Chapter Text
I
The big salon is filled with rich fat pigs all over, everyone scrutinizing him, calling him over to look at him, feast on his sight. Levi feels as though they believe they own him. One of the women almost asks him to do a twirl, to appreciate his entire figure but he shot such a sharp gaze at her that she froze in place and fell back. It is even worse with Erwin, both women and men are clinging to his arms, caressing his back and even daring to reach their hands up to his face, to caress his cheeks and comb his hair like he’s a fucking toy. Eye candy, one of the women had called him.
It is supposed to be work. Levi has just been named Captain and the nobles want to meet him, wanting to assess if their money is being well spent in the corps. It’s not every day you meet Humanity’s Strongest Soldier, and they wanted to make a big party about it. Because that is work too, but in the political sense. It isn’t slashing titans' napes off their bodies, it is kissing asses, smiling and playing along. Erwin has been next to him almost all night, pushing his back, grabbing his shoulder, like he is a dog on a leash that needs to be guided around like he needs a nanny.
“I’m impressed!” a woman says after greeting both of them. Levi can't tell the difference between her and the previous one that they have just spoken to. “Did you really not get any proper training before joining the Survey Corps?” And she asks the same stupid questions.
“Yes,” Erwin answers for him like he has most of the night. “He is a self-taught soldier. After his joining the Corps we still had some work to do in sanding off the rough edges. Regardless, Levi’s skills are beyond anything we’ve ever had.”
Levi glowers at him. Rough edges. What a dick, what a pain in the ass this whole night is. It is also a new side of Erwin. As a commander, he might be stoic, cold, impassive, manipulative even, but he is bearable. This guy, the one doing politics, is a fake, a fucking fraud to Levi’s eyes. The only thing that kept Levi afloat was the food, it has been long since he ate so much and so well, being that soldiers in the barracks are living with the bare minimum.
There is peace at last, after hours of being swarmed by people with red chubby cheeks and red noses, everyone leaves their surroundings and no one seems to get close for a while.
“Would you join me outside?” Erwin asks, putting his hand on Levi’s back, so it feels more of an order than an actual question.
Levi wouldn’t have imagined the park behind that mansion was that big. It’s one of the nobles' houses, according to what he’s heard. There is green land spreading across the back door. The pig owns a place as big as the barracks themselves and could probably hold more people in less crawled spaces. They head out to a big balcony from the first floor that completely surrounds the back of the house entirely, a huge patio. The night is freezing cold, and nobody really dares to go outside, even Levi wouldn't have either, but being away from the chatter and out in the silence is worth it.
"You make quite the impression with everyone, it seems," Erwin says once they walk away far enough from the big doors that lead to the salon.
"Mmm, as always they are surprised I'm not as tall as they expected"
Erwin chuckles. "That's not what I mean."
"I know what you mean, Erwin. I just don't care."
"I really appreciate you coming here, going along with all these formalities. This will impact greatly in our funding. We need the clothes, the steel and the food."
"These fat fucks have enough food for all of us,"
"Levi,"
"What? There's no one around!"
Erwin asked him to keep his foul language to a minimum on their way over to the party.
He smiles. "Fine, get it out of your system then, before we go back in."
"Is disgusting really, the things you do to get us money," Levi says after a while, rocking his body and crossing his arms to fight the piercing cold.
"I beg your pardon?"
"The way you smile and talk to them. Who are you? Why do you put up with this shit?"
"It is my job, Levi."
"And the way they touch you? Sickening, and they touched me, too. What the fuck do they think we are? Their play-dolls?" Levi says, body trembling.
"We are their entertainment, yes. Are you cold?"
"I'm fucking freezing," he answers, clenching his teeth.
"Let's go back inside."
"No," Levi says abruptly, putting his hand on Erwin's chest to stop him from moving. "Let me have peace for another minute, please."
"All right," Erwin answers as he takes off his coat.
