Author's Note(s): I wrote this up in a few minutes as an offering for my uterus, which is currently trying to kill me. I think it helped. How are you supposed to write summaries for fanfiction under a thousand words without spoiling everything?
"It's just a sprain. I can walk back by myself." he says. Mikasa gives him a brief nod as she turns to go collect her things from beside the large oak tree close by. Levi doesn't see her look back as he's testing his ankle, but she sees him wince as he puts a little too much pressure on it.
"Ready?" she asks as she joins him back at the edge of the path, handing over his own pack and water bottle. "Ready." he replies, taking them from her and swinging his pack over his shoulder before he slowly starts along the trail they came here on.
With her feet planted in the same spot, she almost allows a smirk to creep onto her face as she watches him— stubborn as ever— limping along the path at the pace of a turtle, or perhaps a snail would fit him better. A lot of things are a little bit easier these days, and a few moments of happiness, even moments without as much worry, aren't quite as hard to come by as they used to be. It's more common to have time for themselves, and to be amused by the smaller things in life.
In some time he seems to notice she's not following him, as he turns around and gives her a look that she can't quite decipher — some kind of pained annoyance, she guesses, as she walks to where he is in less than half the time it took him.
"Let me." she demands, gesturing for his things. He gives her a questioning look, but he hands them over nonetheless, unsure of how her holding his stuff is going to do much in relieving the pain he feels in his twisted ankle with each step he takes. However, as soon he he finishes that thought, she answers his unspoken question by bending down in front of him.
"Get on." she sighs, and he contemplates rejecting her offer, but after a few seconds and a long, defeated sigh of his own, he figures it's best to oblige. They make their way down the path, and he is bitter that such a small thing can render him so dependant on another person. It's a few minutes into their walk that he finally relaxes, silently admitting defeat to a sprained ankle— of all things— and relaxing his tensed muscles after their preceding spar.
As he lets his head fall onto her shoulder, he notices she smells lightly of roses with hints of fresh laundry; and he's so lost in her comforting scent that he barely realizes how tired he's become until his eyes are barely open and he's hanging onto mere threads of consciousness.
Mikasa smiles contently as she hears his even breathing against her ear, and she watches as the colours of the sunset blend seamlessly together in the sky as they make their way down the path and back towards their temporary base to join the others.
