*Reader's POV*

While the one on one training with Levi had not been at all what you were expecting when he pretty much ordered you to do it, it ended up being the most profitable training you'd had in a while. For one, you had someone you could actually spar with, and despite his current status as undefeated among everyone else, he was taking his losses in your matches in stride. If he lost, he would at least have some critiques in techniques, or what move would have worked better in such and such position.

He seemed to be approaching with the logic of 'just because you have superior strength and speed, doesn't mean you're good,' and was focused on refining talent into skill.

As well as improve and refine his own abilities, perhaps. What better way than to repeatedly take on you, with your natural talents? He'd managed to pin you a few times already. You had the raw strength and speed, but his abilities weren't that far behind, and he had the skill. He just needed a bit more knowledge on how to fight a vampire despite his disadvantages, and he'd probably be set.

Right now, the two of you were in the middle of a spar, hands flying in a quick back and forth of action and reaction, trying to get in a hit just to be parried, then trying to make that parry work to your advantage. A punch in towards the chest resulting in the arm getting pushed aside, just for that hand to grab at the arm that had pushed it, to pull and try to throw them off balance, a foot coming in to try and sweep the feet at the same time, resulting in a side step, moving behind to try and put them in a choke hold, just to have them duck under the arm and go for a quick jab between the ribs, abandoned when an elbow came flying through the air to crash where their head was at, the attacking arm raising instead in defense.

These kinds of quick and fluid movements were what made up most of your sparring session, both of you constantly trying to catch the other off guard and gain the upper hand, raw talent with some tempered skill against a skill forged in fire. Your heart pounded, excitement running unbridled in your veins now that you could have this spar without prying eyes, without having to hide the full extent of what you could do. Of course, this also let Levi get a better look at the extent of your abilities, but you didn't pay that part much mind.

Your eyes caught something that wasn't so much of an opening as it was an opportunity, something you could exploit as a vampire. Feeding off the thrill coursing through you, you took the opportunity, forcing your arm with your strength past his guard so your hand could grasp the front of his shirt, your other arm grasping somewhere that was much easier to reach as you went low. Levi realized what was about to happen and tried to shift his weight, to make it more difficult, or perhaps twist himself out of your grip, but you were already lifting him in a throw over your shoulder, taking care to make sure he landed on his back and not his head before you whipped around and attempted to pin him, your knee on his gut, a hand on his chest, your other hand pulled back ready for a finishing strike if this had been real.

Levi froze up underneath you, staring up at you with a hard glint in his eyes that didn't match his usual defeat. There was even a spark of fear you hadn't seen yet during these spars, and he seemed to tense like he was ready for a real life or death struggle.

You were confused for a few moments, breathing coming a little shallower than normal–yes, even a vampire could get tired, the stamina wasn't limitless–as you held his gaze, trying to figure out what was wrong, the hand raised for 'attack' having dropped on instinct to show less of a threat.

Your emotions. They were unbridled right now, all over the place, and channeled directly to the fight. Which meant he wasn't just holding your gaze because he was staring you down. He had frozen because of your eyes.

You looked away, releasing him and backing up, feeling a rush of shame for giving him a scare like that, that you'd let yourself go that much that you weren't even keeping control of your appearance. Maybe during the fight he could forget, even for a moment, but when he was pinned with your eyes glowing red and locked on yours, it was a harsh and alarming reminder of what you really were.

"Sorry," you murmured, a hand rising to your cheek as you kept your face turned away, waiting until you had a firm hold of yourself again and you were certain that there wouldn't be so much as a red glint in your eyes when you did face him again.

You really hoped this little slip of yours wasn't going to cost some of the trust that the two of you seemed to be building between each other with these training sessions. Maybe not trust specifically, maybe more of rapport, but at the same time, there was far more trust that went into this than you'd realized. These moments where you beat him, where you had him pinned...the two of you were alone in the woods, if something happened, no one would know, no one would be able to intervene. And when he lost, for those few moments, he was at your mercy. He might not be able to do anything if you lost control or simply decided to bite him one of these days. Yet he continued to carry on the lessons despite that possibility and the level of risk in having these training sessions be private. Then again, if they weren't private, you couldn't exactly train as much as you could now.

"I thought you had control over your bloodlust?" Levi asked sharply as he got to his feet behind you, notes of that distrust you used to hear from him creeping back into his voice. You hadn't heard it in a while, since the start of this training, so hearing them creep back in now...

"That wasn't bloodlust," you murmured, rubbing softly at your eyes and wishing you had a mirror to make sure the red was gone from them.