"What…"
"This will help you endure it for a while," he says, placing it on Levi's back.
He is about to refuse, to push it away but the coat is gigantic and he immediately feels warm as it gets close to him and blocks the wind. With the coat draping over his shoulder, Levi can feel himself in a bed, embraced and cosy. He snaps out of that train of thought and uses his hand to close up the front and let the cold out.
"Thank you," he finally says. "What about you?"
"I've had enough to drink," Erwin answers, looking back at the vast green space before them.
Levi snorts and looks away too. "Is that how you do it? You numb the commander out of you with alcohol and replace it with this motherfucker?"
"Am I so bad, now?"
"Un-fucking-bearable. You wouldn't even let me speak."
"I'm sorry, I didn't notice you were so eager to speak to these people. By all means, you can take the lead now."
"Fuck you."
Erwin chuckles. “I mean it, you could really help with the burden of it. Learn the ropes, we will have to do this again, sometime from now.”
“You mean train me in ass-kissing?”
“In politics.”
“Same shit.”
“Yes, but that would be the first lesson,” he says, tilting his head in Levi’s direction. “Never call it for what it is.”
“Is that so?”
“Just that simple, yes. We don’t say one-third of our men died in our last expedition, but that we had the misfortune to 'lose valuable brave men.' We don’t tell them we’ve almost starved during winter and that there were not enough quilts for the entire force, but that we 'require our basic necessities to be met to provide them with the best service possible, that we need permission to harvest food ourselves apart from that of the people.”
“We don't tell them they are fat pigs, but wealthy members of the nobility?”
Erwin slightly pushed him with his elbow.
“I’ll behave inside, I swear,” Levi promises.
“I know, I don’t believe you would’ve said anything wrong either. It is always refreshing to hear someone speak their mind.”
Levi ponders on that for a while. "So you were not controlling me in there?" he asks, raising an eyebrow.
"Controlling you how exactly?"
"To avoid me spilling the beans or whatever, make an embarrassment out of ourselves."
Erwin turns to him confused. "I'm really sorry to hear that's how I came across," he says. One of his hands moves as if he is going to grab Levi on the shoulder again but he backtracks. "I… just know how to work around these gatherings, I was working automatically. I know what they want to hear, I just rearrange the words for them."
Levi looks at him, scrutinizing him, his expression changed, and seems taken aback, forgiving.
"I will be more attentive," Erwin continues. "This is the first time I brought company, but I have no excuse for my behaviour. By all means, you are free to speak your mind, as I said. You are the star of the evening, after all."
Levi clicks his tongue. "I hate this."
"Thank you for enduring it, really, Levi," Erwin says, jaw stiff.
"Now you are the one freezing," Levi takes the coat off his shoulders; the wind hits his neck immediately, it’s a paralysing sensation. He fucking hates being cold. He hands it to Erwin. "Let's go back inside."
Two women jump to Erwin's neck as soon as they cross the double doors, telling him they have been looking for him. One of them spreads her hand over Levi's shoulder, greeting him, telling him he’s smaller than they thought. Then, they pull from Erwin's jacket, yanking him in their direction.
"Ladies, please," Erwin says with an easy smile.
"Oi, be gentle with our commander," Levi says as smoothly as he manages, stepping closer to them, sick of seeing the man being pushed and pulled at anyone's will. "We need him alive for our incoming expedition."
"You are going on an expedition? Outside the walls?" one of them asks with their eyes wide open, nose red, breath stinking of alcohol.
"That's usually how it goes, yeah," Levi deadpans.
The girl slaps Levi's shoulder, chuckling. Levi doesn’t flinch, he looks up at Erwin who is still smiling, a different smile now though.
"The party is about to be over, gentlemen," the other lady says. "Wouldn't you like to join us for a late drink?"
"I'm afraid we've drunk enough," Erwin answers. "We have a lot of work to do, we really should not extend our visit."
