A/N: PLEASE READ BEFORE CONTINUING. This is a story tells two different versions of Levi's first kiss. This story has two chapters but they are not connected by time. Each deals with a different OC. Choices in the first chapter may be different in the second, leading to a different result. They share a similar template, and even similar words, but they both can be read independently, or together in any order. Also, there are context spoilers from the OVA "A choice with no regrets". Feel free to leave questions if you are confused. Enjoy!

Sunspots

He always took lunch when no one else did. The mess hall was deserted, and in its silence sat Levi reading a book absentmindedly as he sipped the tea in his cup. It was an old book, faded ink presenting itself to him sheepishly, binding struggling to remain loyal in his grip and as he turned a page he inhaled the earthy scent of parchment. It mingled softly with the cinnamon from his tea and he sighed. It was peaceful, and with the 30th expedition right around the corner, he would take any and every moment of peace he could get. His eyes lingered on the empty seats around him for a solitary, fleeting moment and he was suddenly overcome by the enormous weight of Farlan and Isabel's absence. He closed his eyes, wishing the apparitions of their smiles away. Lingering was dangerous, it gave demons the opportunity to take him hostage and he was in no mood to face any monsters, be they within or beyond himself.

He opened his eyes and saw that it had begun to rain, shifting the light available to him dramatically and in the new dimness of the afternoon, he no longer felt like reading. So instead he sipped his tea and closed the book, setting it in his bag for later. He contemplated picking Erwin's brains about the upcoming expedition once more. If this was the man he'd decided to follow, the man he'd let lead him, he'd need a little more than popular opinion before he could fully place his trust with him. But then again, Erwin was often annoyingly unavailable when it just so happened Levi wished to speak with him. So instead he considered maybe heading back to his room and cleaning it. His new roommates would be moving in soon and he knew from experience that it was always good to set a precedent.

But as he stood, having finished his tea, Levi decided on training some in the surrounding trees. It wouldn't hurt to get some practice with the ODM gear in the rain. It wasn't completely necessary but at least it would dull some of the boredom he felt creeping into his shoulders.

…

Another day had gone by and the expedition loomed ever closer. He'd just broken away from the forced company of that Zoe girl who he quickly learned had a quite incredible knack for not being able to shut up. She seemed incapable of taking a hint when she proposed tagging along on his walk before lunch and he kindly suggested that she "take her four-eyed self back to the freak show she belonged to". The entire venture consisted of the woman incessantly prattling on about her hypotheses surrounding titan origin and physiology. As far as he was concerned, as long as he knew how to kill them, who cared?

He sighed, opening his book to the page he'd marked from the day before, eyes not even focused enough to comprehend a single word when the intrusive "Hi there!" was directed at him. He lifted his eyes to find himself across from a now seated girl with long bluish-hair, golden eyes, and a suspicious smile glued to her face.

"I noticed this place tends to be pretty empty around this time of day except for you. So I thought maybe you could use some company." she declared.

Levi looked back down at his book. "I didn't ask for company."

In his peripheral vision he saw her smile only widen. "Well of course not. No one likes to admit when they're lonely."

"And what makes you think I'm lonely?"

She looked down then. "Well, the teammates you came here with are," She paused. "Gone now. I know that sort of thing isn't easy to get over."

The anger came quicker than he thought it would as he stood and looked down at the girl before him. "You don't know anything about me, including how I grieve. Or if I grieve. So how about you take your half- considered sympathy and shove it up your ass."

As he left the room he looked back at her interestingly indignant expression and said just as evenly "Have a nice day" and shut the door loudly behind him.

…

The following morning Zoe was far more talkative than normal. If he'd had the choice, he would do his damnest to never find himself in her presence but as it stood, Erwin had him assigned to Zoe's squad. Temporary as it was, she was doing a fantastic job at driving him up the wall (and yes, he was referring to the one that would lead him to the possible better company of titans). Her usual spew of "titans this" and "titans that" had been traded in for "fall festival this" and "fall festival that". He wasn't the type for gossip and neither was she. Instead of berating him with the list of attending nobles, or the choice of music, she delved into the possibility of setting up social experiments geared towards understanding human behavior under different forms of stress. He probably would have preferred her to be normal, much to his disappointment.

As lunch neared and he successfully freed himself of her unending stream of consciousness, he thought about the girl he'd encountered the day before. Perhaps his choice of words had been… misguided. Perhaps, if he happened to see her around, he would take them back. But as he opened the door to the mess hall, all short-lived plans of apologizing were swiftly waved from his mind by the hand welcoming him to the otherwise empty room.

