the raggedy paper, feeling his chest tighten in ways that he forgotten it was able to.

To the blood of my blood. Never be ashamed of being an Ackerman. Kuchel

Levi feels his eyes sting, and he did his best to keep it inside. Mikasa watches him carefully, and the way Levi’s eyes are transfixed on the message make her heart thump.

“My father’s dad died before my father could walk. My father says this was the younger sister of my father’s dad. She is my father’s aunt. But she took care of dad like he was her son. They got separated. It’s all he can remember from his childhood. Just flashes of her…” Mikasa says. “Do you… do you know who Kuchel is?”

Levi’s eyes falter, and he returns the paper to Mikasa. She holds it in her hands, still watching Levi. As nonchalantly as he can, he answers. “My mother’s name was Kuchel.”

Mikasa also wavers, and she blinks a few times. It dawns over them that their blood is closer than they initially thought. They stay quiet for a moment, and Levi uses the silence to drink the rest of his bottle. He is unsure how to accept the newly laid information in front of him.

Mikasa averts her eyes. “I see.”

Levi can tell now that the two of them are similar in a way. Two Ackermans, alone in the world.

He swallows tightly. “It’s late. We should go back.”

Mikasa nods, and they both leave the tavern. They walk together in the night, and Levi is deep in his thoughts as he listens to their footsteps on the way back.

A niece. He has a niece. His last remaining family.

“She isn’t here.” Levi says to the man he sees in front of the gates that lead to the castle.

The man whips his head around to face Levi, and the captain only frowns at him in contempt. “Captain Levi.”

Levi crosses his arms and observes the man. “Civilians aren’t allowed in this area. Get lost.”

Yayoi lets out a soft chuckle. “Actually, I can come and go as I please. I provide the scouts’ alcohol supply here.”

“Doesn’t mean you can prance around here.”

“Where’s Eve?”

“Aren’t you the fiancé? Thought you’d know where she is.”

“You’re her captain. And you spend more time with her nowadays, since she got back to the scouts.”

“Fair point.” Levi stares back at him, still not answering his question.

At the beginning, Levi didn’t exactly hate Yayoi. Of course, he was jealous of him since he was there for the past five years of Eve’s life—that is more than the time Levi ever spent with Eve back then. But he couldn’t bring himself to hate Yayoi, only because there must be a reason why Eve wanted to marry him.

Levi didn’t want to think that Eve was in love with Yayoi, but that was the only reason he could come up with. After all, Eve didn’t say yes to Erwin despite how much she loved him back when she didn’t know Levi yet. But she said yes to Yayoi, which could only mean that she loved him more than she ever loved Erwin. Possibly even Levi.

So, how can he hate someone that Eve was in love with? If that were the case, Levi would push down all his feelings of jealousy, and choose to wordlessly thank Yayoi for making Eve happy.

However now, after Erwin’s confirmation that Eve is marrying Yayoi for ulterior reasons, and after witnessing Yayoi’s reaction to Eve fainting minutes before their wedding, Levi’s whole perspective changed. Especially towards Yayoi.

Yes, Erwin said that Yayoi isn’t harming Eve, and that he is (relatively speaking) a good man, Levi still could not forget Yayoi putting his own needs above Eve’s health. That was where Levi drew the line.

Now, he fucking hates Yayoi with every fiber of his body, and it takes a great deal of strength not to asphyxiate him on the spot.

“I must admit, I let my emotions cloud my judgement that day, when I kept pushing for the wedding to resume despite Eve’s health. I’ve apologized to her already, and now I’m apologizing to you,” Yayoi slightly bows his head, and Levi is momentarily stunned. “Please accept my apology, captain. I may have put your soldier in harm’s way that day. For that, I’m sorry.”

Levi blinks, but he sighs. “I don’t want your apology, Tietjens.”

“Yes, I know,” Yayoi nods, and he lifts his head again to meet Levi’s eyes. “What you truly want is my fiancée.”

Levi says nothing.

