A/N: So the artist moni did a perfect Levi/Mikasa comic, and was kind enough to let me make a drabble out of it. I can't find the link anymore, but thank you moni! x)

Corporal Levi wondered if the most splendid brat of them all, Ms. Mikasa Ackerman, would ever manage to be in his presence without her lips curled and her claws out.

She was currently doing what she always did - quietly and vehemently complaining and vaguely threatening him - and after all this time, it was just pathetic and childlike. Amusing even, if he'd had coffee that morning and Hanji had stayed out of his hair.

So Mikasa dragged on, hissing and spitting like a cat, her fingers curled into shapes that could painfully cut into his skin if she tried, eyes narrowed to dark slits. Her eyelashes jutted up like this. And her hair, a choppy, messy cut that drove him nuts with its disorder, both curtained her face at harsh angles and yet perfectly framing her ire. Huh.

Levi stared on at nothing in particular, thoughtful. She was cute in an unpleasant way. That old, worn-out scarf did nothing to help his opinion.

"Sir, are you even listening to me?"

"Hm? Were you speaking to me? My bad."

Her eyes flashed and Levi calmly took a drink from his tea cup, admiring her white knuckles and trembling hands.

"I said." Her teeth were gritted as she said this. "Pardon my interruption, but I've heard you're mistreating Eren again."

Levi perked a brow at this. He felt like something was off. Something familiar and wretched that he could not put his finger on.

"Please don't try to deny it," she went on, and without missing a beat, he returned, "I won't, he's a little shit." And there it was, glaring him in the face. Under her sharp eyes, on the rounded curve of her cheekbone, sheltered from his view by her hair before, was a blatant smudge of dirt. And it was awful. It was, in that moment, the most horrible thing he had ever seen. Dirt? On fucking Mikasa Ackerman? His thoughts quickened at an unruly rate, outpacing him in a fraction of a second: Dirt on Mikasa. Unacceptable. No dirt on Mikasa, ever, fucking ever, not Mikasa. Mikasa is clean, Mikasa is his subordinate, his to take care of, his to keep clean and in line and fuck her obsession with the Jaeger brat and fuck her ratty scarf, she was his soldier and may he die alone to the weakest titan in the world before he lets dirt ever touch this girl again. Clean her up.

The train of thought lasted less than a second. Levi's profile remained composed, and he interrupted smoothly as she began to open her mouth to continue, leaning in, "Hang on a second Ackerman."

It was very natural, thinking back on it. Mikasa stood there, yielding and confused, but she never made a move to stop him. Her eyes only followed the trail of his hand as he reached out, head tilted curiously, as he touched her cheek and wiped away the dirt with his thumb. And her skin was warm and felt good, and it felt good to rid it of the mar.

The whole air went quiet after that, and Levi felt better. That was much better. And he supposed he could let the girl finish her story.

He examined the filth on his thumb with distaste, saying, "Sorry, what were you saying?"

There was no reply. He glanced up at the girl, seeing her still standing, her whole body somehow tense and softer, her eyes wider and her expression blank. She blinked at him.

His hand fell to his side. Was she really spacing out now? He said, "Ackerman?" And he felt her swell up with a thousand words that all made it to her throat and then died in her mouth. She seemed flush and suddenly her eyes couldn't stay on him. Levi considered snapping in her face, to shake her from her little reverie, but before he could even begin to move she jolted like a frightened animal and blurted out, "C-Corporal! I seem to have forgotten something!"

Her boots were slamming on the stone floor as she bolted before he had time to even process the situation. He thought to yell at her, but her scarf was already trailing behind her, a great distance from him, and he didn't want to draw any attention.

...But still.

Levi looked to his thumb again. Mused on her cheek. The red that had filled it, and the very rare, submissive silence that had overcome Mikasa Ackerman.

"...Oh?"

A crooked smirk came to his mouth.

Perhaps he should touch her more often.