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Usually, Levi would fly through titans like someone would walk down the street. It was like he was made for it, zipping and spinning through more titans in one expedition than others would see in their whole lives. It was similar this time around, except this time Levi had made a slight miscalculation, and smacked his head against the ground.
He’s carried himself all the way back without people noticing; he rode his horse just fine, he seemed to be walking just fine, and it’s not like he ever let anyone close enough to see if his pupils were different sizes. He’d tried his best not to slur his words, and for the most part he’d been successful.
Only two people noticed, and those people were of course Hange, followed by Erwin. Levi had made it all the way to the mess hall, where he’d gotten his food, and sat down a little harder than he had wanted to. That was when Hange had taken notice.
“Are you alright Levi?” they asked, Erwin was also making his way back to their table, but stopping every so often to greet people and engage in small talk.
“I’m fine, Hange, go eat your food.” That might have been his first mistake, calling Hange by their actual name and not some insult he thought of on the fly, he was too tired for that.
Levi started to eat as Erwin came and sat down. Hange was still staring at him, with the same look they gave experiments, “Levi, look at me.”
Levi didn’t look up, he kept eating, hoping he could get out of this before anyone realized what had happened. Usually he was open about injuries, he would be no use to anyone if he was hurt. This time felt different for some reason. Maybe it was his own pride getting the better of him. He didn’t want anyone knowing "humanity's strongest" had fallen on his face in the middle of a battle. He was lucky enough to have been alone at the time. Or not lucky, depending on how you see it. He could have died.
“Levi.” Erwin spoke like he’d already called his name once. Maybe he had, maybe the concussion was worse than he thought. Levi still didn’t look up.
“Seriously, I’m fine. It’s just been a long day.” He was struggling more and more to make his words clear. He tried to get up, but stumbled a little. He took a second to regain his balance, but Hange was already standing beside him, poking to see if there were any outside injuries. Erwin was standing too, Levi noticed, but his vision was starting to get more blurry. He started to regret the choice of even coming to the mess hall.
At this point, Hange had not found any serious outward injuries, and was trying to poke at his face, he pushed them away and started to walk away. But Erwin was in the way. Was he always this tall? Levi looked up at him, which was a mistake.
“Levi, go to the infirmary.”
“No.” was all he could manage without slurring or blacking out. He tried walking again, but his feet weren’t going the right direction. “Stop it, I‘m fine.”
“Alright then, walk down the hall without tripping, and then we’ll talk.” Erwin told him, and let go, leaving Levi without anything to lean on. He hadn’t realized he’d been leaning on Erwin until he was gone. He stumbled a little, but managed to save himself before landing on the floor. He looked down to find his feet, and tried to take a step forward. When his foot left the ground, he immediately was taken over by a wave of nausea, then he was leaning on Erwin again.
“Levi, you need to tell people when you’re hurt. Try and stay awake.” Hange was walking beside them, Levi was quickly losing consciousness, but was slightly aware that they were, in fact, moving.
He managed to let out a grumble, and closed his eyes.
“Keep your eyes open.” Erwin sounded distant, but he could still hear the fact that Erwin sounded more irritated than legitimately scared. This probably would have annoyed Levi, but he wasn’t focused enough.
He tried talking, but that just made him want to vomit, so he stopped. He tried moving his feet, but Erwin was practically carrying him down the hallway. He didn’t think the hallway was actually this long, it felt like they were moving in slow motion. He could hear snatches of voices, but didn’t understand any of them. Then he was laying down, on a bed presumably, and the fight for consciousness was over.
***
When he woke up, he was still laying in a bed, and the open window was bright, so he covered his eyes. Even without the bright lights, he still had one hell of a headache. Sitting up seemed like a bad idea, but he tried it anyway, and regretted it as his headache got worse. Then he tried to stand, another mistake, he almost fell onto the floor. He caught himself, and sat back down on the bed, holding his head in one hand. The door opened, and he peered out from between his fingers. Erwin was standing in the doorway, dressed for the day. That was no indication of the time though, Erwin was usually dressed before dawn.
“How’s your head?” He asked.
“Feels like shit.” Was the answer Levi gave him, he tried opening his eyes again, and they watered from the brightness.
“Here, eat.” He handed him a small bread roll, and Levi took it. The thought of eating was simultaneously the best and worst idea in his mind then, so he just held it.
“Thanks.”
“That was really stupid of you,” Erwin said, “not telling anyone you were hurt.”
“I didn’t think it was that severe,” He looked down at the loaf in his hand, and broke off a small piece, “I was wrong.”
“We can’t afford to have you hurt, Levi.” Erwin started to pace in the small room, Levi had to look away before his headache got worse again.
“We’re getting new cadets soon.” Levi took a bite of the bread, it was dry, but when he looked at the table next to the bed he found water.
“New cadets that need leaders to look up to,” Erwin continued pacing, “I’m serious Levi, you need to be better about this.”
Levi didn’t answer right away, just continued to eat the roll he was given.
“Levi.” Levi looked up at Erwin, he was still sitting on the bed, which made the height difference even worse, not that he was going to mention it.
“It won’t happen again.” he said, it was a stupid decision to not tell anyone in the first place, but his pride had gotten the better of him. He probably would’ve kicked anyone if they’d done the same thing.
***
He was back to normal in a few days, swinging and spinning like he always had. For the next couple of expeditions he was extra careful to not hit his head anywhere, and Erwin or Hange started to hover a little more than usual. Surprisingly though, Levi didn’t mind.