“I’m not a fool, captain. I’ve seen the way you look at Eve. Usually, it is nothing new to me for another man to look at my Eve that way. But given your proximity to her, and the fact that she’s your subordinate, I ask you to keep to yourself. Or things could turn out awful for you.”

Did he just fucking imply that I would take advantage of Eve? Levi narrows his eyes, taking a step forward without an ounce of fear. “You threatening me?”

Yayoi chuckles, shaking his head. “Not really. Consider this as friendly advice,” he also takes a step forward, almost towering over Levi. “I’ve done my research about you. The things you used to do back in the day? Heavy stuff,” Yayoi begins, and there is a sudden chill at the end of Levi’s spine. “What was it again? Furlan Church and Isabel Magnolia?”

Levi’s blood grows cold. He has not heard those names in years, and if he is being truly honest, he has not visited their graves in almost a decade. It was too painful to remember them, especially now that Levi is surrounded by children who remind him of them. Levi can only remember their faces now, but in order to move forward in his life, their faces should be all that Levi remembers.

Yayoi observes the cracking expression on Levi’s faces and he looks pleased. “How interesting would it be if it reaches the news that the famous Captain Levi used to be nothing more than a murderer?”

Levi’s hands curl into fists, and there was no point in denying it. “Those records were sealed. It would be illegal for you to dig them up. You’d go to prison for it.”

“Not if the information was sent to the publication, by an anonymous tip,” Yayoi chuckles.

Levi clicks his tongue, glaring at him. “Whatever. Publish anything about me, if you want. I don’t care. All the more reason for other people to stay the fuck away from me.” He says, completely unbothered by it as Yayoi’s face turns into a stunned expression. Levi sighs before turning around. “Now fuck off.”

As Levi walks away, Yayoi speaks again. “Poor Furlan Church and Isabel Magnolia. They died as heroes, but the papers will label them as murderers soon.”

That makes Levi stop walking, and his chest tightens. Levi clenches his teeth, and his blood was boiling hot as he slowly turns to face Yayoi again. “The fuck do you want from me?”

“Stay away from Eve.”

“She’s my fucking executive officer. Be more realistic.” Levi deadpans.

Yayoi pauses for a moment, but he ultimately gives Levi a look. “Eve plans to leave the scouts after you all retake Wall Maria. After that, cut all communications with her. Especially if it isn’t job-related.”

“If I don’t, you’ll publicize my past from the underground, huh?” Levi says in a bored tone. “You clearly planned this out. Are you that scared that Eve will leave you for me?”

“I’m more concerned that you’d use your position to extort favors from her.”

Levi almost smirks. As if it isn’t Eve who usually makes the first move on Levi. As if Eve isn’t the one to beg Levi to keep going, even after he asks if she is sure. What was there for Levi to abuse his position for, if Eve is the one who initiates things?

He holds back his tongue before he could say anything that could potentially put Eve in an unwarranted position. However, Levi couldn’t fully hold back.

“Did she ever tell you that she and I used to be together ten years ago?” Levi casually mentions. “If anything, she was the first one to ‘use her position to extort favors from me.’” Levi sarcastically says, using air quotes.

Yayoi’s eyes slightly widen. Well, at least that tells Levi that the bastard had no idea. “What are you talking about?”

Levi heavily sighs. “Why don’t you ask your fiancée about her and mine’s history, huh? I got better things to do. Don’t worry, I’ll add ‘cut all communications with Eve’ into my itenerary,” Levi says, before rolling his eyes and walking away without another word.

And that is exactly what Yayoi does the moment he finds Eve at headquarters, where the lab is located.

Eve stammers at the question. “Levi said what?”

“Yayoi frowns. “Is it true?”

“What were you doing at the castle? Were you looking for me?” Eve says instead. “I told you I was here.”

“I know.”

Eve pauses, and she softens. “You were seeking him out.”

Yayoi looks irritated. “I can’t just ignore the way another man literally barged into your room and held your hand while you slept, in front of me.”

“Yayoi—”

“Not only that, but my fiancée wouldn’t even give me a straight answer to a simple question. Is it true that you used to date him?”

