Chapter Text
It was a cold, wintery day and Levi and Mikasa had been sent to train the new additions to the scouts. They both loathed the idea but to Levi’s surprise, Mikasa was a big softy when it came to the cadets. Perhaps a little too soft for his liking. She never raised her voice and gave them clear instructions, gently correcting them as they went. This afternoon they were overseeing target practice with the new weapons they had acquired from Yelena, then after Levi and Mikasa would take the cadets out for a patrol.
Levi turned his back on the shooting practise for a moment to talk to Armin, who was walking over to him with a handful of parchments.
“Wow, the cadets seem to really like Mikasa!” Armin’s eyes gleamed.
Levi rolled his eyes, “She’s really embracing the big sister role, not exactly what the cadets need...” He sighed, “but it might be a nice change of pace for them.”
He listened as Armin began to talk strategy about their upcoming mission to Marley but he whipped his head back in the direction of the shooting practice as he heard a shot going off, followed by a scream.
“Mikasa!” Armin cried out, he had full view of the incident and ran over without hesitation. Levi was right behind him.
“I’m so sorry!” The cadet was crying, gripping onto his gun, shaking like a leaf.
Mikasa breathed heavily as she took the gun from him, putting it away safely before doubling over in pain, “It’s fine. I know you didn’t mean to.” She then fell to the ground, gripping her leg in pain.
“What the hell, cadet?!” Levi grabbed the boy by the scruff of his collar. “Does Officer Ackerman’s foot look like a goddamn target to you?”
“Captain,” Mikasa took a sharp intake of breath, “it was an accident.”
Armin knelt down at her side, pulling off her boot to inspect her injury. She cried out in pain as he did so. “I’m sorry Mikasa, I need to stop the bleeding before we can move you.”
Levi threw the cadet to the floor, ordering him to fetch a medic and then crouched down to her side. He put an arm around her shoulders and propped her up, “Mikasa you look pale…” he frowned as he noticed her eyes rolling back for a moment. Levi shook her back to consciousness.
“Come on, don’t tell me after everything you’ve been through a single bullet is going to make you faint?” He joked with a sympathetic smile.
“The pain…” was all she could muster through gritted teeth. She peeked one eye open and saw her bloody foot being tornicated by Armin with a leather belt. Blood poured out from it onto the ground, her friend’s hands were covered too.
“Don’t look,” Levi quickly pulled her head into his chest. He then frowned as he felt her go limp in his arms. “She’s passed out.” He said flatly, turning his gaze to Armin.
The blond gave a nervous smile, “I think I pulled the belt too tight, it must have really hurt...”
“That or the sight of her own blood made her faint..” Levi sighed and looked down at the unconscious Mikasa.
The cadet approached again and mumbled something about not being able to find anyone. Levi tutted then picked up Mikasa in his arms,
“You seriously are a useless, brat. You do realise you’ve just accidentally shot one of our best soldiers, if she’s out of action for the next attack then us losing to Marley will be on your shoulders alone.” He said flatly, sending the cadet into tears once more.
Levi turned his back on the cadet and began to make his way inside to the infirmary. Mikasa stirred but couldn’t rouse herself enough to open her eyes. She blindly gripped onto his shirt, trying to communicate to whoever it was that was carrying her but the pain shot through her foot and blackness took over again.
———-
The captain was directed by another soldier to take her into an urgent treatment ward, a narrow but long room which held around four other beds. All of which were unoccupied at this present moment.
Mikasa awoke as Levi lay her down on a treatment bed, which was positioned so the top half was elevated, allowing her to be sat slightly up right. She heard Levi brief a medic on her situation and then felt her arm sting as she was injected with pain relief.
“There that should stop you from fainting again.” Levi smirked.
“Have you ever been shot at point blank range before?” Mikasa frowned at him.
“No, I haven’t.” He admitted dragging a chair next to her bed and he sat down with his arms crossed.
Mikasa cried out in pain again as the medic began cleaning up her wound, he poured large amounts of antiseptic over it, the liquid and blood spilling over into a tray under her foot. Levi offered her his hand and she gladly took it, squeezing it hard with both hands.
Only minutes had passed but it felt like hours to Mikasa by the time the medic was done and bandaged up her foot. She was left sweaty but at the same time she felt ice cold, the pain was unbelievable. The medic said he would be fetching a surgeon and left the two alone in the ward once more.
“Captain you can go back to work, I’ll be fine.” As she spoke she shifted around restlessly, desperately trying to make herself comfortable.
