Chapter 13

By the time Levi was healed, it was late winter. Snow fell silently from the sky, painting the world a pristine white. The day of the first snowfall, everyone had to assist in mending the stables, to be sure the horses wouldn't freeze. Those who weren't out in the cold mending, were in the kitchen, preparing the dinner for later that evening. Levi, however, was cleaning. An old bird's nest had fallen down the chimney of the fireplace in his office, and had covered the place with soot on impact, much to his annoyance. Now, he was scrubbing the floor, grumbling to himself and cursing birds. "Oi, midget, I brought coffee."

He looked over his shoulder to glare as Mikasa walked in with a tray, a teapot and cup resting atop it. She set it down on his desk, then looked around at the mess, "I'm surprised you haven't burnt the castle down."

"Oh shut up," he growled, throwing the scrubbing brush down as he got up. He brushed his clothes down before sitting at his desk, then pulled the cloth that covered most of his face down. He took the teapot and poured himself a cup of the steaming drink, sipping it before allowing a little smile to appear on his face. Mikasa gave a little smile of her own and sat on the edge of his desk, "are you feeling ok?"
"I'm fine, I just have to clean up this filth and then I can light the fire," he replied, reaching for her hand. She gave it to him, stroking the back of his with her thumb as he sipped his coffee again. At this moment, Hanji ran in with a big grin, before pausing as she looked at the joined hands. She gave Levi a sly grin, "am I interrupting?!"

"What do you want, Shitty Glasses?" the man glared, refusing to drop Mikasa's hand as he watched her. "Well it's about the polish for the-argh!"

Levi had dropped Mikasa's hand and leapt over his desk, tackling the other woman out the door. He shut it before Mikasa could leave his office, then turned to Hanji with an angry face, "you idiot! I'll shove 2 feet of steel up your ass if she finds out before it's time!"

Hanji got up laughing, dusting herself off, "you're so cute when you're trying to surprise her!"

"Call me that again and I'll make it 3 feet of steel," Levi growled, kicking out at the taller woman. Hanji jumped back with a giggle, "the polish won't be here today, still want to go ahead?"

Levi sighed, before nodding, "might as well, I've waited long enough to give it to her."

"Go back to your coffee, you're grumpier than usual without it," Hanji chuckled, ruffling his hair before running like hell away as Levi yelled at her.

Later that evening, after he'd cleaned his office and lit the fire, Levi went to get dinner. The castle was lit up with torches and every fireplace was glowing with warmth, thanks to there being so many trees about the place. He almost smiled upon entering the mess hall, it was warm and smelt of soup and spice. Winter was too cold to attempt expeditions, so everyone was relaxed and happy, there was even ale and cider to drink. Levi quite liked winter, and not because he was born during this time, it was just a quiet, peaceful time where you could relax. He went and got himself a bowl of thick soup and a jug of cider, it was preferred in his squad. He went to find them, and sat down, passing the jug to Gunther, who grinned happily. Levi hid a little smile as he took some bread from the middle of the table to dip in his soup. He looked around as he ate, the lamps of the room gave the place a shadowy charm. He spied Mikasa, sitting with Eren and Armin as usual. She was smiling though, he could've sworn she was even giggling. It warmed his heart to see the usually cold, serious girl appear to be happy for once. She caught him looking at her, and gave him a shy smile. He chuckled to himself and returned to eating, filling his cup with cider as he listened to Petra and Auruo argue over his behaviour. "How's the leg, Heichou?" Erd asked as he sat back, sipping cider from his cup. "Feeling better, I'll be joining you for the expedition in February," he replied, mopping up some soup with his bread. It was pretty damn good today, he wondered how Erwin had managed to wrangle them some spice. "You seem chirpier than usual, Heichou," Petra smiled, once she'd elbowed Auruo in the ribs to make him behave. "Do I?" Levi asked, raising an eyebrow as he looked to the woman with a blank face. "Well now you don't," she chuckled, he wondered how much cider she'd had already, her cheeks were pink, as was the tip of her nose. He just shook his head with a smirk. He glanced to Mikasa, who seemed to pick up on being watched. She tilted her head slightly to the side, as if to ask was he ok. He raised his hand to the back of his head, to anyone it would seem like he was scratching an itch, but he had pointed upwards, his signal to his love to meet him in his office after dinner. Had he wanted to meet her in his bedroom he would have briefly touched his lips. Mikasa smiled and went back to eating, as did Levi, who felt a little flutter of excitement in his stomach.

Levi sat in his chair, reading by the fireplace as he waited for Mikasa. Sure, people knew they had a relationship, but no one really said anything about it as they were not officially engaged. To avoid any embarrassment, the two would never go straight to his office or bedroom together, or even within a close amount of time. Mikasa generally showed up a half hour or so after he did. He looked to the door when it creaked open, the girl slipping in and closing it quietly. "Dinner was better than usual tonight," he said as he looked back to his book, slipping his arm around her waist when she sat on his lap. "Won't last long," Mikasa replied as she gently rested her head against his, watching the fire. "Well the harvest was pretty good this year, but I doubt we'll have anything as nice as tonight for another while," Levi said as he stroked her side, still reading. They sat there together in silence for a little while. It was a comfortable silence, Levi actually worried she'd fallen asleep when he realised how much time had passed. He looked to her, smiling when he saw she was just scanning the pages of his book, "you know, you can read any of my books whenever you want, brat."

"I can't read some of these bigger words, reading wasn't that big a deal in the mountains, or in Ziganshina," she replied quietly, glancing at him. Levi kissed her cheek before closing the book, "I'll help you, but now, I have a present for you."

"For me?" she asked in surprise, getting off his lap. Levi stood and put his book away, then looked to her, "wait here, it's in my room."

Mikasa sat down in front of the fire, a little confused look on her face. It was such a cute sight. Levi smiled to himself and left, it was about time she got her present.

Right, gotta stop here for the night guys. My laptop's making disturbing sounds and I reckon it's on its last legs, so I'm not sure how long it's gonna last. Hopefully it'll hang about until I have enough money to buy a new one. I'll try and update this tomorrow or the day after, depends on what this damn machine wants to do. Hope you liked this chapter, don't forget to follow and review, we're about to find out what Levi got Mikasa. Plus, weren't we still waiting on an answer to his proposal? ;3