Eve almost cringes at the term ‘date’ since it has probably never left Levi’s mouth before. Eve stays quiet for a moment. “Yes. We were together for a month, a decade ago. It’s not a big deal.”

Yayoi sighs. “It is a big deal, Eve. Because Captain Levi’s not someone who just dates, everybody knows that. And he was a scout for five months during the time you two met back then, when you recruited him into the scouts with Commander Erwin. It’s likely that you and Levi broke up when you quit. I’m only guessing now that you had no closure.”

Eve frowns, staring back at Yayoi. “…How did you know all of that? Those records are sealed. Not even the general public knew how long Levi had been in the scouts,” she mutters, and from Yayoi’s lack of response, Eve’s stomach drops. “You—” she pauses to calm herself by inhaling a breath. “You had Levi investigated?!”

“What was I supposed to do? You weren’t going to tell me anything.”

“Of course I wasn’t, because the private records of commanding officers are strictly confidential! Especially the information handpicked by the officers themselves! I’m sworn to secrecy, I could go to prison for blabbing about them to you,” Eve says in a frustrated manner. “Levi requested for his entire past to remain confidential. That’s why his origins before the scouts are ambiguous. The only public legal thing he ever did was to change his surname, and that’s it. Everything else is sealed, Yayoi, where did you even find out about this?”

Yayoi frowns, unsure why Eve is so worked up about this. “I have contacts with a certain fixer that takes deals in exchange for any request. I asked for Captain Levi’s background, it’s not a big deal.”

“Not a big deal? Yayoi, you just committed a crime and openly admitted it to me! How are you so nonchalant about this?” Eve yells in a hushed tone, before she pauses. “Wait, what fixer? What do you mean?”

“The fixer that deals with both the underground and up here on the surface. They’re quite reliable,” Yayoi says, but sees the paling expression on Eve’s face. “What is it?”

“When did you contact them?”

“…After the wedding got postponed. And I didn’t contact them directly. I only know someone who knows someone who knows another someone. Why? What’s wrong?”

“Everything is wrong, Yayoi. I don’t even want to look at you right now,” Eve turns away. “Please, go.”

“Eve—”

“Leave, already! God!”

From her tone, Yayoi didn’t want to anger her any further. He only gives her one last concerned expression before he leaves the lab. The moment she was alone, Eve breaks into tears and she slowly lowers herself to the ground, squatting as she buries her face into her palms.

Overwhelmed by her confusion, she just cries some more before she stands and fixes herself. Eve returns to the castle, where he finds Levi having tea in the mess hall. Eve glares, and she marches towards him.

Levi raises his brows at her. “I’m going to assume that—”

He barely finishes his sentence when a sudden impact hits him across the face, making him groan in surprise. This time, it wasn’t a slap. Instead, it was a full fist that swings across his cheek, knocking him across the room and toppling over the table. His tea spills on the floor, with the ceramics shattering.

Eve’s eyes are dark. “You are ruining everything! What the hell are you trying to do?!” Her voice booms across the mess hall.

Levi sits up on the floor, rubbing his bruising cheek as he looks back at Eve. “What am I trying to do? I’m not giving a shit anymore.”

“Oh, yeah? Not giving a shit?”

Eve starts to march towards him again to punch him across the face, but he catches her fist and pushes her back, the force was great enough to make Eve stumble and crash into the table that Levi toppled over. Eve remains lying on the broken table, an icy glare across her eyes as Levi casually approaches her with a blank expression.

“Not giving a shit about what exactly?”

“About ruining your fucking engagement. I don’t care anymore.”

Eve’s body fills with anger and she pushes herself back to her feet, and speed across the room to throw herself towards Levi with a war cry, pushing him down on the floor and swinging her fist again as she sits on his stomach. “Oh, really? You don’t care anymore?! Well, you seem to care a lot, since you fucking told him we used to be together, you sick fuck! You knew that will drive a wall between Yayoi and I, and you still did it. You’re such a fucking arsehole!”

