I'm so sorry guys, but recently I have been going through an unexpected rough time. It threw me off my mojo and haven't been able to get my creative juices flowing again. But thanks to the support of so many of you, I can announce that I am BACK. Now, if you don't see your prompt here, I am still working on it. I've got so many drafts written up for ideas based on said prompts. But I won't post anything until I'm completely satisfied with it. Now, without further ado...
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Coffee Stains
Summary:
Every one has their breaking point. Everyone has a little spot where they finally snap and do something stupid. Really... really stupid. Mikasa not only does one... but she does another. It's safe to say that the Lance Corporal may had been expecting the first... not so much the other.
Rated T for suggestive themes and mild language.
The silence between them was deafening. Borderline destructive. But still. Oh so very still. Like the stillness before a very loud, a very strong explosion.
Books were in their place on the shelves; neat and clean and dust free. Each set of furniture was optimally located and angled perfectly, each cushion plush and vibrant in soft color as well as cleanliness. The desk was arranged neatly and the lamp and pens and cups all glistened softly under the lazy sunset light. It would've been a picture of focus, a picture of a place of work and zen.
For one looking from the outside in, one would say was nothing out of the ordinary save...one... little detail.
That detailing being that there was dark coffee, staining and dripping, slowly spreading down the once sparkling wooden desk. Documents were soaked, pens were sprinkled with fine, moist dots of the caffeine heavy drink. Even the tea cozy and the coaster were slowly invaded by the spreading liquid before it reached the edge and in silver thin threads spilled from the desk and onto the ground, splashing.
The sound continued for a moment as two pairs of eyes bore deep into each other. The onyx pair was wide, defiance and shock and a slowly bearing dread fighting behind the reflective surface. The blue pair had once been wide, shocked and surprised only to narrow into a flat stare. Thinly veiled fury and disgust rolled from behind said stare, piercing and unmerciful.
"...Ackerman ..." the name came out through thin lips in a short hiss and there was a flinch from the eyes opposite.
The Onyx pair flinched down, taking in the sight of what had caused such a dread filled stand-still.
Soft cheeks, twitching lips, and chin were sprinkled dark and dripping. Beige jacket - once clean and perfectly pressed was now soggy with the growing black stain. The white cravat, once a soft, pristine white, was now plastered against the shirt underneath. Both now had turned a opaque dark brown and clung to tight skin and firm muscle of the chest of the Commanding Officer. Drips of the dark coffee dripped and fell from where the cloth still hung away, each drop hitting the ground was like a mocking laugh.
Pink lips popped open in shock and there was a sharp intake of breath.
"...C-corporal..." the title was a short breath of shock, as if it what had just transpired was unbelievable. And it most definitely was. Because in her hand she held the perfect porcelain teapot, empty of its beverage. Whatever remained ran down its open and tilted top to stain and wet the hand clutching it tight.
Mikasa Ackerman had just thrown an entire teapot's worth of lukewarm coffee directly on her commanding officer and renowned Humanity's Strongest Soldier; Lance Corporal Levi.
Mikasa blinked, looking back and forth between the tilted teapot in her hands and to the large stain on the entire front of the Corporal, as if trying to make the connection of what just happened.
Said commanding officer only straightened from his once leaning posture on the desk behind him and the sound of more dripping followed. For a brief moment, Mikasa feared she would be traumatically afraid of that sound for the rest of her life.
"You do realize..." He spoke, slowly and gravely. His eyes never left hers for a single moment and Mikasa could feel her stomach quiver with an emotion she had only associated with seeing a Titan face to face. But this was worse. So...much worse. "Exactly what you've just done, correct?"
"I believe," her voice reached his ears, but her face seemed to have frozen in that expression of shock, bleeding anger and disbelief. "...I just served you the coffee you had asked for."
His eyes widened for a split second before narrowing again and Mikasa wasn't sure whether to pat herself in the back or kick herself because that was not what she was supposed to have said.