"When your eyes are red–" Levi started to argue, but you cut him off, turning to face him again since you were certain you had a clamp on your emotions again.

"That doesn't just mean bloodlust. It happens for multiple reasons," you corrected him, fighting to keep your voice from anger or impatience. You could understand the confusion, the only times he'd seen your eyes red had been in moments of bloodlust. Never the other moments. "Sometimes emotions running rampant can trigger it. Especially in the middle of a fight, because a vampire's instincts are already riled in a fight. I could do it on command, I suppose, if I felt threatened or wanted to threaten–like when a cat's hackles rise. It's not...just bloodlust," you finished in a murmur, looking away again.

Still, even if it had been a misunderstanding you'd just given Levi quite the scare in that moment. He might have thought you were a second away from actually ripping his throat out or something similar.

As a way to make it up to him, you decided to take the position of teacher for a moment, while you were both letting the mood cool from that spark towards danger a few moments ago.

"Listen, when you're fighting a vampire, it's not about strength and speed, it's about leverage and making each shot count," you started to say, pushing hair out of your face as you explained semi-nervously in lieu of an apology for giving him a scare like that. "I'm far from the strongest vampire out there. Even your strength and speed is only going to get you closer to even footing with them, you'll still have to be smart about it. Get them off their feet, stun them, go in for what would normally be a kill shot if you're close enough and they're not expecting it. Even if you know it won't kill them permanently and they'll come back, it will put them down long enough to escape...or find something to properly kill them with."

You didn't know why you decided to suddenly make this a lesson about killing vampires, but here you were, information running out of you like water from the spout.

"And if you're in a really bad spot, and they've already got their teeth in you...make them choke up. Got for the throat. Especially right here..." you touched a spot on your upper throat that made you feel strange just touching it with a bit of pressure, and then a little lower, closer to the base of the throat, where some pressure made you feel like you might throw up. "Or here. At the very least, it should get their fangs out of you. But with a vampire, it's all about fighting smarter, not harder–like when you fight someone much larger than yourself."

Levi studied you for a moment, the on guard position he'd been holding draining from his body as he slowly relaxed in front of you, nodding to himself as he made his way back to the center of the clearing that acted as your starting position.

"We're not here to train me. We're here for you. Keep a hold of yourself and I won't have to do anything," Levi said, falling into an at the ready stance, hands up in front of him as he waited for you to approach so you could resume your training.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The other half of your personal training with Levi happened the same way every day. Namely, he had you run the same maneuver at the exact same pace over and over and over again, until it all became muscle memory–pace included. The theory was that if the pace could be ingrained into your muscle memory, then you wouldn't accidentally execute it too quickly for the gear to keep up when you acted on instinct in the field. And, just so your abilities could still come into play and help with your execution, the first thing you did with every maneuver was figure out how fast you could pull it off without breaking the gear. After that, you walked it back a step or two in speed so you didn't strain the gear and wear it out too quickly, but you were still able to pull off the maneuver with startling speed.

While those practices were much of the same, with you doing it over and over under Levi's supervision and occasionally learning a new move from him at the start so that he was still teaching you, they were arguably more exhaustive than the morning training–at least mentally. Levi didn't have to do much except observe, so he didn't look remotely bothered while you would look exhausted when you entered the mess hall to eat afterwards.

Since you two would come from the same place, and would usually enter when almost everyone else had received their food, you would end up in the line together, though Levi's tray always wound up looking different from yours. Because he was an officer, plus he was actually eating the food while you were strategically picking things you could pawn off on the horses or birds and squirrels later.

"Are you even going to eat half of that?" Levi asked critically. You both knew you didn't need to eat, so the rations were kind of wasted on you, but you needed to keep up appearances, and what you did eat would help with cravings.

"Most of it is bribes for the horses. Namely yours. I think he likes me now, but he might feel betrayed if I don't give him a treat with everyone else," you teased him with a soft smile on your face, tossing an apple up into the air before putting it back where it belonged.

Levi rolled his eyes. "Stop bribing my horse, he's going to get fat," Levi grumbled, pushing on with his tray.

It was nice that you could tease and joke with him now, even if it was just the brief, lighthearted stuff. He really was making an effort to be more accepting with you. When you weren't dragging the vampire stuff front and center, you could almost say he was comfortable around you.

Of course, until something reminded him what you were, or you talked about it, and he was on edge again. He was going to need much more time to come to terms with the vampire side of you. There was too much about it that made him uncomfortable and ill at ease. That wasn't something he would be able to get over just by spending more time around you–that was going to take some time and reflection of his own.

