Training with Levi was hard.

They always had to do it at very odd hours, considering his squad wasn't supposed to know that she'd never engaged with titans before.

"Faster."

The command left little room for argument. Groaning dramatically to communicate her anguish, she ran faster.

"This is one of the only useful things they make those brats in the Cadet Corps do. It takes strength to use ODM gear, lots of endurance. If you can't even run in it, how do you expect to fly?" he said, looking over his shoulder at her, "God, Varga. You're pathetic."

The two of them were running through the woods, Levi several feet ahead of her. She was strapped down in her gear, save for the blades, the strain on her shoulders and thighs intensifying with every second she sprinted. Levi, on the other hand, wore loose pants and a shirt that seemed a little too big for him. She despised how comfortable he looked.

The objective was cruel, in her opinion. She was supposed to keep up with Levi, who was quite literally humanity's strongest soldier, all while wearing a few extra pounds of gear. He had even been so generous as to gift her with a rucksack he had filled with rocks—she was wearing that, too.

"Surely you're faster than this when you're killing people."

"You—" she heaved out, her voice raspy, "Make it sound so simple."

"What do I make sound simple? This exercise, or your profession?"

"Both, you ass..."

She trailed off when Levi started running faster, a challenging glint in his eyes when he looked back at her this time. Sighing, she shut her mouth and picked up her pace. The straps of her gear protested, clutching her body tightly as she tried to run. Her legs were aflame, a sharp pain tugging at her quads. The backpack she wore served to both humiliate and torture her. It felt as if her body was being pulled in several different directions at once, the unequal distribution of the extra weight she was carrying almost causing her to collapse. In short, she was miserable.

"If you can catch up with me, I'll think about letting you rest for thirty seconds."

She was furious, as she had foolishly believed that they'd be stopping soon anyway. They had been running for so long that she'd lost track of time. Gritting her teeth, she broke out into a full sprint.

"Faster."

"Levi!" she cried, exasperated.

He didn't slow down. Tears were forming in her eyes at this point, the threat of passing out becoming more and more likely. Finally, as if by some miracle, she was able to reach out and pinch the fabric of his shirt between her fingers.

"We'll pause at the fence by the edge of the forest. Keep running, but slow your pace."

The aforementioned fence was not far at all. For the remaining minute of their run, she slowed significantly, allowing the air to enter her lungs in a way that was much less painful than before. When they arrived, she nearly fell over. Levi seemed to anticipate this, though, and threw his arm around her to keep her from falling.

"Good," he said quietly, offering his canteen to her as she heaved, "Just breathe, drink some water, you're alright."

They stood like that for several minutes, Levi's uncharacteristic praise sounding muffled to her as she drank. At long last, she could breathe again, though she was still depending on the captain's arm for balance.

"That was insane, Levi," she whispered, her throat burning as she spoke.

"Under ten minutes per mile on average.  Faster than most soldiers, even while you were wearing all of that gear. Good."

Surprised, she cocked her head a little, giving him a funny look.

"You called me pathetic," she countered.

She could stand now, but she didn't bother brushing his arm off.

"You are pathetic—in other areas of your life, I guess. You did fine during warmups though."

"Does that get you off?" she teased, wiping a stray drop of water from her chin.

"Excuse me?"

"Degrading people. I appreciate that you're trying to seduce me, Captain, but I don't think I'm into that."

He sighed, retracting his arm so quickly that she lost her balance and hit the ground. The rocks in her backpack spilled out, several of them now in her hair. Sprawled on the ground like this, she couldn't help but steal a glance at Levi. His arms were folded in front of him, an unimpressed expression on his face, and he walked over to stand in front of her. Her head was level with his boots.

"I'm surprised," he said flatly.

"What?"

"That you're not into that. You seem like the type of person who would love making someone else feel like shit."

"I don't like being on the receiving end," she challenged, quirking an eyebrow at him as she sat up.

The small bit humor he had displayed was now gone. He tsked, turning his head so that his face was now hidden from her. Still, she could see the faint evidence of blush decorating his cheeks. She laughed at him.

"You don't think you can be this cruel to me without facing any consequences, do you?" she asked, snatching his canteen again.

"The only reason you're still conscious is because I'm aware of how awful that workout was. Otherwise, your bullshit wouldn't fly today," he explained.

"Mm, sure. I think you secretly like how funny I am, but if that excuse serves to protect your masculinity, that's fine. It's three in the morning. Can we go back inside and cuddle now?"

"Didn't you hear me a few minutes ago? That was just your warmup."

"What the hell, Levi?" she shouted, her good spirits having been dissolved.

"It won't be as hard as what you just did. It's technique, so you'll have time to catch your breath. The exercise you just did was both mentally and physically challenging, but hardly strategic. We have to keep training. Do you understand?"