Levi chuckles, even after Eve punches him across the face with so much anger. “I think you misunderstood me, Eve.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“When I said I don’t give a shit, I meant, I don’t give a shit anymore if I ruin your marriage. Hell, I’d do anything for you not to marry that guy. I’ll make sure that wedding gets postponed again, and again, and again and again. Until you change your mind. I don’t give a shit if it makes me look insane. Maybe I am. I don’t fucking care, Eve.”

Eve’s raised fist falters, and she stares back at Levi, who isn’t fighting back anymore as she prepares to hit him again.

“According to that god awful book, my bones are practically made of steel. Something you’d probably find interesting. Makes my teeth look fucking perfect, too,” he smirks, and she continues to waver, remembering the earlier days when they first met. “So, go ahead. Take your best shot. I don’t care how hard you hit me. I’m still going to love you, Eve.”

That makes her resolve shatter, but Levi barely got to see it because the hallway pads with heavy footsteps and astonished noises until some arms frantically pull Eve off of Levi, and other pairs of arms help Levi on his feet. Their confused and shocked voices were muffled by Eve’s own thoughts, and she turns away to practically run out of the room, while Levi stays behind with the 104th.

Before Eren goes to follow Eve, Levi stops him.

“Leave it, Eren.”

“But sir, sh-she assaulted you,” Again… Eren says with hesitance, as though he didn’t want Eve to be punished, but at the same time, he knew the rules.

“If word gets out, I’ll take her punishment,” Levi coolly says, brushing himself off as if nothing happened. “And I hope that word doesn’t go out. Do I make myself clear?”

There’s an echo of ‘yes, captain’ within the room, some with hesitation.

Levi nods, and he goes the opposite direction. “Clean this up. Replace that damn table.”

Everyone stands there, dumbfounded as they take a look around the mess in their cafeteria. Connie hesitantly yet curiously checks out the table that was destroyed. Sasha inspects it with him. Armin stays next to Jean as they both briefly look at one another cluelessly.

“What the hell happened?” Jean voices out the thoughts each one of them is having.

Eren glances at Mikasa, who appears to be frowning at the broken ceramics on the floor. Mikasa meets Eren’s eyes. She has no idea how to respond to Jean’s question either.

Chapter Text

The mission of taking back Wall Maria draws nearer and nearer until it was only a few weeks before their march.

During this time, it seems like the other cadets have found out that Mikasa was actually Levi’s niece. Armin was the most ecstatic about it.

“It’s incredible! The man Eren and I have been admiring since we were kids turns out to be your uncle! I mean, how amazing is that!” Armin giddily tells the group.

Mikasa is hiding the way the tips of her ears are burning. “It’s not a big deal…”

“Not a big deal?” Jean scoffs. “Captain Levi is your uncle. He’s probably the only father figure you have now, you can’t just ignore that, Mikasa.”

“Jean’s right. It’s kind of amazing, you know!” Connie cheers. “The two strongest scouts are actually related. You have to admit, it’s pretty cool.”

Sasha nods vigorously, munching on a piece of bread. “Is it weird that I’m not that surprised you two are related? You’re both so gloomy.”

“Sasha! You can’t just say that about other people!” Connie groans.

“What! I’m just saying!”

Mikasa looks away, but she stands up when the commander and the captain walk in the room. The other cadets follow, and they salute towards the two men. Levi glances at Mikasa briefly, but her eyes were distant towards a different direction. It makes Levi frown a bit.

“All right, you brats. We’re going to the underground city tomorrow. Queen’s orders. I need you all to be prepared. Don’t mess this shit up.” Levi announces.

Queen Historia’s first project was to bring children from the underground to the orphanage and farm she had built. It was Levi who volunteered his team to gather the children and take them to the surface.

“Yes. I’ve come here to inform you all that the retaking of Wall Maria will commence in a few weeks time. We’re doubling our efforts this time.” Erwin looks towards Eren. “I hope by then that you are ready to utilize your skin hardening ability to seal those holes.”

“Yes, sir. I will do it.” Eren determinedly says.

“I know. Which is why you need ample rest. You will be excused from your team’s mission to the underground.”