"We can skip the drink, Commander," she insists, shooting a lascivious look at Erwin. But he remains unmoved and polite as if he doesn't even pick up the obvious invitation.
"Thank you, ladies, another time maybe." he gently says, putting his hand on Levi's back and walking away.
The warmth helps him acclimate, and also, it isn’t as annoying anymore. Levi misunderstood the whole picture, Erwin is not pushing him around, he is just asking him to walk by his side.
More uninteresting idle conversations come up when another group of drunkard men approach them, followed by their wives, who unashamedly look at Erwin. Somehow, Levi feels like he can speak more, and people even seem delighted by his uninterested demeanour. One or two profanities slip his lips, but the group is so drunk they find it hilarious and refreshing, resulting in more unnecessary touching on their part, unfortunately for Levi. A saving hand grabs his shoulder and pulls him away from them delicately: Erwin. The perfect excuse to move over to a different area of the room. Teamwork, just like outside the walls, no words needed, everyone does their part and moves on, now it makes sense.
Levi notices Erwin started smiling a lot more in his direction, too. Maybe he is enjoying himself, maybe he is proud that Levi has learned how to move around this fancy place. As if he is captivated by Levi’s skill, that stupid look he gave him the first time Erwin saw him take down a titan by himself. He remembers that stupid pathetic look very clearly, and how good it made him feel.
“I believe we can head out now,” Erwin says at one point, lowering his head to speak in Levi’s ear, the warmth of Erwin’s breath tickling his neck. Levi nods.
They walk across the room with confidence and determination, almost as if they have somewhere to be, but Levi knows they don’t. Once they cross the main threshold and the cold air hits Levi’s face again, he breathes freedom. He also breathes in the capitol, a distinct smell he hates so much after living under it, after knowing what these rich assholes really smell like.
“Won’t they be mad that we’re leaving before them?” Levi asks once they are inside the carriage sitting across from each other.
“Trust me, it is better this way,” Erwin answers, losing his tie, then unbuttoning his collar. ”If we leave at the same time they do, we risk getting pushed in one of their carriages.”
“The lady with the big flower in her hair definitely wanted to take you home.”
Erwin smirks. “Yes, her husband too. I don’t believe there was ever a night they didn't make an indecorous proposition to me.”
Levi twitches his nose. “You take it too lightly,” he says disgustedly.
Erwin ponders over it for a second. “You are right, I’m sorry.”
The movement of the carriage and the sound of the horses galloping over the brick road feel like a lullaby, Levi crosses his arms and legs and stares outside the window, about to doze off. When he looks back at Erwin, the man is smiling—grinning even.
“You enjoy these shitty parties, don’t you?”
Erwin is startled, he sits straight and hesitates before answering. “No... I… I usually don’t,” he finally says. “It was nice having some company for a change.”
Levi has no idea what to answer, he stares back at the window, he is running out of witty comments, too tired to even open his mouth again. So he lets it go.
When he realises he fell asleep, they are already arriving at the barracks and Erwin is patting his knee to wake him up. The carriage stops right in front of the stables and they get down. But on the way inside, Erwin heads to his office.
“Where do you think you are going?” Levi asks, grumpy in a way.
“I have letters to write and send first thing in the morning, to all the people that have just promised to help us. I have to remind them of our needs.”
“Fine,” Levi answers, walking in his direction.
“What…”
“I’m keeping you company, got any tea?”
“Levi, you should go get some rest.”
“I slept just fine on the way over here, do you have any tea? Or should I get some from my dorm?”
“I do, I have—” Erwin says hesitantly.
“Good, that should help you stay awake. I want to badmouth those assholes some more, too.”
Natural light starts to creep into Erwin’s office while he is still working. Levi is there too, he spent all night pouring tea and disparaging all the people they met at the party. He somehow managed to understand Erwin was not that much of a stuck-up. It was just that being the commander means being two different people at the same time, maybe even more. He needed to be ruthless and sharp on the field and kind and phoney at the parties. Levi can only be unpleasant.