"Oh?" He asked, but the sound reached her ears with something akin to a subtle threat. Something inside her was urging her to run, to book it and make it like hell was on her heels because what she had just done was going to make the equivalent of the Death Reaper make her life a living one. But another side of her, the side that flared with life and adrenaline under the face of danger and blood and death, seared her feet to the ground and made her heart begin to race with another emotion all together.
"You asked for coffee..." Mikasa Ackerman elaborated, unable to stop, "And so I brought you coffee."
Suddenly, it was as if a dam in her mind had broken, freeing all the memories back to the front of her mind and she remembered exactly what happened and why.
"Ackerman," Levi called as he walked past her, she slowed to a stop and faced him. Dreading what he would demand next, Mikasa waited but stifled an irritated sigh.
"Yes, sir?" She clipped out the inquiry, earning her an empty glance.
"I want a pot of coffee in my office within the next fifteen minutes. You are to make it to my specifications. For any other useless question you may have concerning this menial task, please direct it to the cook. However, you are forbidden to have any help in the matter whatsoever."
The salute she gave him after the order was a tight and slowly done, her fist was clenched far too tight when it reached her chest. Her lips pulled into a flat and very straight line beneath her mouth, but she nodded and left in the opposite direction. Controlling herself from stomping away took nearly every once of her self-discipline and when she got to the kitchens she began the task and nearly scared everyone nearby. She had slammed cups, spoons, kettles and splashed boiling water in her rage and as she ground the coffee beans she remembered the cook squeaking in fright at her. Said cook then tried to warn her that if she kept it grinding the beans at that pace she would start a fire. Mikasa did not care. If she could serve a cup of flames and pour it down the Corporal's throat she would enjoy every bloody moment of it.
Instead she settled on preparing the coffee, following the cook's instructions with an attitude of a raging blizzard. Ten minutes later of screwing up one pot of coffee, she was able to complete the second. However, in her haste and blinding fury to finish the task she had forgotten to bring the small burner that would keep the beverage nice and hot when she set it up in his office. At the same time, the coffee pots had all been removed from the kitchens since, apparently, they were receiving new coffee pots this time tomorrow. It was as if the Corporal had planned this. It was as if he knew that there would be no coffee pots and that she would have no choice but to serve him in a teapot.
Honestly, this much did not shock Mikasa.
She knew the Corporal could get brutally avenging after suffering an injury, and Mikasa had prided herself in being able to do every single task he gave her - and then some - after suffering an injury she had unwittingly caused. And she had taken it in stride! But slowly, her stride was wearing down to dragging stomps and storming thuds the more Levi insisted she do more. As if her trials were only getting progressively more ridiculous and impossible...
That stupid faced, short haired, bitter midget bastard.
When Mikasa had finally reached his office after nearly exhausting her anger out while she brewed the damn beverage, she had knocked and walked in to see him standing over his desk nearest to her. He took one glance at her and then one glance at the teapot in her hands and looked away, scoffing.
The rage had begun to return with a roaring vengeance.
"Did you grind the beans correctly?" He asked.
"Down to the last inch," She replied tersely, wanting nothing more than to grab her swords and take out her anger on a bumbling Aberrant.
"Did you heat the water to the right temperature?"
"Yes..." She hissed before extending the hand holding the coffee burdened teapot.
"Shame you couldn't find just one coffee pot." Levi sighed, and Mikasa's hold on the handle of the pot tightened as her knuckled burned white. Biting her tongue, Mikasa attempted to slow and steady her breathing - she did not want to show he was getting to her at all.
He finally turned to her, setting some of the documents down on his desk before leaning his backside against the wood of his desk. Levi crossed his arms and urged her closer with just a nod.
The tension rose as she took on begrudging step forward, the teapot swinging under her grip. His eyebrows rose, disinterestedly as he eyed the porcelain with a critical gaze. Another short pause followed before Levi let out another short sigh. Mikasa felt her anger shoot up exponentially and she could feel one of her eyebrows begin to twitch as well as a muscle in her upper lip.
"It's lukewarm." He declared and Mikasa felt a great stillness shoot through her skin like lightning.
"It's...what...sir?" Mikasa asked, her voice soft but reaching a high pitch that not even Eren or Armin ever heard fall from her lips.