"I understand," she mumbled, defeated, "Can we cuddle after this, then?"

"Absolutely not," he sneered, "But we can have tea."

"So during tea—"

"No," he snapped, huffing, "Now, I've been having a hard time trying to find a way for you to do target practice. We can't just drag titan dummies here, and I can't have you going all the way to the training grounds. So, I put some cushions on a few branches. I tried to make the height accurate, but the angle is all wrong. This also won't prepare you very well for a moving target. Still, it's better than nothing."

"You made a little training course for me? You're so cute."

"Whatever. When you kill people, you use knives, right?"

"Usually, yes. Sometimes I have to get creative, like when—"

"Don't elaborate. Stand up."

She obeyed, tossing the backpack of rocks to the ground. He reached behind a nearby tree and pulled out four blades, much thinner and longer than anything she was used to. Wordlessly, he crouched so that his face was level with the bulk of her gear.

"You holster them like this. You need to have multiple with you at all times; titan flesh isn't easy to cut through, and it'll dull your blades pretty fast. When you want to reload, you do this."

He grabbed her hand and loaded her blades for her, showing her what he was doing with his fingers and letting her feel how hard he pushed to lock them in.

"Catch your breath and get comfortable with those while I gear up. I need to be in the trees so I can see your progress."

He pulled his gear out from behind the same tree, surprising her once more.

"You're so prepared," she noted, watching as he shrugged off his shirt, "Oh, shit."

He was much more muscular than his height and lean stature had led her to believe. Nothing about him was soft, only sharp edges and defined muscles cutting across his body. She cursed the night sky for the fact that she couldn't catch many details.

"This is all so forward, Levi. I'm delighted, but shocked."

He glared at her, though he didn't seem bashful enough to look away, and pulled a much tighter shirt over his head. Silently, he reached for his black uniform pants, throwing them over his shoulder as he stepped out of what he was wearing before. He caught her eyes again, her expression apparently conveying her confusion.

"What, surprised that I'm willing to strip in front of you? You're an idiot. I've been a soldier long enough not to care about this shit," he murmured.

For whatever reason, she turned away.

"Oh? So now you feel like you're being invasive?"

"It's different!" she protested, her back still to him, "Men run around shirtless all the time, but they're usually still wearing pants. We aren't that close yet."

"I'm dressed. You draw the line in strange places, Varga. Where did you say you were from?"

She turned around to see him stepping into his straps, tightening them around his thighs with a speed and ease she knew she would never master. He continued to gear up as she tried to think of something to say.

"It has nothing to do with my upbringing, it's just you. You always have a stick up your ass, so I wasn't expecting you to be so nonchalant about taking off your clothes."

He snorted, looking at her curiously.

"Levi, you're being mean to me," she pouted, turning one of the blades in her hand.

"You make it easy. I told you to get comfortable with those," he reminded her, pointing to the weapons.

"This is comfortable. I could kill you right now. See?"

She was behind him in a second, positioning one of the blades at his throat and the other near his side.

"I could slice your neck open quite easily. If you managed to stop me, I'd just stick this one into your liver. Pretty cool, right?" she asked, breath fanning against his ear.

"Mm, whatever," he huffed, tilting his head as much as he could, "If you don't stop shoving that thing against my neck, I'm going to take away your tea privileges."

She frowned, stepping back and sheathing the blades.

"You're no fun, Levi. Can't you be a little scared? Or at least pretend to be?"

"You won't kill me," he said simply, leaving no room for argument. Despite his tone, she tried anyway.

"Why not? I'm not sure if you're aware, but someone actually placed a bounty on you."

He glared at her, the moonlight illuminating his face enough for her to tell. She sighed, admitting defeat, and awaited instruction.

If this was anything like Levi's other workouts, she was sure it'd be hell.

༻✦༺

She'd returned to the camp exhausted. While Levi swore that the course he had set up for her would be much easier than fighting actual titans, it had been three in the morning, and she was tired. It was around six now, the captain having been satisfied with her work, saying that he'd allow her to get a few more hours of sleep before the day began. Sunlight was starting to creep through the window, but she knew she could probably get away with sleeping until nine. She couldn't imagine she'd be needed for anything before then.

How Levi was able to function, she had no clue. They were in his room, actually, the man pouring her a cup of lavender tea, insisting that it would help her sleep.

"I don't think I need much help sleeping. You wore me out. Still, I'm flattered. Thanks for the tea," she said, blowing on the liquid to cool it down.

He didn't reply, just took a sip of his own scalding tea. He frowned, crinkling his nose a little, and she laughed.

"Is it too hot, Captain?" she asked, smiling at him.

"What? No. It's lavender," he explained, looking at her as if the cause for his anguish was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Yeah? Are you surprised?"

She couldn't help but chuckle at him again, the distraught expression on his face remarkably amusing.