Eren’s eyes widen, and he opens his mouth to protest, but Armin elbows him. As if to remind him that this is Commander Erwin. Eren salutes his commander. “Understood, sir.”

Erwin nods once, looking back at Levi. “I will see you at headquarters by sundown. Please inform Eve as well.”

“Sure.” Levi watches as Erwin leaves the castle on horseback, and Levi looks back at his team. “I know that you want to be part of the mission, Eren. But I can’t afford putting you in danger, or tire you out. It’ll really suck if you bite the dust in the underground, out of all places. That’s why I suggested to the commander that you sit this one out.”

“Yes, sir… thank you for being considerate.” Eren nods, but Levi can still see that the kid’s upset. He definitely wanted to be with them for this.

Levi sighs, not daring to push Eren. “Do any of you know where Eve is?”

It was difficult to ignore Eve, especially since they all live under the same roof. Neither of them want to start a conversation. After all, they broke the entire mess hall.

Right now, Levi was still walking on eggshells around her, but at least the heavy weight on his chest has been lifted. Eve knows what Levi feels about her, and it’s up to her if she wants something from Levi. He isn’t impatient when it comes to this, especially if it’s Eve.

“She’s with Section Commander Hange, sir. Something about spears.” Jean answers, raising his hand.

Levi grimaces. Right. That. “You don’t need to raise your hand, Kirstein.”

“R-Right.”

Levi spares Mikasa another glance. “Ackerman.”

She looks up, meeting his eyes. “Sir.”

“Uh…” what does he say? Fuck, where was Eve when you need her? “Come see me after training. I’ll be in the library by later.”

He doesn’t let her respond, since he immediately walks off somewhere to look for Eve. Mikasa is a bit stunned, but when her friends start snickering to tease her about having Captain Levi as an uncle, they were a bit taken aback when a small smile forms on Mikasa’s face.

When Levi arrives at the field, he had to take cover because of Hange. Levi’s arms shield his head as he crouches down, hearing an explosion while feeling the ground shake underneath his feet. Along with that, he can hear excited cheers from Eve and Hange.

Hange was jumping around while Eve yells with glee, their eyes being shielded by their laboratory goggles and making them both look even more ridiculous. Levi had to hold back a smirk upon seeing Eve be so childlike again.

“The hell’s going on?!” Levi raises his voice as he approaches, and the two of them straighten up. “Did you really have to test shit here? You’re too close.”

Hange removes her lab glasses, grinning happily at Levi. “Hello, Uncle Levi!”

Levi rolls his eyes while Hange cackles. “When are you going to stop calling me that?”

“When you stop acting like it!” Hange scrunches their nose while smiling at him. Levi offers a scoff.

Eve removes her glasses as well and looks at Hange. “I’m going to go check on the blueprints. Will you be alright?”

Hange nods at her and Eve spares a quick glance at Levi before making her way to the long table nearby. Levi clenches his jaw, but calms himself. When he goes to look at Hange, they were already looking at him.

“Tell her that she and I are going to headquarters to talk to Erwin. Our team’s going to the underground hellhole. Queen’s orders.” Levi says to Hange, and begins to walk away.

“Did—”

“Nothing happened.”

“Hey, I haven’t even asked anything yet!”

“Shut up. No questions about that. Just tell her.”

“Hmph. Fine. So, did ya talk to Mikasa?”

For a while, Levi has been (unfortunately) consulting Hange about advice on how to be a better relative to Mikasa. Hange was his only option so far, however, that didn’t mean Hange didn’t give awful advice.

“…I told her to come meet me at the library. We’re going to, um… I guess, read.” Levi tells her sheepishly, and Hange coos at his words.

“That’s so cute, Levi!” Hange cries.

“Shut up, Hange. Don’t even open your fucking mouth.”

They laugh. “It’ll be fine. Reading is a good bonding experience!”

“Yeah?” Levi prompts, needing some reassurance.

“Phst, no, it’s not!” Hange immediately says. “Reading is boring!”

“…You literally just said—”

“Not to mention unproductive.”

“You’re a scientist.” Levi frowns.

