Underground (Levi x Reader)

Training

I sat in front of the officers' quarters, taking advantage of the shade the building provided, as I worked on some paperwork I had left unattended for far too long.

I heard footsteps approach me and without looking up from my papers, I said in an irritated tone, "What do you want?"

"I'm sorry to bother you, Corporal...."

I finally looked up at the tall, sandy haired young man fidgeting in front of me and dropped the paperwork into my lap with an exasperated sigh. "Don't you have somewhere else to be, Johnson? It's a free day. Can't you spend this one day far, far away from my sight?"

He swallowed nervously and his eyes darted to my face quickly and then back to the ground at my feet as he stuttered out, "Corporal, I'm sorry to bother you. I just....I wanted to ask...."

I let him stumble over his words for a moment and then barked out, "What is it, Johnson?"

He snapped to attention at my tone and said hurriedly, "I just wanted to know if you'd teach me hand to hand combat, sir! I mean, ma'am! Corporal!"

I raised an eyebrow at him, my interested piqued just a bit more. Why did he care about learning anything more than they were taught in training? Beside, hand to hand was outdated, no one used it anymore because of the 3DM.

I let him grow steadily more uncomfortable in the silence for a few more moments and then asked, "Hand to hand combat, huh? How do you even know I know anything to teach you, Johnson?"

His light blue eyes flicked to my face once again and he swallowed hard, a trickle of sweat rolling down his brow and onto his cheek. "Yesterday, when you gave me your 3DM. You were left on the ground with nothing but your blades. You have to know more than what they taught us in training. If not, you wouldn't have risked staying on the ground like that."

"I'm impressed, Johnson." I stood from the chair, dropping the pile of paperwork on the empty seat, and then walked over to him, circling around him as I looked him up and down. I was simply doing it to make him more nervous, but I did take the chance to study him a bit more. He was tall, and lanky, and obviously from a farming community. I could tell from the callouses on his hands and the stoop of his shoulders. He had grown up holding a plow. And I bet he wasn't the oldest son, or else his father wouldn't have let him leave to join the scouts. He would have had to stay to take over the family farm. I stopped in front of him and crossed my arms over my chest as I gave him a pointed stare. "The fact that you observed all of that as quickly as you did when we were in danger yesterday says something about you."

"Thank you....." He started to say, but I held up my hand to cut him off.

"I don't like my cadets to thank me for anything. It makes me uncomfortable. Staying alive each mission is your thanks to me." I walked past him and motioned for him to follow me toward the training arena.

We walked in silence, Johnson staying slightly behind me, our boots creating clouds of dust. When we reached the training area, I strode over to the chest where the training weapons were stored and threw open the lid, flicking my fingers for Johnson to come up beside me. I pointed to a blade that lay on the top of the pile of weapons. "Use that. It's similar to the weight, length, and feel of the 3DM blades we use."

He picked up the blade, turning it in his hands as he inspected it, the sunlight flashing off the steel of the blade.

I shucked off my jacket and picked up another blade, similar to the one that I had had Johnson take, and turned to face the young cadet.

"You ready, Johnson?" I stretched my arms up and above my head, working the kinks out of my back and shoulders so I'd be flexible for the fight.

Johnson looked up from his blade and his eyes went wide as they trailed down my body. A bright red blush instantly bloomed across his cheeks and he glanced away from me in embarrassment.

A smirk crossed my lips. I had forgotten what I was wearing due to my uniform being covered in coffee from the incident with Hange earlier. I had thrown on a pair of worn, form fitting leggings and an old cropped t-shirt that ended just above my belly button. Years in the survey corps had toned my once nonexistent muscles and tanned my childhood skin, and even though I didn't give a damn, I knew that I wasn't hard to look at. I lowered my arms, Johnson still avoiding looking in my direction, and decided to use this to my advantage.

I whipped my blade out in front of me, causing Johnson to stumble back in shock just in time to avoid having the front of his uniform sliced into. I pulled back my blade and said, "Dead." He gave me a confused look and I motioned to him with the tip of my blade. "Right there. You were distracted. And you'd be dead." I motioned him forward with my fingers and got back into a defensive position. "Now do it again."

He held the sword awkwardly out in front of him and lunged toward me, but I sidestepped his advance easily, causing him to stumble, and brought my sword down gently on the back of his neck. "Dead. Again."

He whirled around, swinging the sword wildly, and I met his blade with my own, the metal clanging together in a shower of sparks. I forced his blade downward and swiped my sword across the air in front of his now exposed abdomen. "Dead. Again."

He furrowed his brow and a determined look flashed across his face. He took a step back and studied my stance for a moment, before coming at me again. This time, he met my sword a few times before I disarmed him, sending his sword thudding to the ground by his feet. I stepped back as he picked up his weapon, wiping a hand across my brow, and said, "That was better, Johnson. You thought things through that time instead of just letting your anger drive you. Do it again."

We did exercises like that, him coming for me, over and over again until he could start to hold his own when I countered his attacks. Eventually, he was blocking and parrying my blows and the sword no longer looked awkward held in his hands.

After I had driven him back another time, I dropped the blade to my side and we paused for a moment, both of us breathing hard, sweat dripping down our faces. I raised an eyebrow at him and after catching my breath said, "I'm impressed, Johnson. You did better than I expected."

He grinned at me and wiped his arm across his forehead, clearing away some of the beads of sweat. "Thank you, Corporal. It's all due to your teaching." He rested the tip of his sword on the ground by his feet and said hesitantly, "I hope you don't think I'm too forward, but who taught you to fight?"

I walked over to the weapons box and dropped my dusty blade back into the chest. I turned to look at him as he came over and dropped his sword in as well. "I grew up in a hellhole of a place. I should have known how to fight and protect myself a lot sooner. Believe it or not, I didn't learn hand to hand until I joined the Scouts."

Johnson's eyes widened. "Really? They taught you all of that back then? Wow. Must have been really different than the training now."

I picked up my jacket and slipped it back on. "Yeah, well, it was a different time." I glanced over in the direction of the mess hall, realizing that we had spent a lot more time training than I had thought, and everyone was gathering for dinner. I turned to Johnson and motioned him toward the mess hall. "Now get out of here. Go eat dinner and spend what's left of your free day with the rest of the cadets."

He grinned at me and gave me a stiff salute. "Yes, Corporal."