Levi was beautiful when he fought.

I'd never seen anything like it. I'd been fighting all my life - scrapping, more like - and I'd never seen anyone move like him. It was almost like watching a dance, his movements were fluid, precise, calculated, and he whirled around so fast your eyes had to stop focusing on him just to see the trail of his movement.

He was short, but fast. When he got in the ring with a man more than twice his size, and proceeded to fell him within five minutes, to say I was impressed was an understatement.

There were others that stepped in the ring after him, pairs of guys that were sparring for fun and for practice. But I couldn't drag my eyes away as he tilted his head back, drinking from his water bottle, the sweat clinging to his skin and making it shine. His hair was damp, and slick, and shone like obsidian. I watched the play of his muscles as he picked up the towel and ran it over his face.

"Jaeger!" Erwin called out in a booming voice.

I started, and looked up at our instructor, who was standing impatiently in the ring with his arms crossed. He was built like a tank, tall, broad, and bulky with muscle. I didn't want to piss him off, because fighter or not, I wasn't ready to take him on.

"Get up here, it's your turn."

I hopped up and ducked through the ropes, bouncing on my feet, rolling my ankles and snapping my neck. Finally I cracked my knuckles before sliding into my boxing gloves. We didn't wear head gear when sparring, only when fighting for real.

It was my first time sparring in this club, and so I didn't know the name of my opponent, just that he had a long face that made him look like a horse. And two-toned hair - was it bleached? He looked a little ridiculous to me, but his body was fit, and he was clearly ready to go.

We faced each other off, circling, testing each other with a few jabs, crosses, and knees. Whenever I got close to him he backed away, ducking, avoiding, always on the run.
It started to tick me off, so I said, "What are you, scared?"

Horse-face's eyes went dark, but he said, "Hey man, it's just a drill. Back the fuck off."

Now I was getting pissed. "How are you supposed to get better if you don't take it seriously?"

"Are you for real?" He came at me, but it was almost forced, half-assed.

I threw a good punch at him and clocked him in the jaw. "If you're not going to fight me then get the fuck out so I can spar with someone else."

Horse-face threw his hands in the air and stalked out of the ring, and Erwin didn't say anything but just stood there with his arms crossed and sighed. "Annie," he called out after a moment.

A blonde girl with a hawkish look to her climbed into the ring, and the first thing I thought to myself was, why is he pairing me with a girl? Someone so much smaller than me? I was thinking this club was a joke, and that coming here was a mistake.

Then she lashed out at me, swept my legs out from under me, and got in a good gut shot that left me wheezing on the floor.

I just lay there for a moment, stupefied.

Then I got up, shook it off, and started to get serious.

Annie and I got really into it, but she was good. Everything I threw at her, she blocked or dodged, and kept coming right back at me. I pushed her, she pushed me, I kicked her, she kicked me. Then somehow she got the better of me yet again. When I kicked her, she caught my leg against her side, and delivered a sickening punch to my inner thigh that left my leg spasming and made me buckle.

As I was falling backwards, she caught my head between her hands, and kneed me in the face. Then she tossed me back like a used rag doll. My head thudded against the ground, and I saw stars.

The pain was incredible. My whole face felt like it was on fire, and there were tears streaming down my face. I tongued my lips and felt blood on the inside where I must have bitten into them. And there was blood streaming down my face, all down the front of my tank top, all everywhere.

I was jerked roughly to my feet, held up by none other than Levi himself. He manhandled me like I didn't tower over him, and he spat in my face, "Don't you dare bleed on the ring. Even bleach won't get the stains out."

I couldn't even understand him, I thought to myself. Bleach? I must be hearing things. I could barely see.

My leg was prodded roughly, but I heard Erwin's voice as though from far away. "Nothing broken. Except the nose, of course. Someone get him in the back and get him cleaned up."

I couldn't say for sure what happened next. Everything was a blur, but I was moving, and I fought the dizziness that made me feel like I wanted to puke. Shit, I thought to myself. I had finally had a chance to meet my idol, the top superstar of the MMA ring, and what kind of impression had I made on him? Oh yeah, that's right. He told me not to bleed on the ring.

Could I get a rewind?

—

I sat on a bench in the corner of the gym, my head tilted back, as my best friend settled herself in front of me with an ice pack and a wet towel, and proceeded to start wiping the blood of my face.

"Oh, Eren," she sighed at me. "Why you keep throwing yourself back in there, I'll never understand."

I didn't have the patience to try to explain yet again to Mikasa how I needed to do this, how it was my dream. We had watched Levi fight once, the three of us, her, me, and our friend Armin, back when we were just kids and Levi was in the amateur league. They'd held some sort of outdoor tournament for charity, and we'd all gone to help the cause - it was for orphans, I remember, because Mikasa and I were orphans, too, and Armin was just there for us. We'd all been there, but of the three of us, it was only really me whose life changed that day.