“So? You’re Captain Levi, Humanity’s Strongest! And your niece is Mikasa Ackerman, the War Goddess!” Hange points out. “And your first uncle-niece bonding experience is reading books? Give me a break!”

Now that Hange puts it that way, he feels rather stupid now. “Any suggestions, four eyes?”

Hange smirks. “I think the two of you should spar!”

Levi grimaces. “I seriously don’t think I should spend time with Mikasa by beating her to death.” Levi hesitates.

What if he hurts Mikasa in some way? What if he injures her? The worry appears on Levi’s face, and Hange reaches over to caress his shoulder.

“Hey, it’s nothing final. You could just ask her. Clarify it isn’t a command, but a suggestion! She can say no if she wants, and you can ask her if she would rather do something else.”

Levi huffs. “This is a lot of fucking work.”

Hange snickers. “Well, having a daughter is a lot, Levi! I don’t blame you!”

Levi’s face burns. “Sh-She isn’t my daughter.”

“You’re kind of her father figure, though,” they smirk as well. Levi holds back a groan in frustration. “And don’t pretend like you hate it.”

“I don’t love it.”

“Mhm. Sure.”

When Levi meets Mikasa in the library, Mikasa genuinely thought they were going to read, so she brought a notebook and everything.

She didn’t expect the captain to bring some bandages for their knuckles, or even a mat for sparring. It was surreal.

“You… want me to fight you?” Mikasa slowly words, and Levi tries his best not to grimace.

“Uh… yeah.”

Mikasa blinks, and they stand in front of one another for a few seconds, with him holding two rolls of bandages, and her holding a pen.

Levi watches as Mikasa puts her pen down and takes the bandage from him. She starts wrapping them around her knuckles, and a pleased smile appears on Levi’s face. It immediately disappears when Mikasa looks at him though.

That was how they ended up in the training grounds, surrounded by some cadets as they cheer the two Ackermans on.

Somehow, Levi instantly got flashbacks to a certain sparring activity ten years ago as well, and it gave him a wave of happiness. It was strange, because he actually felt happy when Mikasa thrashed him around using her strength. An Ackerman so young definitely has some advantages behind it. He hasn’t had a challenge in years.

Even when Levi props himself up with his elbows, he looks back at Mikasa with pride in his eyes. Around this time, Eve has entered the field to see what the commotion was about, and she ends up standing next to Eren as they all watch the two Ackermans spar.

“Had enough, captain?” There is mirth in Mikasa’s eyes, even when she doesn’t smile.

Those words. Levi chuckles, much to the audience’s surprise. He shakes his head, smirking a bit now. “Not even close, cadet.”

They spar, and it almost seemed like it went on forever, but everyone was at the edge of their seats. An Ackerman against another Ackerman, both soldiers being the best scouts in the Survey Corps.

The match ends when Mikasa sits on top of Levi’s back, his arm twisted around on his back as he is pressed into the dusty mat. Levi grunts, but reaches over to finally tap out. The cheers were deafening, and he feels the weight on his back be lifted until he can sit up again. He watches as Mikasa is lifted to the air by the cadets, celebrating her in a similar manner as Levi once was. He couldn’t help but feel his own chest swell with pride. Was this what Eve felt that day?

He feels a soft cloth on his forehead, and he looks up to see Eve cautiously watching him while wiping the sweat and dirt from his skin. He softens, and lets her clean his face before standing up. They both watch as Mikasa’s flustered and tensed body is being carried by scouts, but an awkward smile forms on the teenager’s face. She looks at Levi, and her smile slightly grows. Levi tips his head forward a bit as a bow. Levi always knew that Mikasa was one of a kind, but somehow, knowing that she was his blood… it made him prouder.

He glances at Eve, and she was slightly smiling at the sight of Mikasa being happy. Levi couldn’t help but feel warmth in his chest.

Later that afternoon, Levi decided to walk Mikasa to her room. Mikasa is much more comfortable around him now, and it was something that Levi appreciated. Hell, he fucking likes it, but he won’t admit to it.