“Commander!” Someone says by the door.
“Come in.”
“Sir,” the young recruit says with a formal salute, “The Garrison is requesting our help, there’s a large number of titans jumbled together southwest of Wall Maria.”
Levi sits back straight in his chair. “How many?”
“Over ten of them, Sir. The Garrison is unable to go forward, there are too many.”
Levi gets up immediately. “I’ll gather some people and deal with this, prepare our horses,” he orders and looks at Erwin who nods back.
The recruit leaves right away.
“Give your wrist a rest, Erwin. I’ll be back with more paperwork for you in the afternoon.”
“I will give it a try,” he answers with a deep sigh, seemingly immersed in his papers again.
Levi gives him a look before walking to the door.
“Levi.”
He looks at Erwin over the shoulder holding the doorknob. “Yeah?”
“Would you like to drink some tea tonight, as well?”
Levi looks ahead, his lips involuntarily turning up in a smile. “Fine,” he says, “But I’m bringing my own tea.” Then he leaves.
Cleaning the walls is supposed to be an easy job, ride south from the West gate, lure the titans away and slash them down. But one of the recruits gets reckless and is almost trampled to death so Levi goes to his aid. He leaps from his horse and uses the maneuvering gear to grapple the titan's foot and slice it to pieces.
When he is about to land on his feet, another recruit comes out of nowhere and gets in the way. Levi tries to dodge and ends up crashing right into the near side of the horse, feeling his shoulder almost out of place and strong pressure on his chest. They manage to knock the titan down eventually, but the soldier keeps apologising for it the whole way back into the barracks. Levi, on his side, couldn’t care less, he is relieved this mission did not end with any casualties.
Back in the commander’s office, Levi goes over the whole situation and is asked to go to the infirmary, which he refuses to do. He is only tired, which is not news. He just wants to be done with it and take a shower once and for all. But as soon as the squad walks out of the room, Levi notices the commander staring at him.
"I don't need to go to the infirmary, I'm fine" he excuses himself.
Erwin smiles. “Alright, see you tonight.”
Levi knows exactly what tea leaves he wants to bring over to Erwin’s office, they are his favourite ever since he got them while walking through the markets the past month. It cost him a small fortune but he didn’t really have anything else to spend his money on; drinking a nice cup of fancy tea is his joy.
He thinks about it on his way out, and even though he longs for a nice hot shower, he first steps into the dining area. Levi doesn’t eat much but the warm mashed potato shoots shivers through his spine as he swallows it, and he immediately feels his eyelids get heavier. The recruit he saved earlier has been staring at him since he walked in, and when Levi stands up to leave they get closer to him.
"I said this before and I don't see why I have to do it again,” Levi says before they open their mouths. “Stop apologizing; next time just be on alert and don't let fear get to you. That's how people die. If you don't want to see your comrades die, get over your fear. Use this experience as a lesson."
The recruit says nothing at all, they bump their fist on their chest and stand there. Levi dismissed them with a gesture of the hand.
When he reaches the inside of his quarters, the chimney is burning on his left and lighting the whole room. He unhooks the harness on his chest and feels the relief on his skin. Then he leaves the jacket on the chair and walks to get some clothes before getting back to the public showers. He stands under the water for a while with his forehead against the wall. He can feel the muscles on his right arm completely tense from the impact. The warmth relaxes his muscles and burns there where he scratched his skin. He lets out a long loud yawn, thinking he’s not so sure he has much else to talk about with Erwin.
Levi dries up and dresses up then gets back to his room to pick up his cravat and tea.
“Leviiiiiiiiiiii!” Something bumps the door. This is definitely Hange.
Levi opens the door slightly and glares at her. “What is it, four-eyes?” The stench of his comrade immediately hits his nose, making him flinch.
