[Y/n]'s POV

...

My eyes fluttered open, the grubby, untouched ceiling of an unfamiliar room filling my sleep-impaired vision as I awoke. I had a pounding headache that pierced through my skull, wincing as I rolled over.

Then I froze in place.

My nose brushed against something firm and warm...

What was I-

Oh my God.

My nose was pressed against Levi's abdomen, face shoved against his rock hard abs all because I simply rolled over. I was laying on his lap!

His shirt tickled my nose.

I was on the verge of gasping, of being overdriven with embarrassment and awkward breaths- But then I calmed down when I realized he was asleep, his eyes gently closed, plush lips closed tightly in that impertinent yet lovely scowl of his that manipulated his face even while he was lost in his dreams. I stared up at him, my hair sprawled out across his lap as my lashes danced, eyes shuffling over his enchanting facial structure. He looked so peaceful, in a state of such blissful serenity he never seemed to grasp while awake...

It was refreshing to see him like this; a breath of clean air after so many years of breathing in nothing but pernicious fumes.

I couldn't help but take in every little detail, immersed in his almost fictitious beauty. His face compelled my thoughts years into the past, my mind comparing him to that of the handsome princes portrayed in storybooks I had read as a child. He was strong, undeniably handsome, and would do anything to protect his, 'Kingdom,' or in other words, humanity...

And he rode a horse, too.

I laughed to myself at this fact, deciding indefinitely that he was a prince.

The best one yet.

My eyes continued to osculate across his cheeks, and then his jaw, and then his entire face. I knew it had hardly been a few days since the confession, since the day we stitched back our severed bond... But he was asleep... And I wanted to express my devotion to him.

I reached up, fingers gliding across his face as I cupped his cheek with thorough delicacy. My fingertips intricately explored the sharp edges of his cheekbone before coming to a halt.

I held him like this till I started to loose my breath, and pulled away upon a regretful exhale.

But I was stopped when Levi shot his arm up, grabbing my wrist and holding my hand there. His eyes were still closed, but he pushed his cheek into my palm, brows furrowing as if he couldn't quite read through the veiled meaning of the touch, but was strangely captivated by it nonetheless.

"Don't..." He whispered, the scarred skin of his cheek pressed up against my hand, the warmth traveling into my now quivering palm and down my arm as I gaped up at him, lips parted in a soft expression of incredulity. Levi opened his eyes now, the vacant glimmer of sleep still revolving around and around his grey irises that were now evidently blue in the morning sunlight that spilt across the messy office that I now recognized to belong to Hange.

I had a blanket draped over my body, my head still propped on top of the Captain's legs, his hand resting on my waist above the weighted blanket.

"Levi..." My voice was like the hushed breeze of a field in late June, lips matching the rhythm of my voice as I peered up at him with such wondrous sparks of curiosity in my eyes.

Why was he holding my hand there?

Why was he giving in to my touch?

So many questions...

And he let go...

Then my mind returned to the feeling of his hand that sat lamely on my waist. He was clearly unaware he was holding it there.

"Levi..." My voice matched the playful sweetness of the uncontrollable smile on my face. I couldn't help but feel like teasing him about it, but held myself back. "Your hand..."

His eyes went to his hand, and he awkwardly took it away, the warmth it was holding there gradually diminishing. "... Sorry." He cleared his throat softly, scowling in attempt to hide his subtle embarrassment.

A smirk crawled up my cheeks. "It's okay. Im sure this is a... Weird thing to say... But I didn't mind."

Its been years since the last time I'd tried to legitimately tease him. I was a little rusty in this field.

But Levi sure wasn't, because the next thing he did was look down at me, a brow raising as a crooked smile plastered onto his face instantaneously. It was faint, but still visible.

"... Are you flirting with me right now?" He asked foxily, eyes interlocking with mine.

His words had me speechless, every word in my head melting under his gaze. In my eyes, it was unbelievably seductive. Damn it.

I couldn't believe I was allowing myself to think this way so soon. We'd just barely stepped over one rigid barrier, and now I was already foolishly hoping for more?