"Lukewarm, Ackerman." Levi looked back into her eyes, level, irritated and...was that amusement? "Did you at least bring the burner?"
Mikasa felt a stone fall into her chest and she tried to hold back the dam of rushing frustration just threatening to break her poker face.
"No?" Levi asked and answered in one moment, his eyebrows rising higher now. Mikasa's hand was trembling.
"Well done, Ackerman." He sighed once more. Mikasa stopped breathing. "Unfortunately, I do not drink my coffee at anything less than hot. Throw that away. I won't drink that." He ordered.
He ordered. Something in that moment deep within Mikasa Ackerman snapped with an unbelievable force and before she knew it, her opposite hand had reached up, grabbed the teapot's top lid and after grabbing it's warm side. jerked the heavy pot forward. The coffee could only follow the force of her shove and exploded from the pot, striking the shorter officer's entire front and even desk behind him with a crashing splash that would echo in her ears for a lifetime.
His eyes had widened the moment the beverage landed on his front, dripping and spilling everywhere . Mikasa felt such a fierce relief course through her blood and veins with such unbridled adrenaline and euphoria it had frozen her from doing anything else aside from just standing there, gaping and breathing heavily.
Back to the moment, Mikasa took one last glance down at the clinging clothes - taking a moment to enjoy the embarrassing spill (as well as secretly taking sweet note of how his muscles now seemed to pronounce more behind sticky brown cloth) - before meeting his eyes again.
"Where do you get the nerve, Ackerman?" Levi hissed gravely, his eyes flashing bright the complete and utter fury behind his eyes and Mikasa felt a thrill zap through her entire spine like a violent shiver.
"Would that be all, sir?" Mikasa asked, feeling the high of relief and fear and dread and complete and utter disbelief and satisfaction surge this strange new courage through her chest.
Levi's mouth dropped open slightly, but to Mikasa it was the equivalent of a jaw drop. This strange new courage began to kick whatever fear she had in her chest right out to replace it with movement and she took a slow step forward.
"Ackerman... have you lost your damn mind?" He asked, genuinely surprised.
"Not yet," Mikasa replied, almost giddy and she took another step forward. Levi's arms slowly began to drop from his chest, dark coffee dripping from his hands to hit the ground in soft pitter-patter.
"I have just one more thing I think I should conclude before taking my leave, sir. " She whispered. Mikasa had no idea what she was doing, Levi had no clue was she was doing. The flat and viciously angry stare from his blue eyes had melted into a blank and unexpected look. Mikasa had never felt so powerful in all her life and so...she did another stupid thing.
Taking a decisive step forward, Mikasa slammed the coffee stained teapot on the table behind Levi before balling her fists around the soggy and dripping cravat. She could've lifted her other hand and punched him right in the mouth. Mikasa could've thrown him down to the ground. Headbutted him. Knocked him right out and left him curled on the floor, soaking wet with coffee and humiliated like she had wanted to make him feel for these past few days.
Instead, however, she had gotten distracted by the sight of his muscular chest, visible through the wet cloth of his shirt. By the sight of his very livid, very emotionally bright blue eyes and the way the coffee staining his mouth and chin glistened under the hot rays of the sunset.
The violent need to make him feel pain vanished in a blink the moment her eyes left his to glance at the way the light bounced off his caffeine-moistened lips and a new urge filled her with unbridled force.
And in that swift moment, before she could even make sense of what was going on, Mikasa Ackerman pushed the Lance Corporal Levi against his desk and slammed her mouth over his. Hard.
Later that night, Mikasa would pound her pillow over her face, over and over, wondering exactly what possessed her to kiss her superior officer when he had been the bane of her evenings and the massive thorn in her ass for the past few days. And she would scream until she went hoarse into said pillow, cursing herself for being so impulsive instead of bringing that stupid burner to his office and left him alone for the night. After that Mikasa would ask herself without end and lose sleep, trying to figure out why she kissed him and why he kissed her back.