The captain leaned over and ruffled her hair, “Don’t be silly, I’ll stay. Someone else can deal with those brats for now.”
“Alright.” Mikasa then timidly pointed a finger to her foot, unable to look for herself. “What do you suppose the surgeon will do?”
“Honestly I’m not sure but try not to think about it.” Levi frowned as he noticed the raven haired soldier begin to shiver. To take her mind off things he leaned closer to her, lightly pinching her cheek. “What’s up with you? I thought you were brave.”
The officer smiled weakly but her shivering became violent, “I wasn’t expecting to be shot today, I suppose.”
“No I guess you weren’t.” Levi smiled then took hold of her hand and stroked it in an attempt to calm her.
“Brave?!” The captain flinched as Hange seemed to appear out of nowhere, “She’s in shock you asshole! Getting shot is quite different than getting injured by sword or what have you!”
“I know that!” He growled, “I’m trying to distract her.”
“Oh... that’s sweet!” Hange smiled at Levi, admiring his kindness for a moment. She then rushed to grab a blanket from a shelf next to her and laid it onto Mikasa, making sure to avoid her legs then tucked her in, fussing over her like a mother hen.
“Mikasa, you don’t look so great, have they given you enough pain relief?” The commander leaned down and gave her a gentle squeeze on the shoulder.
“It’s not kicked in yet.” She grit her teeth in pain.
Hange frowned, “I’ll go find out what he’s given you.”
Levi watched her walk off and then turned their attention back to the injured soldier. “No doubt she’ll be wanting to find out how much it takes to sedate an Ackerman…” he tutted at the thought of that four eyes drugging her up before turning back to Mikasa. “Come on, please stop shaking. You’ll be okay.” Levi looked at her sadly, and moved to sit on the edge of the bed, putting his arm around her, pulling her body tightly up against his and began rubbing her upper arm hard and fast like he was trying to bring a newborn puppy back to life.
“I’m sorry, Captain.” She said, barely managing to get her words out. Levi continued to rub her vigorously, hoping the motion would calm her.
“Oi, don’t apologise. What you should be sorry for is ditching me to be in the hospital tonight,” Levi gave her a faux frown, “it’s very rude of you to get shot when I just bought you some green tea especially for you.”
Mikasa gave a small chuckle,“You did? I’ll try not to get shot next time.” She poked his face playfully and then rested her trembling hand on his cheek.
“Good, that’s what I like to hear.” Levi felt his stomach flip as she stroked his cheek and looked up at him with those big dark eyes.
He then felt her body relax onto his, he stopped rubbing her but continued to embrace her nonetheless. “You’ve finally stopped shaking.”
“The pain’s going now.” She breathed a sigh of relief then smiled up at him, “Thank you for staying with me, Captain.”
“I told you it’s no problem.”
Levi felt himself melt inside at her smile and his gaze fell to her soft pink lips, this particular situation of wanting to kiss her kept cropping up recently. For some reason the former brat he had a soft spot for had become more to him. She was becoming more affectionate, funnier and a good companion overall. This was the first time in years he had really felt like this again. As time went by and the closer they became, Levi found it was becoming harder for him to hold back. Even last night he could have sworn Mikasa had closed her eyes ready to be kissed as they bid each other goodnight before they were rudely interrupted by a group of drunken soldiers passing by but Levi didn’t know if he was just imagining it. Levi snapped out of his thoughts as he felt her tug as his shirt.
“Do you think I’ll be out of commission because of this?” She suddenly looked panicked.
Without hesitation Levi leaned down, until their noses were brushing, he wanted to be close, he wanted to comfort her. “Listen I told you not to think about that… and anyway you’ll be fine, you’re stronger than anyone I know...”
Then it happened, their lips met. Each didn’t know who had kissed who but for a couple of seconds that’s what they were doing.
It was short lived as they were interrupted by the sound of boots stomping towards them.
“Oi, Mikasa!” Hange called from down the other side of the infirmary.
Their eyes met, panicked. They shifted on the bed, making sure there was some distance between them. Levi gave an awkward cough as Hange and the surgeon approached them.
The commander leaned over next to Mikasa and out of nowhere she pulled out a syringe and without hesitation she injected her in the arm, “Don’t you worry, the bullet went right through your foot so surgery is going to be very straight forward and you won’t feel a thing!”
“Wah! Commander!” Mikasa looked down at her arm in shock.
“Did you try asking her first if she wanted some more pain relief?” Levi asked flatly.