As you followed behind Levi in the line up, you spaced out slightly, listening in on some of the conversations going on around the mess hall, ranging from sore muscles from training today, to an upcoming shipment of fresh supplies, to how bad the food tasted. And then, through all the meaningless chit-chat, something caught your attention.

"...definitely sleeping with Captain Levi."

You paused, centering in on that one conversation, a bad pit in your stomach.

"Are you kidding me? Captain Levi's hardly the type."

"I'm sorry, do you know anything about him? Nobody really does, other than his irritable attitude and his reputation. For all you know, he is the type. And I'll bet he is. There's no way she's climbed the ranks that fast unless she's climbed on someone's dick along the way, I don't care how skilled she is."

"That's foul."

"It's true! There's advancing because of your skill, and then there's going from a fresh recruit to part of the elite squad in a couple days, to private lessons with Captain Levi not long after. We've just gotten placed in Squads and barely started training with the squads. And it's a position they literally made up so she could be in Levi squad. That's beyond favoritism. I'll bet you when they come out of those woods every morning all sweaty and flushed and tired, it's after she's given him a good fuck to get on his good side."

"Maybe they're just sparring–hand to hand lessons..." someone else suggested weakly.

"If it was a spar they could do it on the training grounds like everyone else. What they're doing they have to hide. They get up so early so no one will see what they're up to, and I'll bet that means they're out there for hours. It's gotta be one hell of a blowjob she gives, that's for sure."

"Hey–what's that look for?"

You snapped yourself out of the revolted and disturbed focus you'd found yourself in at Levi's more immediate sounding voice trying to get your attention, eyes focusing on him as, for a moment, you found yourself at a loss of words for what to say to him after hearing...that.

And he had no clue. Because besides the people in that conversation, you'd been the only one to hear it.

He looked concerned, maybe even worried, his mind probably coming up with a bunch of worst-case-scenarios for what you felt or heard that gave you whatever expression you currently had.

You shook your head, sliding your tray to the side to get him to keep moving or else risk their trays crashing into each other with the contents spilling everywhere. "I heard something I did not want to hear. Just keep going," you said dismissively, trying to brush it off as someone having a roll in the hay in the stables or a quickie in the supply closet–whatever kept him from even getting a hint of what you actually heard.

If it was just your reputation they were trashing, maybe you wouldn't mind so much–you knew it wasn't true, that it was as far from the truth as they could get. What made it really worry you was how it also dug at Levi's reputation. Maybe he wouldn't care, but maybe he would. You hoped if the rumor reached the rest of Levi's squad, that they wouldn't believe it. They knew Levi better than most people here, surely they'd know it wasn't true? But you could also see how that was a rumor that would burn like fire through the ranks.

Behind Levi's back as he continued down through the line, that worried look lingered in your eyes, wondering if you should do something about the rumor, or just leave it alone. Normally you would just leave it alone, but this one seemed...insidious to you. Or at least, you didn't like the thought of people spreading it further, even if you knew the people that mattered knew better, or might know better.

You ended up breaking away from the line before Levi did, heading for the table that the squad usually sat at and trying to shake off the concerns and worries eating at you in the back of your mind, giving them a shy smile as you took the seat next to Petra.

"So, newbie–private training with the Captain, already? Someone moves fast," Oluo said conspiratorially before you could even sit down.

Had they already heard that damn rumor? Was it already making its way through the ranks and you just hadn't heard it yet?

"Oluo, don't be an ass," Petra scolded him in answer. "And she's not much of a newbie anymore."

"She's a newbie until she's been out on a few expeditions, Petra," Gunther commented.

"Whatever–you're really getting private lessons with the Captain? Two a day, from what I hear?" Oluo asked, cutting past the debate over whether or not you were a newbie.

"It would explain where you disappear to in the mornings and just before dinner," Eld added quietly from where he usually just observed these back and forths between you, Eld, and Petra.

"None of us get one on one training with Captain Levi," Oluo stressed, leaning forward in his seat. "How'd you do it?"

At that moment, Levi appeared at the head of the table, setting down his tray with an agitated sigh. "She needs someone to kick her ass into the dirt every now and then," Levi said simply in answer to the debate bouncing around you.

Petra turned to look at you with a slightly apologetic look on her face. "You are pretty infuriating to spar with."

"So I've been told," you answered, feeling yourself start to relax again as the conversation started to drift into what you considered safer waters.