I had seen Levi in the ring, and I had thought to myself, if I could be like him one day, I'd feel free. I wanted to fight back against all the bullies, all the bigger kids, and protect those who needed protection. When I watched Levi I felt at peace, because something about the way he moved just spoke of someone who was at ease in their skin, and I wanted that. I hated that part of myself that was weak, and awkward, and I wanted to stamp it out.

I still wanted to stamp it out. I'd been training in all sorts of martial arts, from Karate, to Aikido, even Tai Chi. But when I was old enough, I joined the local MMA club and started to do Muay Thai. I was one of the better ones in my age category, but now that I was legally an adult, I was in a different class.

Mikasa prodded a cut on my eyebrow, eliciting a hiss from my lips. "Tear it wide open, why don't you," I muttered.

"Stop being a baby," she countered instead, and then she went for the gold and started wiping the blood from my nose, mouth, chin. The towel went red, but I had been tipping my head back for a while now, and the blood had stopped flowing.

I had already felt a little nauseous from the knock to the head, but tilting my head back had made me swallow some blood, and that really didn't help. I felt myself swaying, and I thought, fuck, I'm going to puke.

"Mikasa," I breathed, my voice barely above a whisper.

Her eyes focused in on me, and she peered down at me. "What's wrong," she said, instantly intent, no longer playing around.

"I need to get to the bathroom. Right now."

Mikasa shouldered me up, and I swung an arm over her. She was stronger than she looked, and she could carry me fully if I wanted her to, but I couldn't bear the shame of it. So she half-dragged, half-carried me out of the gym, and down the hall of the big factory building, to the bathrooms that no one ever used.

They weren't gross, in the sense that since no one ever used them, so they didn't stink or anything. But there was a definite layer of dust on top of everything, and who knew the last time the toilets had a flush. The bathrooms smelled faintly of gip rock plaster and paint.

I barely made it to the toilet before collapsing on my knees and vomiting into the porcelain bowl. I felt Mikasa's hand on my back, rubbing circles there, though she didn't say a word.

It was over pretty quick really. I hadn't eaten much that day, but I dry heaved a bit when my stomach was empty, since my skull was splitting and the convulsions didn't seem to want to stop.

When I finally rested my cheek on the seat, listening to the flushing toilet, I felt Mikasa's hand in my hair. She prodded the back of my head, and found a swelling where my head had knocked against the ground.

"You might have a concussion," she said quietly.

"I'm fine," I countered.

She didn't say anything, but I could feel her watching me. She didn't give a shit about going back to that class, even though all I wanted to do was make it back fast enough that they all didn't think I was a pussy for getting knocked around by a girl two heads shorter than me.

When I thought I was ready, I got to my feet. I was quite proud of myself for only swaying a little bit.

I went to the sink, and could see already the blood collecting behind my eye sockets. Great, now I'd have black eyes to show for this little stunt. I turned my head from one side to another, looking at my nose. Had it always been curved like that?

I heard the door push open behind me, and I turned my eyes to watch in the mirror as Levi stalked into the room. He looked around, making a grunt of disgust, then eyed me up and down.

"I think he has a concussion," Mikasa told him, but Levi stoutly ignored her. She frowned.

Instead, he walked up to me, and peered up into my face. He then reached up, putting his hands on my cheeks, and looked into my eyes. I looked down at him, and from this close up, I was mesmerized by how delicate he looked, from his stature to his small mouth, and his wide, wide eyes. I was caught in his eyes, trying to figure out what colour they were - would you call that silver? Or a dull blue?

Then in a quick motion, he put his hands on either side of my nose, and yanked and pushed all at the same time.

It's like the pain of getting the nose broken, all over again. I smacked his hands away, and put a hand on my nose, but when I touched it I screamed. "Fuck!"

Levi slapped my hands away from my face, and he snapped out, "Don't fucking touch it."

"You're one to talk!" I complained.

"I just fixed it, so don't fucking touch it, or I'll have to fix it again." He glared up at me. "If you can stop getting your panties in a twist and follow me back, I'll tape it so it won't float around, and then maybe you'll still have a straight nose after all this."

I sighed, but followed him out, rolling my eyes back at Mikasa. She just shrugged.

I was walking on my own, though, and the dizziness had passed for the most part, so I figured I didn't have a hell of a lot to complain about. I just wished I'd get eaten up in a big hole and given a redo of the whole day, because getting my nose broken by a girl, then getting said nose set by my hero were so not on my list of to-dos.

When we got back to the club, I saw that the place was pretty much cleared out. The class had finished, and there were just a few die-hards who were doing weights and using the machines. Erwin was talking on the phone, taking down someone's information onto a notepad, but other than that, I didn't recognize anyone.

Levi led me back to his locker. He was one of the few with his own locker, I saw, but it made sense since he was the top fighter in the place. He pulled a first aid kit off the top shelf and then pointed at the ring. "Sit," he barked out.

I perched on the edge of the ring, and Levi insinuated himself between my legs, looking down into my eyes. From this position, I could reach out and put my hands on his hips, and kiss him. I wanted to kiss him, I realized with a jolt.

