Underground (Levi x Reader)

Stance

As I walked out of headquarters after the meeting with Erwin, I heard Levi call out from behind me, "Oi, (L/N)."

I stopped walking and waited for him to catch up to me. When he appeared at my side, we continued walking in silence for a few moments before he said impartially, "Erwin's plan. It's not foolproof."
I let out a tired sigh and ran a hand through my hair. "No, but it's the best we've got. And if it takes down that abnormal bastard, we'll be in better shape than we have been."

He glanced over at me, his dark eyes scanning my face for a moment, before he said, "Tch. I hope Jaeger's up for it." He swore under his breath. "Damn it all, our entire plan to protect humanity rests on that idiotic brat's shoulders."

I chuckled sardonically and glanced over at him, raising my eyebrow at him as I said teasingly, "Don't give me that crap, Ackerman. I know you care about that kid more than you let on."

He scoffed. "Don't be stupid, (L/N). You know I don't care about anyone."

I stepped in front of him, stopping him in his tracks, my hands on my hips, and said quietly, "I know that's not true. You tell yourself you don't care about anyone, but in reality, I think you're just too scared to admit that you care about people, because everyone usually ends up dead." I held his dark gaze, and took a small step toward him, closing the distance between us by a few feet. I dropped my voice and murmured, "Admit it, Ackerman. You're just afraid to care for anyone. Because this whole world's gone to hell." I remembered how his fingers felt intertwined with mine, his cool skin pressed against mine. "But that doesn't mean you don't."

He held my gaze for a few more silent moments, his black eyes burning with intensity, and then he scoffed again and stepped back from me, crossing his arms over his chest as he said in annoyance, "Stop wasting time, (L/N). We have more pressing matters to attend to."

I rolled my eyes and dropped my hands from my waist as I said, slightly irritated, "Fine. Tell me what 'pressing matters' we should be attending to right now?"

He pushed past me, saying over his shoulder in a flat tone, "For one, the cadets are waiting for us at the training grounds. I told them we'd be teaching them hand to hand today, just in case something were to happen to their 3DM gear in the field. Is that agreeable with you?"

He continued walking toward the training field, not waiting for my answer. I rolled my eyes again and swore under my breath. "What an ass."

I followed after him, dragging my feet and kicking up dirt as I walked, not looking forward to a day of training the cadets. I had done it for Johnson, but he had truly been interested in learning the lost art of hand to hand. I had a feeling the rest of the cadets wouldn't think so highly of the outdated technique.

I reached the training field and the cadets were all there, standing around talking and chatting with each other in small groups. Miller glanced over and gave me a small wave as I walked onto the field, but before I could respond, Levi walked up to me, tossing me a training sword as he said briskly, "Oi, (L/N). We're wasting time. Let's get on with this."

I let out an exasperated sigh and followed him to the front of the group of cadets. At the sight of him, they grew quiet and turned their attention to us, standing straight with their hands behind their backs and their gazes forward, in formation.

Levi tapped the wooden training sword in his palm as he glared at the cadets standing in front of us and then announced loudly, "Alright brats. Listen up. We have our plan to move forward. Before we engage, I thought it wise to teach you some survival skills, mainly hand to hand combat." Several of the cadets' eyes widened in surprise at the mention of the old fighting style. Levi continued. "If something were to happen to your gear out in the field, I want you to know how to defend yourselves so that you at least go down fighting and not like some yellow bellied coward. So we will be training in hand to hand today. Have I made myself clear, brats?"