His expression bore his usual, stoic demeanor. He could certainly feel the eyes of his passing subordinates staring, most with strained expressions as though trying take a shit as they did their best not to laugh in fear of what Humanity's Strongest might do to them.
It didn't bother him, however, paying no mind to the buffoons who had apparently never seen a man donning a flower crown on his head. Of course, in their defense, it certainly was a strange sight to see the Captain make his way down the hall as though wearing the crown was as natural as Hanji wearing glasses.
His daughter's hand held a strong grip around two of his fingers as they walked down the hall of their headquarters. A smaller crown of similar flowers sat pretty atop her own titian hair. She had insisted that she walk herself, Levi usually opting to carry her though giving in to her protests.
"Mama helped me wif dem, Papa! I picked so many pweety fo'wers!" She exclaimed, rather proud of herself that both she and her father were wearing the fruits of her flower picking efforts.
"Do you fink Unca' Ermin will want one?"
He sighed through his nose, having since given up on correcting his daughter that 'Ermin's' name was actually 'Erwin.' Though admittedly, it was amusing when someone else slipped up and called him by the former accidentally (Petra mostly, Hanji and Mike purposely, Levi occasionally.)
"Don't know. You'll have to ask him when he's done with his hour long dump."
The toddler giggled. "Ew! Dat's gross, Papa!" At least someone laughed at his jokes.
Approaching the front doors of their headquarters, Levi pushed it open, ushering the little girl outside before pulling it closed behind him. Walking the perimeter of the castle towards the training grounds, he could see most of his squad in the distance, waiting for the arrival of their captain to begin their second training routine of the afternoon. Stopping about 20 feet before them, he set down a large blanket he had been carrying in his free hand. As if a well-known routine, the young girl stepped out of her shoes and onto the blanket, before sitting down and being handed a doll.
"Stay here and be good, Allegra. I promise I won't be long." He gave her a soft pat on her head, careful not to break the crown that adored her curly, titian locks.
Levi approached the others, who had broken from their huddle to salute their captain in greeting. He gave them a nod, the shorter man standing with his arms crossed in front of the four male members of his squad. A silence fell over them, each of their eyes flickering to the man's raven locks before trying their best not to stare.
"Captain you- you've got some flowers in your hair." Eren pointed out the obvious.
"It's a flower crown, Eren, can't you tell?" Gunther corrected him, though the poor cadet was having trouble putting two and two together as to the reason for their intimidating captain to be wearing anything of the sort.
Levi's half lidded eyes looked past his squad, towards the distant outline of the walls, his expression the same stoic one as always.
"But why-"
"Allegra made it for me." His tone was flat, uninterested, and certainly nothing out of the ordinary, though internally he couldn't help but wish Petra hadn't been training the new recruits that day; she usually made dealing with Jaeger's naivety a bit easier.
"Huh…"
"Wait- Y-you said your daughter made that crown?" The attention turned from Eren to the wavy haired, 'sort-of if you squint really hard but not really' Levi double. Actual Levi gave him a single nod.
"And you wore it?"
"Tch-why wouldn't I?" He spoke to Auruo, who, like Eren, was currently struggling to understand why exactly Captain Levi was wearing the floral headpiece. Auruo's cool composure began to crumble under Levi's stare.
"It's- it's- but you-" He hadn't even a chance to finish his words before biting onto his tongue, his hands flying up to his mouth.
A chuckle sounded from Erd, the tall blonde shaking his head. "I think it looks rather dashing on you, Captain. The orange poppies really bring out your eye color." He spoke, a few, mostly silent chuckles came from Gunther as well.
"Enough. Cut the crap and get to training. I want to see at least two of you pinned to the ground within the next five minutes." He spoke, watching them spring into action for hand to hand combat.
An hour of their training had passed before a break was finally warranted, the men drinking enough water to make up for at least a quarter of the sweat that dripped from their faces.