"Sometimes, I swear you're letting us win," Gunther added, clearly agreeing with Petra on that matter.

"Because she is," Levi said bluntly from the head of the table. You gave him a sharp look that clearly asked why the fuck was he outing you, but he didn't even glance in your direction as the rest of the table fell awkwardly silent. "It's why she trains with me in the mornings–she needs a tougher opponent."

You blushed, feeling the attention shifting to you. "I wouldn't put it that way," you muttered under your breath, worried it might come off as Levi suggesting the other four weren't good enough to spar with her, that they weren't at her level, that she needed someone who actually presented a challenge.

All of those could be taken rather insultingly, considering you were apparently still new enough to be considered a newbie by most of the squad.

Levi held your gaze from across the table. "How about next time you spar with them, you don't hold back and let them see for themselves."

"Put that effort into sparring with your comrades, and they might learn something."

The first thing he'd ever tried to teach you, back when he'd first encountered you.

You nodded, deciding not to question his judgement on this. He knew the other members of the squad better than you did. And not he was aware of your secret and could properly assess risks. You were going to trust his judgement on this one, despite your own confusion or reservations.

"Yes, sir," you said with a nod, turning back to the food in front of you with a slightly thoughtful frown.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

*Levi's POV*

After shooing Y/N away from taking care of the horses like she usually did, Levi was spending some much needed time with his horse, brushing down the black steed's coat and gently rubbing his neck, forehead, and muzzle–whichever he could reach.

"You're putting on a bit of weight," Levi remarked lowly, eyes roaming over his horse's frame. "If she's going to give you so many treats, she could at least make sure you get the exercise to keep from gaining the weight..."

The horse just snorted and tossed his head, settling back down when Levi gave him a disapproving look before Levi continued brushing him, taking a moment to let the sound of the horses moving around and nickering softly in the stables soothe him away from the bustle of the Scout's headquarters.

The stable door opened, and Levi glanced out the stall to see who it was, half expecting it to be Y/N again and for him to have to shoo her away again so he could have quiet time with his horse.

It was Petra, actually, and she went right by the stall that her horse was kept in and made a beeline for where Levi was standing by the entrance to his horse's stall.

"Captain, I need to talk to you about something," she said seriously, a flush of nervousness coloring her cheeks as she came to a stop in front of him. Levi's eyebrows rose at her demeanor, but he didn't say anything, intending for her to continue without further prompting from him.

"There's a rumor that's been going around..."

Levi snorted softly, turning back to his horse. "You know I don't give a damn about what's going through the gossip chain for the week."

"I know, and normally I wouldn't say anything, but...this one's pretty bad. And it's only getting more out of hand. And I thought I should give you a warning before someone tries to do something about it."

That caught his attention. People throwing rumors around was one thing. A nasty rumor that could stir people to action, though, that was something that he might want to give a bit of attention to. And considering Petra was coming to him about it as a warning, it involved him.

"People have been saying that Y/N has been getting her promotions and placements by sleeping with superior officers...namely you, and that it's still going on right now. Now, the rest of the squad and I don't believe it, but there are some people who believe it's true to the point they're planning on bringing their concerns to Erwin," Petra told him nervously, the slight shake in her voice getting worse when Levi's expression darkened considerably.

That was quite an accusation. And apparently one people were believing enough to try and take action about. But to think some people would believe he was actually the type to be bought with sexual favors.

Well, actually, he was used to people thinking lowly of him, but this was a line he'd thought it was clear he wasn't ever going to cross–either falling into the trap of accepting sexual favors in return for promotions, or exploiting someone in a lower position for them. It was a filthy rumor, and Petra was right, this was one he preferred to have a heads up on so he could do something to shoot them down before they got any further.

This wasn't a rumor that could be combated with words–no one was going to believe it no matter how insistent Y/N or he got, but maybe, at least for a little while, if it was more out in the open that they were just training, and it was for good reason, maybe it would help abate the rumors.

Maybe letting them go to Erwin was a good idea. Erwin knew what was actually happening–hell, Levi gave him regular reports on her progress, since the man wanted to keep a close eye on his new asset while he decided how best to use her in the grand scheme of his goals. Then again, Erwin might have to be forced to investigate anyway, considering the seriousness of the claims, even if they both knew it was just a nasty rumor that had gone too far. And Levi and Y/N were spending plenty of time alone and out of the public eye where no one knew what could be happening–besides the three who knew exactly what was happening, but their witness wasn't there, physically.