Yet, presently, Mikasa was very angrily pushing her tongue down the Corporal's throat. Levi had let out a very surprised grunt the moment her lips met his and his breath hitched tight in his throat when Mikasa pressed her body, almost primal, against his caffeine soaked chest.
His hands had gone up to her shoulders, no doubt to shove her away - but the moment her hands had gone from his ruined cravat to his neck and chest all manner of self restraint from both parties had vanished.
So his hands clenched tight over her shoulders (leaving finger sized bruises that would not fade for the next couple of days) before travelling to her hair and waist. Angry, demanding, possessive. Levi's hands, still sopping with dark coffee, tangled against her dark tresses harshly and he heard her hiss against his lips when he gave a short yank. Maybe it had been a warning, a way to tell her to get off. But her attack did not end.
Instead she seemed to reply just as violently, her hand running up the back of his neck (making his knees give a sharp and pleasurable wobble) before grabbing at the strands of his hair and pulling at the base just as sharply.
Levi let out a loud groan, feeling all the blood begin to shoot down to his nether regions and press hard against her thigh. Mikasa's hand yanked again and another violent need to press more than coffee soaked clothes against hers surged between him as their mouths and tongues wrestled, and sharp breaths mixed in frantic bursts.
Her arms tightened around his neck, his curled around her waist and clutching at her rear and now moist hair. Mikasa's breasts pressed tight against his tight pectorals. His hips gave a sudden buck beneath hers and she let out a high pitched little "Ah" against his lips at the sensation of such sharp and explosive friction. It was mind-boggling.
Mikasa felt her knees give for a moment before straightening again, making her body rub hard against his and Levi let out another sharp moan, however there was no ounce of pain in the sound and a similar sound bubbled from within her chest and through her throat.
Tongues lashing, the taste of bitter coffee and each other being shared to a point of serious bruising, it all came to a halting stop the moment Mikasa pulled away to swallow a deep gasp of air.
Two pairs of eyes, wide and shocked, met just inches away. Gasping, Levi and Mikasa stared deeply into each other's eyes, a million questions passing and a million emotions clashing. After what probably was a million years, Mikasa tore her gaze away.
Slowly and unsteady, Mikasa peeled herself off Levi's body, blood thrumming through her skin like a boiling river. She looked at her hands, wet with coffee and even littered with slim black strands of Levi's hair she had yanked, but shaking. Definitely shaking.
Oh my god... what just happened?
"I...I have to go..." Mikasa croaked, suddenly feeling as if her entire body had been dunked with dirt and grime and fire. With acute horror, she realized her entire front had also been soaked with coffee, exposing the dark underwear beneath the now translucent shirt.
"Mikasa..." Levi breathed, shakily. "What...?" Her eyes jumped back to his, mortified and dread filled. There was a dark flush to his cheeks and a stunned look in his eyes.
"We have training in the morning, Le-Corporal," She corrected herself, wincing visibly. He pushed himself off the soaking desk, Mikasa recoiled the moment he moved.
"Yes... in the morning..." Levi replied stopping himself from getting any closer. Before anything else transpired, Mikasa did a shaky salute, her hands tingling at the memory of his hair, drenched skin, and tight muscles in their grasp, before she turned and fled the room. The door shut with a soft thud, leaving a stunned Lance Corporal to stare with wide eyes in the direction she had left.
When Mikasa reached her room, having nearly ripped the door off the hinges, she found herself pacing back and forth vigorously. She walked in stressed circles before finally collapsing on her bed. Letting out a loud and self-deprecating groan when her face hit the mattress.
There was no way.
Mikasa Ackerman had not just spilled coffee, she did not just assault her commanding officer. She attacked and kissed him, rubbed her body against him like an animal in heat and had gotten heavily aroused... by Corporal Levi.
Mikasa never jumped in a shower as fast as she did then, but even after scrubbing and cleaning and disinfecting, Mikasa could not - she just could not - rid the smell of coffee off her skin and the way her bruised lips and scalp and body shivered so deliciously after remembering how he had responded...
And how powerful she felt after he gave in.
Killing Titans was not going to be enough now... and with that thought, Mikasa slammed her head against her pillow late that night, over... and over... and over again.
Fin