“Lev!, I’m so happy you are here, you have got to hear this! We just got back from a quick survey. You’ve got to come, get ready!”
It’s clear they were hoping Levi had opened the door a bit wider because they peer around him to try and catch a sight of the room behind him
“Are you busy?” They ask.
“Yes, I can’t go right now, maybe later. Do yourself a favour and take a shower in the meantime. You stink of piss and reek of sweat.”
“Oh, right!” Hange smiles from ear to ear. “I had to carry Abel on my back and he had peed all over himself after a titan spoke to him.”
Is Levi hearing this right? Hange may be bonkers but why make up anything like that?
“What do you mean a titan spoke to him?”
“See? I told you you would want to hear this! We are making a full report to the commander in ten minutes, you’ve got to be there—”
Levi shuts the door in Hange’s face and continues dressing up. He walks in front of his mirror, buttoning up his shirt and stares at the silver-plated tea box on the table sitting across from him. What’s the point in bringing it now? He picks up a white cravat from his drawers and hangs it around his neck. Without taking his eyes off the tea box he sits down next to the table. A feeling of disappointment shrouds his mind and it feels silly. Was he somehow looking forward to a special time with the commander? That's just fucking ridiculous. This is actually better, just focus on work, and be done with it. What could have happened during Hange’s titan research anyway?
He holds the cravat from one end and slides it off his neck. After what Hange seems to have gone through, all of this should be unimportant anyway. Levi stands up and leaves the piece of clothing on the table, takes the tea box and heads out to Erwin’s office.
Commander Erwin is sitting on his chair at his desk, holding his chin above clasped fingers, his elbows resting on the surface. In front of him are Hange and Abel, the last one uneasy and grabbing his face with his hands. They are both covered in filth and have already stank the whole office.
“Levi, you're finally here!” Hange is definitely excited to begin telling their story.
“Squad Leader, please, I don’t want to go through this again” Abel, on the other hand, seems devastated, he’s not enjoying this as much as Hange.
Levi walks across the room towards the tea table without saying a word. He sets the silver plate box on top and leans against the wall, crossing his arms. Hange frowns, looking at him and the box, then smiles again and starts yapping about their titan encounter.
“As you know, we left two days ago, towards the forests southeast of the walls,” they explain. “My squad and I only had ten people on them, so we moved pretty quickly. We reached the forest first thing in the morning today. Abel and I had been excited to find a particular type of titan that, according to the southern brigade—”
“Oi,” Levi interjects. “You said you had something important to say, is any of this shit necessary? Get to the point already.”
He knows Hange would beat around the bush unless someone put a stop to them.
“Ok, ok. So we encountered a very numb titan, he was not engaging or moving around whatsoever, but at one point, it stared at Abel… and spoke…”
Levi glances at Erwin and finds the man looking back—side-eyes. Abel is curled up in his chair, he is not trembling anymore, completely exhausted.
“Hange,” Commander Erwin mutters, looking back at them in an attempt to hasten the matter.
“ I'm here, ” Hange hisses with a big smile. Abel sits back straight looking at Hange. Erwin and Levi look at each other again.
“I heard My dear .” Abel’s words make all eyes go back to Hange who turns completely red.
“What are you talking about? It clearly said I'm here ,'' Hange says with wide eyes behind their glasses.
Levi clicks his tongue. “So you heard the beast spew a sound and made a huge fuss about it.” Levi should’ve imagined batshit-crazy-Hange would come up with something like this.
“No, I swear these were perfectly spoken words. Abel!” Hange looks at his comrade hoping for some support.
“It was just mumbling,” Levi snaps.
“It was not, I swear it was words!” Abel retorts, clearly getting upset again.
“So, which one was it, here or dear ?” Levi is getting impatient. “These creatures have been grumbling since day one, how is this any news?”
“Levi.” The commander's words echo through the room.
“Tch,” he exclaims, leaning back on the wall.
Abel, on his part, squeals and covers his face again.