Hange leaned over and whispered into his ear, “Trust me she’ll need it. She’s got a bunch of fragments left in there, he’ll be digging around in her foot for ages...” Levi couldn’t help but cringe learning this new information. Poor Mikasa.
Hange gave Mikasa a thumbs up, “You’ll be fine, sweetheart!!” She exclaimed with a grin.
Mikasa flopped her head back onto the pillow and turned her gaze to the ceiling and let out a small, “Whoa.”
Levi facepalmed, “Seriously, Hange?”
“That’s it, Mikasa, no more pain to worry about… Only happy thoughts!” Hange grinned and stroked her hair, “doesn't she look so peaceful now?” She sighed wistfully, very pleased with herself.
Levi sighed, “I wouldn’t call that peaceful, she looks like a damned zombie.”
Hange cackled, “Anyway, I was going to come support her through the surgery while I had some time off but I see she’s in good hands already!” She wiggled her eyebrows at Levi.
“Stop that.” He glared at her.
“I’ll come check on you later, okay Mikasa?” She talked to the officer as if she were deaf. “Ciao!” She called back as she left the infirmary.
Mikasa looked down at the surgeon as he began working on her foot. He poured over an anaesthetic tonic over her foot and then pulled over a tray full of sharp instruments. She got on her elbows, trying to sit up, panicked.
“Lay back.” Levi sat himself back on the edge of the bed again, blocking her view of the surgery and gently pushed her back down.
“But I can’t feel anything.” She furrowed her brows, a confused, spaced out expression set over her face.
The captain sighed, “That’s because they’ve numbed it… on purpose.” He added for emphasis, in case the drugged up soldier got confused.
“Oh… Yeah…”
Levi felt himself slowly losing the will to go on but found his purpose again once he felt a frail hand on his.
“I’m scared.”
“Don’t be, I’m here, okay?” He smiled and clasped both his hands over hers.
-
Hours later, Mikasa was fast asleep, now comfortable in a proper bed in the infirmary and Levi remained at her side, feeling uneasy about leaving before she woke up. He cursed Hange for sedating her so heavily, she’d been out cold for a while now. His mind wandered to their kiss but no matter how good it felt Levi was determined to put it at the back of his mind for now.
Deciding he would take his chance he gently rubbed her hand, seeing if this would be enough to rouse her, “Mikasa?”
He watched as she furrowed her brows and slowly opened her eyes. “Mikasa, how are you feeling?”
The officier grimaced, “My foot… it hurts.”
“I don’t know if you remember but they ended up cutting it open as you had some fragments left in there.” Levi frowned, “and you were being a serious pain in the ass, you kept sitting up.”
“I did? I don’t remember.” She shut her eyes tight as she moved to sit up, bracing herself for the pain. Levi moved to feed her some water.
“Then I guess Hange did a good job of sedating you.” He put the glass back on the table. “Lie down, Mikasa. Jeez, I think that’s seriously the hundredth time I’ve said that today.”
“Guns are stupid.” She grumbled as Levi pulled her blanket back over her.
“You mean Cadets are stupid.” He sighed and leaned back in his chair. “Hange said it’s up to you whether or not he remains in the scouts, I’d personally recommend sending his useless ass back home.”
“I doubt that’s really an option, we need as many soldiers as we can get.” Mikasa glanced up at Levi and gave a small smile, “Plus I’ve done a lot of stupid stuff in my career and you never dismissed me.”
“Maybe I should have…” he smiled back, grabbing her cheek and shook her face. “You’ve always caused me nothing but trouble.”
She batted his hand away with a soft laugh, “Stop that!”
“Fine.” He tapped her on the nose, “will you be alright if I go now? I’ve been summoned back to work.”
“Of course, thank you for staying with me, Captain.” She smiled.
His felt his heart skip a beat, what was it about her smile that got to him? And why did her calling him captain suddenly make him feel all hot and sweaty? Levi’s hand lingered on her face and he thought about kissing her again but immediately put it to the back of his mind.
“I’ll come back later if you like?” He moved his hand from her face and awkwardly patted her on the head, immediately cursing himself as soon as he did it.
“No, I’ll be alright.” She sighed and sank back into her pillow, “I’ll be sleeping anyway.”
“Well I’ll swing by in case you aren’t,” he stood up and cleared his throat. “Just promise me you’ll rest?”
She nodded and watched him leave, Mikasa had a quick peek at her injured foot, she breathed a sigh of relief when she saw it was completely bandaged up. She flopped her head back and closed her eyes once more.