... Maybe I should play along.

"Perhaps I am." I shrugged as I still lay with my head still on his lap, looking up at him, eyes involuntarily flashing with amorous intent. The silence only accentuated that crooked smile of his, as it was all I could blindly focus on.

"Is that so?" Levi stared down at me as he spoke lowly. Every single aspect of him I saw was just astoundingly alluring, my eyes trailing across his lips.

Stop, I urged myself. Don't be weird.

While I was busy trying to sort myself out in my head, Levi continued. "If you keep saying shitty things like that, I'm going to assume you're still drunk." He intoned vivaciously, eyes sparking with a humorous glint that I could clearly see even under the orange sunlight that still masked over his eyes.

I couldn't hold back a response that pricked at my tongue. "Well, drunk words are sober thoughts." I shrugged.

My words seemed to have vicariously made him tense up, his once stoic, relaxed eyes widening in a silently shocked expression in response. A few breathless seconds later, he rolled his eyes, that deadpan gaze of his returning. I was still laying on his lap.

"Then I guess that means all those words you said outside my door last night are true, then?" Levi questioned, voice laced with amusement; And what seemed like a bit of flirtation. My heart skipped a beat.

"Oh you wish." I sat up, elbow nudging his arm playfully as I shifted on the couch cushions, dust flowing off the covers and flitting around under the spotlight of morning light.

Levi's raven black hair swayed to the side as he leaned closer to my face, as if that smirk from earlier was manipulating his actions.

"Perhaps I do."

All I could do was blink daftly, skin burning, as if I was a young girl all over again who was easy to fluster. I had to bite back my faint embarrassment by returning his tone tenfold.

"Then I'm sure you'll be glad to know that I meant everything I said outside your office last night." I stated bluntly, keeping my expression composed. Still, a subtle flicker of sly intent glazed over my eyes momentarily.

"Every last bit."

Thanks to the flash of sun, I could see his pupils dilate in a way I couldn't quite decipher. The look on his face was vacantly secretive, yet it should have been so easy to read. I couldn't help but feel like deep down I didn't want to read it, that I didn't want to believe it just yet...

Not yet...

And thankfully, the abruptly suffocating atmosphere came crumbling down as Hange's bedroom door swung open, the ebullient Section Commander entering their office with their good eye glued shut from sleep. Their slovenly hair was tousled more than I'd ever seen, which I thought was impossible.

Levi and I exchanged knowing glances, sharing the same thoughts.

Hange was always like this. It was no surprise.

"Good morning you two!" Hange said through a hefty yawn, teeth bared slightly before her mouth closed again. Her eye shifted over to Levi. "So you did stay after all."

Hange's words bestowed upon me a new question. I turned to Levi, my eyes searching him for answers.

"Now that I think about it, why did I wake up on your lap?" I prompted, curiosity boiling over. Levi's stoic expression broke slightly as Hange answered for him from across the room, but he quickly restored it as he scowled and looked away.

"He came in here late last night all worried about you! You should have seen his face, he was so eager to be by your side," Hange snickered. I could tell by the look on her face that she was exaggerating, but I still took her words with pure hilarity when I saw Levi's face. I enjoyed seeing Levi so bashful.

However, his form of being, 'bashful', is scowling and averting eye contact.

Still, I'll take what I can get.

"Oh my," I put my hand up to my mouth to dramatize my response. "Was he now?"

Levi looked up at me once again, glaring fiercely into my eyes, as if daring me to say another word and see what would happen.

"Both of you shut your filthy mouths." He commanded dryly, stifling a scoff as Hange only persisted. "You're both acting immature. I was just checking in on a friend."

"Only telling the truth," Hange shrugged, walking over to her office desk and plucking her folded eyepatch off the top. Hange put it on. Adjusting it to hide the scar of their missing eye. "Nothing more, nothing less."

Hange then crossed their arms over their chest as they looked at me, then to Levi once more.