"Good afternoon." Her voice was singsongy.

Fuck.

"Not this again." He walked over to a corner of the room, holding his bag and his tea as he did so, and set them before him as he settled in. Quicker than he'd realized the girl had uprooted and replanted herself in front of him.

"Hello again."

What was with the women in the survey corp, he wondered bitterly as she leaned into her hands and stared at him. He stared back. And for a few moments, they were like this, just staring, unwavering, silently.

Finally she smiled, again. "I like your face."

He was somewhat surprised. "Excuse me?"

"Yeah, there aren't many cute guys around here anymore."

He collected himself. "Gee, I would have never noticed."

"Let me take you to the fall festival tomorrow."

Again she'd managed to surprise him. "Excuse me?"

"I know you heard me. I want to take you to the fall festival, tomorrow. It's the last opportunity any of us will have to do something fun before another expedition. I want to go, you're probably available, so let me take you."

He looked away from her then and opened his book. "No."

"Oh really?"

He sighed, exasperated. "Really."

"Then I guess I have no choice but to follow you around all day until you say yes. If you think Hanji can talk, you're in for a treat."

Why him?

…

The girl, who he'd soon learned was named Deborah Wilk, made good on her promise and pestered him mercilessly without fail. Two hours into the cruel and unusual torture, Levi broke down and conceded to attending the festival with her. She said she'd be by his room a few hours before sundown and left with a giant smile on her face, the biggest one he'd seen yet. He hoped his roommates, Harry and Cepheus, would be gone before then as they were also attending the festival and he was not a fan of big groups.

His room door opened with reckless abandon and crashed into the wall behind it. He looked up and frowned as Deborah strutted in. "Don't you know how to knock?"

"Wastes time. Let's go!"

And with that declaration he was promptly dragged by his sleeve out of the barracks and towards the edge of the closest village. It was not often, he found, that the soldiers of the survey corp were welcomed so warmly. He considered that perhaps the villagers' good graces must be in part due to their knowledge of the upcoming expedition. They were nothing shy of perfect hosts.

By the time they arrived the sun was low in the sky and Deborah insisted they buy food before all the shops closed. He followed suit and was taken aback when she paid for both of their orders. Levi wasn't in the habit of feeling indebted to people but something about her face tugged him just the right way and he decided to let it slide.

All evening Deborah pulled him along to the ridiculous booths and games the villagers were playing. And when they bumped into Zoe he was certain he wouldn't make it back home with his ears intact. But she was uncharacteristically quick to bid the two goodbye, which he was grateful for. But he was getting very bored and wanted to leave.

"Oh come on, live a little Levi!" Deborah insisted.

"Look I'm not saying you have to come home with me but I'm leaving."

He watched her eyebrows raise suggestively. "Oh, so you would rather I come home with you?"

He was baffled by her forwardness, unable to respond, stuck between his instinctive "fuck off" and not responding at all. But she just laughed. "I'm kidding! But stay a little while longer, please? There's only one more thing I want to do." Her bottom lip poked out like a child and another moment invaded his mind in which she looked so much like Isabel he nearly wretched. How could he say no after that?

She led him excitedly to a group of people clapping around a fire and immediately began to dance. Levi watched from the corner of the group as her blue hair burned purple in the light of the fire and shadows of the sunset. And for a moment, she was all he saw. Her laughter rung in his ears like a language he'd never known he knew, her body swayed like water in the desert inviting him in, and when she looked at him finally, breathing hard, and excited, he felt his heart stop. For the smallest of moments, he was paralyzed.

As they walked back to the barracks, Deborah recounting her favorite parts of the night, though tiring as she was, for a final moment of the night, Levi could honestly say he was glad he stayed.

…

Again it was time for lunch and again Levi found himself in the company of the blue-haired girl. It wasn't so bad today, at least she was silent.

"Tell me about the book you're reading."

Perhaps he'd spoken too soon. He paused and left his finger to mark his place as he lifted his gaze to his self-appointed lunch buddy. "It's a fairy tale. My mother read it to me when I was a child. I just never seem to get bored of the damn thing."

Deborah smiled softly and waited patiently for him to continue.

"I'll take that look to mean you're wondering what it's about?" She nodded. "Well the story was written long before mankind's first interaction with the Titans. It chronicles the quest of a young boy who finds that his village is plagued by these previously unknown beings whose presence causes countless problems for the people living there. But in order to save his people, he must become one of the newcomers."