"No, I just don't like it very much. I guess I forgot how sweet it was," he mused, taking another sip anyway.

"Ah, right. You like your tea to be boring and bitter."

"You just have poor taste," he muttered, turning his attention towards the documents on his desk.

For the next few minutes, she was content to drink her tea and watch him read, the man occasionally scribbling something down.

"You haven't slept in your bed since I made it," she noted softly, trying to meet his eyes.

He continued to stare at the papers.

"Even if that were true, there's no way you could know that."

"There is," she argued, standing and walking over to the bed.

She pointed to the corner, showing him how the covers were folded down in one spot.

"That's not up to military standards. You wouldn't make it like this. I know you haven't slept here, because you haven't even bothered to fix it. You sleep in the chair, right?"

Seemingly surprised, he cocked his head at her a little, finally making eye contact with her.

"I forget what you are sometimes," he said quietly, looking back down at his desk.

Not quite understanding what he meant, but knowing he was, to some extent, uncomfortable with the comments she'd made about his sleeping habits, she sat on the bed.

"I'm fine with it, really. No judgment here," she hummed, untying her boots.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"If you aren't using your bed, then I am. It's bigger than mine. It would be a shame to let such a luxury go to waste."

"You can't do that," he argued, though he seemed more confused than angry.

"No? Stop me, then," she challenged, crawling under the covers and smiling at him.

When he made no attempt to move from his chair, she laughed.

"See? I knew you wanted to have a sleepover with me. This is gonna make us even closer, Levi. My friends and I used to do this all the time. They always made me sleep in the chair, though, 'cause they were weak and couldn't get comfortable like that. This is a nice change."

He didn't say anything for several minutes, but she thought she heard a tiny laugh escape him when he finally spoke.

"You're ridiculous. Goodnight, Varga," he murmured, snuffing out the flame in his oil lamp.

"Night, pretty," she replied, already well on her way to slumber.

༻✦༺

To her disappointment, their sleepover was cut short. They woke at almost exactly the same time, Levi jerking a little in his chair as his eyes flew open.

Loud, agonizing screaming was to blame for this. Alarmed, she rolled out of bed, Levi pulling a knife from his desk drawer as she grabbed the one she'd left on the nightstand a few hours prior. He looked at her once and she nodded, the two of them hurrying down the hallway.

The noise was coming from the dining room, they realized. Levi promptly kicked the door open, pointing his blade towards one side of the room while she covered the other. Their backs were touching, their breathing heavy, and their faces stern.

"How could someone do such a thing?"

As soon as they saw Hange sobbing into the table, a frightened and tired Eren looking on uncomfortably, they both sighed.

"For the love of God, Hange," Levi grumbled, his face relaxing. Turning to the other solider in the room, he demanded an explanation.

"The two titans we captured—"

"Someone killed them! Some disgusting creature! Horrible! Ugly! Why?" Hange cried, burying their face in their hands.

"You're not making any sense," Blake replied, resting a hand on Hange's shoulder, "Calmly, now. Tell us what happened."

"We had Sanwey and Bean. We were gonna study them, learn more about titans, but he just said somebody murdered them. How could—"

"We're leaving," Levi said suddenly.

Just then, Petra and Oluo ran into the room, still dressed in their night clothes.

"Captain?" the girl asked, looking at him curiously.

"Wake everyone else up, tell them to be ready with their horses in thirty minutes. We're going back to camp."

Petra nodded, Oluo and Eren running out behind her.

Hange looked up, an unreadable expression on their face.

"Hey, Levi, surely you don't think—"

"My office. Let's go."

They looked at her and she shrugged, the two of them trailing after Levi. When they entered his room, he slammed the door shut behind them, locking it.

"I'm sorry for your loss," Blake whispered, patting Hange's shoulder comfortingly.

They nodded sadly, saying, "Thank you for your condolences."

Levi pinched the bridge of his nose and turned to look at them, sighing.

"You're both idiots. Still, I'm trusting you to keep your mouths shut. Erwin will be waiting for us when we arrive. Don't say a word about anything I've discussed with either of you in private. Varga, don't speak about the bounty to anyone other than me or Erwin. Hange, don't bring up the Female. Do you understand?"

"Female?" Blake asked.

"Bounty?" Hange countered.

"Great, is it out of your system now? Don't say anything about it for the next few hours," he snapped, gearing up.

"Levi's not very good at explaining things," Hange whispered, pointing at him, "But Erwin will clarify what's going on when we get there."

"How do you know he'll be expecting us?"

"Levi said he would."

"And how does he know?"

"He just does," they replied, shrugging.

"If you say so. I guess we should get ready, then."

"I guess so."

And with that, the three of them went their separate ways.

a/n: hiii please vote and/or comment if you enjoyed! have a good dayyy <3