"Good work." Their captain commended them, each giving him a salute before going back to letting their heart rates slow down before moving on to the next exercise.
The sound of footsteps approaching caused Levi to glance back, spotting Petra and catching her smile as she approached them, still in her blouse and red skirt from her training with the new recruits. As with the fashion of the military, she stopped before Levi, boots clapping together as she brought her fist to her chest. "Captain Levi, sir." She spoke in a steady voice, before letting her arm fall. "Sorry I'm late; one of the recruits had collapsed after training. I saw them to the infirmary to make sure they would be alright." Her caring nature had always extended beyond that of anyone else, whether it be for one of her squad mates or someone who was a complete stranger to her.
"Sounds like you overworked them." Erd spoke, Petra turning her head to look at him. "Hardly! Certainly nothing compared to the training we go through." She retorted with an amused grin.
"Mama!" The sound of small feet running through the grass hit the ears of the soldiers, each turning their attention to the mini version of the titian haired woman. Levi gave a look at his young daughter, a brow quirking as he spoke. "I thought I told you not to leave that blanket."
"But it's important, Papa." She protested, clinging to Petra and waving a small hand for her to come closer. Ducking down, she let Allegra whisper into her ear, giving a nod as she took the crown of flowers currently clutched in her tiny fingers.
"Now go sit back on your blanket before you make Papa upset. I'll be over in a few minutes to take you back for your nap." She gave her a kiss on the cheek before standing back up. The young girl nodded, giving her father a quick and cute apology before running back towards the blanket.
Levi looked curiously to Petra as part of his mind wondered what exactly was so important, the other part thinking about the grass stains he would have to scrub out of his daughter's white socks.
"Well, Allegra wanted me to give one of you lucky boys this flower crown." Petra spoke, an amused expression her face as she presented it to them. "She wanted me to pick but felt bad she wasn't done making the others…I'm sure one of you would lo-"
"I'll take it." Auruo stepped up, snatching it out of Petra's hands before she even had a chance to finish what she was saying, eliciting a few chuckles from Erd and Gunther while Eren watched silently.
"After all, it would be rude not to wear something a child offered. And I'm sure she originally meant it for me." Auruo spoke as he placed messily tied crown onto the top of his head, before settling his hands on his hips and standing proudly.
"Wow, what a change of heart. I never thought Auruo would ever wear one from what he said earl-"
"Shut it, brat, I only said what I said to make you look like less of a fool."
"Enough." Silence fell over them as their captain spoke. "Use that energy to run ten laps around the training grounds." He ordered them. "And if any one of those petals fall, you're on toilet duty for a month, Auruo."
"Y-yes sir!" The man swallowed, before carefully following his comrades, hands shielding the crown from any possible damage.
Petra began to chuckle as she stepped closer to Levi. "That's a bit harsh, don't you think?" She spoke, taking his hand into hers.
"Not at all." He grunted, focused on the distant figures of his squad running.
Petra hummed, head turned to face him as she studied his own royal floral arrangement. She brushed a few strands of his hair behind his ear. "I think you look quite handsome with it on, you know. Maybe you should wear it more often.".
"Maybe…but I wouldn't want to be the start of some shitty trend."
Petra chuckled, giving him a kiss on the cheek, reluctantly pulling away from him. "Sounds like you need a nap time too, Captain Grumpy. Maybe you should end training early and come back with us."
Levi rolled his eyes, internally sighing at the 'unwarranted' treatment he was receiving. Petra smiled at his silence, taking a step backwards towards their daughter. "Well that's fine then, though I was going to draw a bath after I put Allegra down for her nap…I'll just catch up with you when you're finished." She took another step back before turning. A second hadn't even passed before she heard the sound of grass flattening underneath his boots from his approach.
"Let's go." He spoke in her ear as he passed, picking up his daughter, her shoes and the blanket in one swift motion, an amused Petra quickening her pace to follow after them.