Archive of Our Own ^beta

Looking at herself in the mirror, a sigh left her lips. Her hair didn’t look terrible, but it was definitely not neat. She left the scissors on top of the counter and walked out of the changing room. Because it was a Sunday morning, not many were in labor, even less considering the fact that she was in the training room.

Yesterday, an accident happened during the practice with thunder spears. A cadet almost lost his life because he made a mistake at launching the projectile. Mikasa, being the only one with previous experience that day, was able to save the boy. However, her hair got entangled with the equipment and most of it got damaged.

It wasn’t a big deal for her, and she was more worried about other people getting injured. She didn’t realize it was very obvious until she returned to the headquarters, were Sasha almost choked on air. The room went quiet after explaining what actually happened.

“Want me to help you with it?” the brunette asked

“No, I can do it myself.”

And there she was, sitting on a bench of the gym, quite flustered because of how the haircut turned out. Mikasa finally stood up, deciding to just deal with it. She packed her stuff and walked to the door to leave. When her hand touched the handle, a sudden clash of force made it impossible for her to open it. Someone was trying to get in.

She let go of the handle and took a step behind. The door slowly opened, revealing a familiar man in casual satire. Captain Levi stood there for a second, staring at her head with a frowned expression.

It was a reflex to salute, avoiding eye contact because of the undergoing shame. She knew his eyes were scanning her hair like an inspector, having in mind that one conversation she overheard. He cut his own hair. Holding a pair of scissors and a hair brush, he placed them on the bench.

“Well brat. You fucked up your hair”

"...Is it really that bad?”

“Honestly, it could have been worse."

The silence only made her wonder even more what on earth he was planning on doing. Give her a lesson in how to correctly cut hair? Give himself a haircut? The man catched her staring, to which he turned around, working on something.

"Sit on that bench."

She did as he said, curiosity in the tip of her fingers.

"For what?"

"I'm gonna cut your hair. You're welcome." the sarcasm in his last words made her roll her eyes. It wasn't like she asked.

"How did you find out?"

"You're doing a lot of damn questions for someone that won't talk during trainings."

That caught her off guard. Was he bickering with her? She connected the dots fast however, knowing the meaning behind his words. And it was too good of a chance to let it pass.

"Says the one who refuses to talk after working hours" his breathing came heavy out of his mouth, a sign Mikasa took as a victory.

"...Not any different from you."

It was low, very low. Could not even be counted as a whisper. But she heard it.

"Alright, I'll start."

Those words vibrated in her head. Mikasa knew there was no team effort in sitting down and having the talk. She conformed with that, thinking sooner or later it would come.

It seemed like Levi was thinking the same thing too.

He ran his hands through her hair, getting a better look at the trimming the woman did a while ago. It definetly wasn't bad, considering that she probably never cut it that short before. He took the scissors, immediately starting to balance the length.

Besides Sasha, Historia and sometimes Armin, no one ever touched her hair. No one ever did that much before, at least not in the past decade. Her eyes closed involuntarily, the sound of the scissors being the only thing keeping her awake. It was so nice, too nice for her comfort zone. Yet she couldn't pull away.

When the captain finished with the back, he moved to the front, finding a close eyed Mikasa. She slowly opened her eyes, being a little taken aback by the gaze of the man. Almost as if looking at her was painful.

"I'll do your bangs now" he quickly went back to his usual expression.

He carefully placed the scissors by the ends of the hair, making sure it would be a uniform trim. With the other hand he covered her eyesight, avoiding any hairs falling onto her.

Once he finished, he ruffled her hair for a bit, making sure he wasn't missing any parts. Levi called his task off, telling Mikasa she could look at herself in the mirror to check the results. As she was approaching her own reflection, her lips curved into a tender smile. It looked good.

"Thank you, captain."

There was a big silence after that sentence, and she just stood there, looking at him stare at the wall debating something. He finally looked up, eyes on her.

"...Levi it's fine" she definitely made a weird face because the man scoffed, hiding a smile as he turned around