“Hange, your research on titans has always proven useful, even if our plan of bringing subjects to study has not worked the way we expected. Regardless, the information we have recovered from them has only helped us learn what titans cannot do. I trust you will look deeper into this, yet for now, you have to understand this is of no use to us,” Erwin says fondly.
“I know but what if this is a major breakthrough? If titans can speak—”
“Hange.”
The room gets silent again.
“If you wish to request another survey you can do the paperwork and deliver it tomorrow morning,” Erwin explains.
Hange looks at the floor, appalled. Erwin finally made them shut up and Abel isn’t adding to the argument either.
“If that is all, you can go back to your quarters and get some rest, it will do you good.”
“And a bath,” Levi quips. “You stink,” he adds but Hange doesn’t seem to care.
The soldiers get up slowly and Erwin walks them to the door, closing it behind them. Levi leans away from the wall and stands straight with his arms crossed.
“What a nutcase.”
Erwin chuckles and looks at Levi. “I left some water heating up on the stove,” he says. “Would you mind taking care of the tea?”
“Yeah.”
Levi moves towards the kettle. His stomach twisting on itself, feeling silly for giving this encounter so much importance, he just hasn't had someone to share tea with since Farlan passed away.
The pain in his arm isn’t helping either, his muscles are stiff and none of the stretchings in the shower helped. He rotates his arm in circles on his way to the stove but there’s a sting in his joints he just can’t get rid of. He places his hand at the top of his back, then pushes his elbow down with the other hand. It hurts like hell.
Right at that moment, Erwin's tall presence on his side casts a shadow next to him. He locks Levi's hand, putting some pressure and then holds the elbow to keep a steady stretch. Levi can feel the heat coming out of Erwin's body all over his side and the tension on his back.
But it is still too stiff.
He notices he’s having a hard time relaxing so he takes a deep breath and exhales completely through the nose. As soon as his lungs are empty, his back loosens and the weight of his body helps Erwin pull the elbow even further back until it makes a cracking sound.
"Wow," Levi exclaims, completely relieved. Feeling the pressure on his arm completely gone as Erwin pulls away. "That was it. Thanks, Erwin,"
"I told you to go to the infirmary," he answers.
"I—" Levi knows Erwin is right. "m fine," he says anyway. "It just needed to pop."
When Levi resumes the tea he can see out of the corner of his eyes that the commander is already sitting down, completely immersed in the papers on his desk, writing at full speed. So once the tea is ready, Levi fills two cups and brings them to the desk.
“Did that moron give you all this paperwork?”
“Thank you,” Erwin says, pulling the teacup closer. “Yes, the government will want to know why their taxes are paying us to interpret what titans say when they speak.”
Levi clicks his tongue. With his legs crossed, he reaches for his cup and holds it by the ridges then sips. There’s some sort of familiarity about Erwin’s company that seems to remain intact even if the four-eyed made him work extra tonight. Levi feels as though being in the same room is enough to feel at ease.
“How’s the new title fitting?” Erwin asks without taking his eyes off the paperwork.
Along with the Captain's promotion, Levi had been assigned his own dorm, with his own toilet a personal wardrobe—commodities he never had in his fucking life—, but he wasn't fond of them. He barely slept on his bed once and would never care for the privileges of the position. Just this morning, Levi watched how one of his subordinates almost died. He hates thinking what would’ve happened hadn't he been fast enough to act, and that fills him with fear.
“Is shit.”
“Your squad trusts you, they are empowered by your skill and strength. They are honoured to fight by your side, even if it means dying.” Erwin replied.
“How would you know what they feel when a titan bites off their heads and they shit their pants?”
Levi doesn’t appreciate Erwin's choice of words, they almost feel insensible. Is this how he copes? By going over the times death was at his door, but somehow, someone else went down instead of him?—In spite of him.
“I might have joined your stupid fight but I will not thank my fallen comrades for throwing their lives away for freedom . They deserved better.”