Petra was watching his reaction in tense anticipation, staring at him as his eyes roamed around at something only he could see, considering his options and how best to handle the situation. He went back to his horse, giving the almost perfectly shining coat another few brushes before he answered.

"Thank you, Petra. I'm sure if it does get to Erwin, he'll know better–he knows what I've been training her on and when, so it shouldn't be much of a problem. But if it does become one, it'll blow over," Levi reassured her, exuding an outward demeanor of calm after deciding on a few minor moves to help dispel the rumors.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

*Reader's POV*

About a week after you had overheard the rumor in the mess hall, and well aware that the rumor was only getting worse, Levi called you into his office to discuss that very rumor. Apparently, Petra had told him about it, including the lovely fact that there was a group that was going to go to Erwin to have him take action about it like it was possibly true. Besides letting you know that he knew, the only thing Levi was requesting that they do in order to try and combat some of the rumors, was to move their just-before dinner training with the ODM gear onto the training field so there were witnesses that they were just training, and at least once in the upcoming days, the two of you were going to do your hand to hand training on the training field where there were witnesses to see that you actually did need to train with him for the sparring.

You would, of course, have to refrain from doing something openly vampiric, even though normally during your morning spars you could cut loose, but the two of you sparring and being rather evenly matched would probably be plenty of evidence to show that you had earned your spot on Levi's squad (Even if the circumstances had been unique).

However, something about him going to these lengths sort of bugged you. You understood how serious it would become once people took it to Erwin, but at the same time...

"Thank you, Captain Levi, but...you don't have to do any of this for me just because of some rumors. I don't really care what they think of me," you said hesitantly. The only people that mattered were the ones that didn't believe the rumors, from what you were aware. It was mostly people who had some kind of a grudge against you from the training cadets or simply out of jealousy that were pushing it further than just a rumor and willing to actually believe you and Levi were the kind of people to be doing something like that.

"What makes you think I'm doing this for you?" he asked, possibly a little sharper than he'd intended.

He had a point, though. This didn't just hurt your reputation, it could hurt his credibility as well if it made it to the point of a legitimate investigation, whether the two of you were cleared or not. No one would forget that there had been enough to question him, that he had still been investigated for accepting sexual favors, whether it had been true or not. You were both in the same boat in this mess. He didn't seem like the kind of person to normally care about petty rumors, but this one was going too far.

"Okay then...but on one condition," you said firmly, sitting up in your seat. Levi leaned back, studying you for a moment, looking a little confused that you even had a condition for going along with trying to clear your names up even a little from these rumors. "No matter how the spar goes, you have to be the one to win it when we're in front of everyone."

Levi stared you down for several long minutes, the silence almost getting painful as he seemed to be trying to read you, to glean why this was your condition, why you were so insistent about it. Maybe he was also thinking back to how you'd thrown your first match with him even though you were about to win, and how that one had been in front of everyone...while you had never thrown a fight when it was just the two of you, and you'd even beaten him a few times.

"Why is it so important to you that you lose to me when we're in front of everyone?" he finally asked.

"The same reason I threw the fight when we met. You're Humanity's Strongest. I know it might not even matter to you, but it does to me. I don't want that title, I don't deserve it–I'm not even human. You do–deserve the title, I mean. I can't take it, I refuse to, even if it's bestowed by people who don't know any better." You licked your lips, heaving a soft and somewhat tired sigh. "That's why you can't let me win when it's not just the two of us. I can't even risk the thought entering their minds that you're not Humanity's Strongest anymore, because that's not true. Not that they'd ever know."

"I really don't give a damn about whatever title they want to try and fit me with," Levi said, his voice surprisingly not betraying anything about what he thought–not yet, anyway.

"But I do. I hate to sound superficial, but it does matter to me that you stay the one they see as Humanity's Strongest, and it doesn't get passed on to me. So that's my condition. You have to win the spar at the end."

Levi nodded slowly, getting to his feet. "All right, then. I'll win the spar," he agreed, gesturing for the door. "I'd invite you to have some tea with all this shit going on, but we probably shouldn't be spending any more time by ourselves until this whole mess blows over."

"Of course," you said, getting to your feet and ready to leave. You paused by the door, turning to look at him. "And Captain..."

He looked up from where he was getting his jacket off the chair, looking at you expectantly.

"Thank you. For training me, and...giving me a chance. Despite everything," you said, feeling awkwardness drip into your tone and a blush color your cheeks before you hurriedly left the room, shutting the door before you could see his reaction or he had the chance to answer with a snarky or sharp reply.