"It sounds interesting. What are these beings in the story?"

"I'm not sure. Always assumed they were just nondescript mythical creatures. It doesn't really matter that much to me."

Deborah nodded. "I guess I'm not surprised. It seems like no matter where I go I always run into the same stories."

Her eyes glazed over and Levi wondered what she meant by the statement but knew from experience that if a person wanted to expose the memories playing behind their eyes, they would do so at their own will. So instead he waited until she sighed and changed the subject. "Are you ready for tomorrow?"

"Is anyone ever ready for those kinds of things?" he countered.

"You have a point." She stood and gathered her things before making her way to the door. As she reached the doorway, she looked back and spoke with such seriousness that Levi was nearly concerned for her health. "Don't die on me tomorrow, okay?"

"Speak for yourself."

She laughed warmly. "Sure." And with that she left.

…

Under most circumstances, Levi preferred silence. But as the expedition moved through the fields beyond the wall, the lone sound of the horses galloping set him on edge. The expedition was going comparatively well, only a handful of soldiers having lost their lives, in part due to the implementation of Erwin's new formation and also to the relatively low numbers of titans they'd encountered that afternoon. The trees passed by in a blur as Levi skimmed the sky for signs of smoke. The last red flare had gone off nearly twenty minutes ago and the commander was taking that to mean this was a mostly titan free area. But there was something about the patch of trees around him that bothered him. They were far too removed, and far too thin. With how Erwin had the regimen currently split up, would it be at all possible for the other two groups to see everything?

He looked ahead and saw the beginning of a clearing. At least they'd pass the trees soon. Perhaps his feeling of uneasiness would pass then as well. Or perhaps two abnormal titans would bear down on them unsuspectingly. The last tree left his vision, but they were too late. The titans were on them and no one could react fast enough. One, easily ten meters, grabbed one of Levi's new roommates whose terrified screams stretched the area of the clearing. The other smaller titan had, with a sweep of its hand, brutally knocked several riders from their horses and was now going after those it had disoriented. Among the fallen was Deborah.

Levi had hesitated long enough and jumped on his horse. The trees were gone, sure, but that didn't mean there wasn't anything for his gear to attach to. He aimed straight for the back of the titan and pulled himself towards it before viciously destroying its nape. He looked back at Erwin. The man was no fool. In this large clearing, the scouts were at a serious disadvantage. Turning back for the cover of the woods was their only option.

"Levi?"

The call was so soft he couldn't believe it had come from the woman to his right. Deborah was sitting against the based of one of the straggling trees, her arm clutching her side.

She smiled at him, like always. "Thanks… for getting it… for me… rotten bastard."

As he neared her it didn't take him long to figure out that her spine had been broken and any use of her lower body was now impossible. But as he kneeled at her side, he soon realized what would ultimately kill her. Her breath was coming shallow and fast and it was clear her lungs were collapsing.

"I was… gonna marry you... you know?"

His eyes widened. She never stopped surprising him, even at the very end. "Oh yeah? What if I'm not the marrying type?" His words were soft, a distraction.

"I was… gonna make you… fall for me… but I never… even… made it to a… single kiss." The regret showed in her eyes and Levi cursed mentally.

"You don't have very much breath left, why waste it on something so stupid?"

Deborah looked up at him and the intensity of her gaze was a stark reminder of two things. Number one, she was going to die. "I'd never… waste… anything… on you."

And number two, he didn't want her to.

"Dammit." Levi said straightening up. He reached out and held her chin gently. Her breaths were even shorter now and he knew she had but moments. "You dumb girl."

He placed his lips on hers with instinct, having never before done something like this. They molded against hers and with their softness came the faint taste of blood and whatever made Deborah talk so much. Her mouth tasted sweet and that sweetness lingered on the edges of his lips as he pulled away, having felt her muscles relax indefinitely.

Levi stood and looked down at the woman before him, realizing just how striking she was. Even in death, she managed a smile. It made him sick to his stomach. He whistled for his horse and as he rode towards the rest of the group, he glanced once more behind him. At the base of the tree, light low in the sky behind her, Deborah was the most tranquil she'd ever seemed. He couldn't decide which was more blinding, her or the setting sun. As he looked back in front of him, he found that both had left lingering spots behind his eyelids. He wondered if they'd ever go away.