“My apologies, I didn’t mean to upset you.”
“You didn’t, I just don’t agree with you,” Levi says, looking away and piercing his lips. “Does it help you sleep better?” he asks.
Erwin takes his eyes off the desk and looks at Levi, brows furrowed.
“Thinking your comrades' deaths are worth something? That they died proudly even though they didn't achieve a damn thing? That their achievements' only purpose is to be written down on a piece of paper, to justify taxes?”
Erwin looks down and puts the quill back on its ink. He goes for the teacup and takes a sip then huffs a laugh.
“I can’t catch a break,” he says with a soft smile.
“You were the one trying to play hero, I can’t go along with that, you know it,” Levi finally says. It’s almost as if he’s the one doing most of the talking, so he decides to remain silent while they drink their tea.
Tonight might not be as talkative as yesterday, but Levi doesn’t consider leaving. There is something peaceful about the office, the warmth of the chimney, Erwin’s presence in it. Levi crosses his arms and stares at his right foot, resting on his left knee. He examines the edges of his boots. He’s mourned in every single funeral for every one of his fallen comrades, has Erwin ever felt like that before? Or did he always keep that stone-cold expression in the presence of death? How can you carry so much weight on your shoulders and not fall to pieces? He is as strong as everybody makes him out to be. Levi suddenly pictures Erwin riding his white horse across the field, holding his blades up and screaming his heart out, leading a group of soldiers to their deaths, only to bring freedom to everyone else.
It happened about three months ago but the image of Erwin is still printed on his eyelids. His plan was bonkers, the whole troop had to match face forward to the convoluted titans up front. Once they were close enough, he would give a signal so that everyone would shift directions and Levi was to stay in the back formation in case he needed to jump to anyone's aid. The objective was to distract the titans from another troop that was marching west carrying valuable supplies, cannons and equipment. They had little to no chance of survival. A gamble, Erwin called it.
It'd seem to be going great but when one of the titans picked up the pace, the remaining five soldiers that hadn't shifted course yet and Levi almost got stomped. In a rage-fueled moment, he managed to cut through the titan’s legs and then slashed its nape. His horse was already gone by then but his comrades, upon seeing him, didn't chicken out and turned around to pick him up.
"No! " he screamed as he saw the rest of the titans approaching. "I'll act as bait, go around them! We can get them!"
To his surprise, they listen and follow as he said, him being in no position to command at that time. The titans started to spread, confused as to what target to follow, he grappled on the bigger one closer to him, pulling in and using the momentum to jump mid-air away from its hands and grapple onto a different one, nape completely exposed. He slashes through two of them, one right after the other and looks around. Six more to go. He finds one of the soldiers that came back for him, grappling a titan close by.
"Get to the taller ones, from left to right!" he said as he jumped to the right to do the exact opposite.
After slashing through an arm, a nape, a whole jaw and a second nape, he kept grappling and moving forward to take down two more, until he found himself surrounded by vapour. Above it, there were cheering and gallops. As he steps away he finds that the recruits were coming in and his comrades—somewhat intact—had managed to kill the remaining two. Some of them got close to tap his back, to thank him, to tell him his moves were amazing. He remembers frowning; he wasn't really thinking, he just acted. He also remembers the big shadow that covered the sun on his back. It was Erwin on his horse. Streaks of light were contouring his body, he was looking at him with a huge smile and sparkling bright blue eyes. That familiar face he sees in almost every expedition after Levi either manages to save someone or takes a titan down by himself.
"Great job, Levi," he had said.
Erwin never called him anything different but his name, not recruit, not soldier, not even insubordinate when he should've, just Levi.
"Let's find your horse," he offered, offering Levi a hand to jump on his own.
He refused, feeling exposed and embarrassed. The simple idea of sharing a horse with that big asshole was stupid. And Levi being so small, he would’ve felt like a kid being escorted home by the MPs.