"She was simply inebriated, Levi," Hange began. "And yet you couldn't keep yourself from wandering in here ready to nurse her back to health." Hange then gestured to a cup of lukewarm water on the table, likely from awhile ago. "He even brought you water to sober you up!"

"You're pushing your damn luck, four-eyes." Levi's expression was advising her to choose her next words carefully. He clearly wasn't fond of the back-and-forth mention of how he'd reacted to my drunken charade last night.

"Maybe I am," Hange didn't seem to care. "Still, as I said before, I'm only thing the truth."

Before Levi could respond, I shifted my sights back to him and smiled gratefully, heart fluttering ever so slightly. The feeling was unfamiliar, but welcomed. Still, I chose not to acknowledge it.

"If what Hange says is true, there's no need to get defensive. I appreciate it." I assured him that I wasn't feeling smothered by his fervent need to watch over me, despite the fact we'd just got back onto normal speaking terms. I wanted him to know that I wasn't going to push him away again for something so small, something so...

Considerate.

No matter how soon it was, I didn't reject his approach and attempt at being friends again... Or...  Would enemies be more accurate? ...Frenemies? No, thats a stupid word. Forget it, it doesn't need a label. All I want is to be able to talk to him, and I'll be content with anything.

...

... Anything?

My mind wandered, and I quickly rose to my feet to tear myself out of the fantasy world my mind was drifting off too. I needed to leave before I said or did something dumb.

"I'm going to go get some breakfast. I'll see you two around." I said, leaving the room quickly before either one of them had the opportunity to respond.

The door shut behind me

●●●

《Chapter 24》• Old Ways

●●●

I had busied myself with training. I was geared up from head to toe, the ODM gear tight against my weathered limbs. A morning dove cooed dulcetly in one of the lone trees that surround the rustic training yard of HeadQuarters. I always loved to loose myself in the melody the birds sang, closing my eyes to soak in the sound.

The sound of the birds was one thing that harbored my sorrows all those years ago when fighting titans outside the Walls. It reassured me that there was some life titans couldn't affect.

And now that the titans are mostly gone, a new threat came into view.

So many people died to get rid of the titans, just for humanity to be the real threat. I can't help but wonder if it was all for nothing...

"Oi."

I peered over my shoulder, decently shocked to see Levi in his gear as well. He was flexing his fingers as he held the weighted handle of his blade, eyes going back to the triggers after he got my attention.

"You going to actually do something? Or are you just going to stand there like an idiot all day?" He asked flatly.

I laughed. "Probably the latter."

"Then let me stand with you."

He promptly walked over, his sharp features outlined in the sunlight that overlooked us both. My eyes trailed over his face before they drifted down to his uniform. He had disregarded the new black uniform, at least for the time being. He was wearing the old get-up, the worn, brown military jacket loosely on his body.

"I haven't seen that uniform in awhile." I muttered. "At least not from anyone in the Scouts. The Military Police still stroll the streets in those jackets, but..." My voice trailed off.

"It's nice to see you wearing it." I told him, eyes flitting up to his as I awaited his response. Levi hummed in return, his pensive eyes shooting up toward the sky.

"I guess I'm just used to it." He intoned in that usual tone that never displayed anything far from boredom. Still, I didn't mind. His dull responses were all I could have possibly asked for. Talking to him relieved all the stress from the last few years that had built up like a pile of dirty clothes.

I gave him the warmest smile I could muster, hoping it expressed my appreciation to him.

He meant a lot to me.

That much was evident.

Authors Note;

Hello again!

First off, I'd like to apologize for the extremely late update.

In all honesty, I got wrapped up in Charcater Ai, and it absolutely tore away my writing ability and motivation to write. I had to drag myself over here to finish this chapter I've had sitting stagnant for months.

I sincerely apologize, even though this story hardly has any reads.

I'm a bit sad that all my effort has gone to waste, but I'm going to keep trying to finish this. I really liked where I was going with this story.

I can't promise that the future chapters will be written as good as the older ones.

Writers block is insane.

But, I will be trying.

See you in the next chapter!