Chagara - Chaos in the Darkness (Levi x OC Fanfic / AttackOnTitan)

15. Old Times - "Are you losing on purpose?"

Mike opened his eyes and looked up at the sky, distorted with pain. The first stars became visible. "What was that?," he wanted to know from Erwin and moved carefully. His back hurt from hitting the hard ground. He would probably have the usual bruises. It didn't seem worse than that. But how had Erwin managed to bring him down so quickly? It was the first time Erwin had clearly won a one-on-one fight against Mike.

"I had a capable teacher," Erwin said with a grin and nodded towards Ayumi, who was sitting by the small campfire doing her homework. He looked proudly at his student, who was writing her first short essay. Who would have thought that he would one day take on the role of his father?

~~~ Flashback ~~~

Erwin was sneaking through the training camp. Actually, he wasn't really doing anything forbidden. He had woken up, was thirsty and wanted to drink a cup of water. But the jug in the room he shared with seven other boys was empty. They had not refilled it. Now he tried to get to the kitchen as quietly as possible. If he were discovered, they would believe his reason. He was an excellent recruit, who never lied to his instructors. But there would still be a punishment. He and his roommates should have taken care of refilling the water in time. It was no reason to leave the room after 10 pm.

When Erwin reached the kitchen, he stopped. A faint glow of light was coming from under the door. Did they still work? Would they peach on him? No, if someone was still working, it was one of the younger kitchen helpers. Erwin had nothing to fear from them. Cautiously, he silently tried to open the door a crack and get some clarity.

"Ayumi?"

Startled, the girl turned around.

"I didn't mean to scare you," Erwin said, smiling. "What are you doing here? Do you still have work to do?"

Embarrassed, the girl shook her head.

"But?"

"But what are you doing here?" Ayumi tried to change the topic.

"I'm thirsty," Erwin replied.

"Oh, wait a minute. Sit down." Ayumi went to the sink and grabbed a full jug and a mug.

"Thank you," Erwin said after Ayumi poured and handed him the mug. She nodded and walked back to the open kitchen cupboard. Erwin watched her open a box, look inside, close the box again, put it back in the cupboard and take out the next box.

"Are you taking inventory?," asked Erwin after the fourth box, knowing well that this could not be the case. She didn't write anything down. She was alone. So what was she doing?

Ayumi looked at him questioningly.

"She probably doesn't know what inventory is," Erwin thought, trying to figure out how to get her to tell him what she was doing in the kitchen in the middle of the night.

"Can I help you?," he finally tried.

Ayumi looked into the next box, closed her eyes, mumbled something and closed the box. "That's sweet. But you can't help me. I have to learn this," Ayumi said, already reaching for the next box.

Erwin smiled. It was the first time a girl had described his help as "sweet". It was nice to hear. He took a sip and frowned. "Why does she open all the boxes when they are all labelled?," he pondered. But then he finally understood and had to shake his head at his own stupidity.

"You have to know where you can find everything?," he asked carefully.

Ayumi nodded.

"And there's salt in it?", Erwin continued to ask.