I slid my eyes to look at Mikasa, like she could somehow see it on my face, but she was just watching me like always.

Levi cupped my neck in one hand, using his thumb to tilt my chin back just where he wanted it. Fuck, I thought. I could smell him, and it was driving me crazy. He was all sweat and musk and yet there was a layer of soap and clean fresh air, and the whole combination just made me want to put my arms around him.

I clenched my hands into fists to stop them from wandering, and planted them firmly on the ring behind me.

Levi accurately measured out two lengths of tape, snipping the ends off with a small pair of sewing scissors. He then carefully positioned my nose again, making me wince, and expertly taped it up.

"You've done this before, haven't you?" I asked him. I winced again when I realized my voice sounded like gravel. Must have been all the screaming I did earlier. Or the puking.

Levi just raised an eyebrow and stepped away from me, putting his things away. "I had some medical training when I joined the army."

"You're in the army?" I asked.

Levi turned to glare at me. "Is there an echo in here? Yeah, I'm in the army. Special forces."

I goggled at him. I knew I was doing it, but I couldn't stop myself. In Canada, you didn't often meet people who were in the army. It wasn't the most popular career choice. "So you've, like, gone abroad? Fought in wars?"

Levi rolled his eyes and put his kit back in his locker. I thought at first he wasn't going to answer my question, but I heard him say, "I'm special forces. We go on short-term tactical missions mostly. But I did two tours in Afghanistan."

I turned to look at Mikasa, who was now eyeing him with open interest, though she didn't interrupt our conversation. I knew she'd spoken before of joining up, and I had often wondered why she hadn't. She'd followed me into University instead, and joined this club at the same time as me, as well. But she was always better than me, better at fighting, better at learning, and it drove me nuts sometimes. I had to admit I sometimes wanted to tell her to stop following me around like a lost puppy, but I knew that was one of those things that, once said, couldn't be unsaid. I'd wisely kept my mouth shut.

But now, I turned to her and said, "Now you have someone who can tell you what it's like."

Levi was taking off his shirt, I realized, as I watched the play of muscles in his suddenly exposed back. My mouth went dry. He had a bag out, and he was folding the shirt carefully into the bag, wiping his chest down with his towel. "I'm not playing fucking twenty questions with a couple of brats," Levi grumbled without looking at us.

"Mikasa's always wanted to join the army. And our friend Armin, he wants to see the world, and he said he'd join up if we did, 'cause it was one way to see the world. None of us grew up with a lot of money, so it's not like we were trust fund babies that could tap into those funds to go backpacking around Europe or anything." I knew I was rambling, and Mikasa was shooting me a glare that clearly said, when are you going to shut up? but I just couldn't stop talking.

Levi turned around to face me, and my mouth went dry again when I caught sight of his perfect, chiseled body. He was carved from stone, and yet his skin looked soft, I wanted to touch it, to touch him. I closed my eyes tight and turned my head away.

"Sure, it's one way to see the world," he was saying. "See it drenched in blood. Damn, and now I've got the whole life story. Do me a favour, kid, and keep your life history to yourself. I don't care about your dreams and aspirations, and I don't give a shit that your mommy and daddy didn't give you enough pin money." Levi was dragging a fresh shirt on over his torso, and I stifled the disappointment that he thought so little of me. I could feel my lips thinning out, but I didn't say anything, because I didn't blame him for his assumptions. I was just a stupid kid, with some kind of hero-worship going on, and why should he give a damn about me?

Mikasa wasn't so understanding, though. She moved so fast I barely saw her, and shoved her forearm up under his chin, pinning him to his locker. She glared down at him, baring her teeth in a snarl. "Don't you talk about his parents. They were good people, and they did what they could for us when we were young."

Levi didn't struggle, or try to wiggle out of her grasp. He just raised an eyebrow. "Were?"

I could see his neck compress when Mikasa pushed her arm harder. "It's not their fault that they're not around to help us anymore. Eren's done the best he could, he's protected us since we were kids, he's worked his ass off to get this far. How dare you presume to-"

I cut her off when I put a hand on her arm, tugging her gently. "Mikasa," I said, looking into her eyes. I couldn't bear to look at Levi, I didn't want to see that sarcastic look on his face anymore, and I was burning up with shame. He didn't want to hear my life story, and she wasn't helping. "It's okay. He doesn't know me, doesn't know us. And he doesn't want to. Let's just go, okay?"

She looked into my eyes for a long moment, and I could tell there was still some fight left in her, but as always when I asked her to do something, she always came through.

Mikasa huffed, then spun on her heel, grabbing her bag and jerking it over her shoulder. I followed after her, doing my best not to look back at Levi.

When I brushed out the door, I couldn't help it. I glanced behind me and I caught a last glimpse of Levi. He was standing there, motionless, right where we'd left him. He was watching us - watching me. And even though I didn't know him, and couldn't say for sure, I would swear that there was an apologetic tilt to his head.

Did I mention that I wanted a rewind?