CHAPTER 25

Levi's POV

It was dark by the time I left Erwin's office. We had discussed anything and everything related to the addition of Reaper into the Special Ops squad, from getting her a new uniform to new formations that would allow her to safely participate in missions. And I was exhausted.

I quietly opened the door to my office to find Reaper sitting up in her bed staring out the window. She didn't turn when I entered, so I sat on the bed beside her and rested my chin on her shoulder.

"Hey, Levi," she said quietly, still looking at the moonlight hitting the pine forest.

"Hey," I replied. "What are you doing?"

"Just looking outside," she said. "It's really pretty here."

"Huh," I grunted. "I guess it is. I've never really noticed it before. It's always just been HQ."

"I guess my… colony was pretty, too. I never noticed it much, either."

She suddenly stiffened.

"Is something wrong?"

"No," she grimaced, placing a fist over her heart and rubbing. "My chest just had a spasm."

"I think that's a heart attack. Symptom of death."

She elbowed me in the ribs and laughed as I inhaled sharply.

"That's what you get, loser."

"Who are calling a loser, loser?" I asked.

"I'll fucking wreck you," she yawned.

"Is someone still tired?"

"Shut up," she yawned again. "It wasn't as deep a sleep as you might have thought it was."

"And why is that?"

She turned red and I almost laughed.

"Was someone having a," I paused for emphasis. "Wet dream?"

"Shut up, Levi!"

"So it was a wet dream," I teased.

"No it wasn't!"

"Reaper had a wet dream."

"So what if I did?"

I finally released a chuckle and put my chin more securely on her shoulder.

"Who was it about?" I asked. I thought it was impossible for her to turn any redder.

"None of your business!" she squeaked.

"So it was me."

"It was not you."

"I think you're lying."

"Then you're thinking incorrectly."

She pushed my head off of her shoulder and stood up, stretching her back and taking one step to sit on the trunk at the end of my bed. She avoided my gaze at all costs, her face still flaming red.

"If it wasn't me then who was it about?" I asked. "Please. Indulge my curiosity."

"It really is none of your business," she said seriously.

"So me," I said, a smug feeling welling up in my chest.

"Not everything is about you, Levi."

"I'm shocked."

We fell into a comfortable silence, during which I interlaced our fingers and absent-mindedly played with our hands.

"What are you thinking about?" I asked her after a while. She sighed, looking down at our entwined hands.

"Home."

"Your colony?" She shook her head and smiled slightly at the ground. "Then where the fuck is home for you?"

"Here. Right here," she swallowed. "Right now."

She was absolutely gorgeous. The moonlight glinted off her dark hair and shone silver in her icy blue eyes, her soft mouth hung slightly open, her skin was flawless, her small hands with strong fingers fit perfectly in mine. I reached out a hand and traced her lips with my thumb and then, bringing my hand to her cheek, rubbed sweeping arcs into her jaw. With my other hand I brushed a bit of hair away from her face. She closed her eyes in contentment and I had the sudden urge to kiss her.

So I leaned in and did.

Her lips molded against mine perfectly, like (as fucking corny as it sounded) we were made for each other. One of her hands came up to cup the side of my face and run her thumb against the stubble which grew from my jaw. I gently held the sides of her neck and kissed her harder.

She groaned into my mouth as I licked her bottom lip, begging for entrance, and I used the opportunity to glide my tongue into her mouth and run the tip across the roof of her mouth. Throwing her arms around my neck she slanted her mouth harder against mine. I chuckled at her enthusiasm and placed my hands on her hips, gradually guiding her to stand up as I did. I held her as tightly as I dared, eventually wrapping my arms so completely around her that the small of her back rested in the crooks of my elbows.

Neither of us knew how it happened, but in one moment the kiss turned from sweet and innocent to hard and impassioned, with her tangling her hands in my hair and me palming her perfect ass. I broke away for air and trailed hot open-mouthed kisses down her throat, an act which drew a low throaty groan from Reaper. She clawed at my back and pressed herself flush against me, her breasts rubbing deliciously into my chest. I took the opportunity push her against the wall and grind our hips together. She mewled sexily and I growled, attaching myself to her lips once more. And then I made the biggest mistake I'd ever made in my life.

I groped her chest.

She immediately pried herself away from me and scrambled to the other side of the room, hair messy, shirt askew, lips swollen from my kisses. I thought she looked like a goddess until I looked in her eyes. Fear and hurt lingered there.

She muttered something to herself.

"What did you say?" I asked somewhat breathlessly. She looked down at her feet and smiled incredulously.

"I said that you're just using me for sex," she said.

"Is that such a bad thing?"

Fuck! Fucking shit!

Her eyes widened and she let out an incredulous huff of air.

"Okay, first of all fuck you," she said, pointing a finger squarely in my direction. "Second of all fuck you."

"You wish."

"Is the corporal trying to make a joke?" she laughed humorlessly. "Because it's really pathetic."

"You're just jealous of all the girls I bring in this room, aren't you," I crooned mockingly, slowly advancing upon her like a predator. She, however, held none of the prey-like timidity I had come to recognize in my conquests.

It was her turn to say:

"You wish."

"But what if I did wish?" I asked.

"But you don't. You're just trying to use me as a juvenile fuck chance and I will not have that shit."

"You're incredibly intelligent."

"You're grooming me," she warned.

"Remarkably observant."

"This is how rape happens."

"Ever honest.

"Where have you hidden the candle-making supplies?"

All the while I had been slowly approaching her, taking small but calculated steps so as to appear as seductive as possible.

"I don't know exactly what you're after," she swallowed, looking forcefully at me, "but I'm not going to sleep with you. Not now, not ever."

"And I thought you didn't know what I was after, Reaper." She shuddered at the name I called her, but never tore her eyes from my advancing frame.

I eventually had her backed up against the wall with my arms creating a cage around her head. Her eyes widened a fraction, then narrowed menacingly. I had to suppress a gulp.

"Just because I'm here doesn't mean I'm here for the taking," she spat. "So just let me and let me go to bed."

"Are you sure you don't want to go to my bed?"

"Positive."

"Really? Because there was a tiny pause at the beginning of that-"

She shoved me clear across the room.

"Can't you just take no for an answer and let me go to sleep?" she hissed. "Because I'm not going to be some toy for you to play with. I can guarantee you that."

I let out a calculatedly seductive chuckle.

"Oh, Reaper," I said lowly as I advanced again, this time determined to get what I wanted. "You really are naïve."

"I'm not going to sleep with you."

"You really are naïve if you truly believe that."

"And you really are stupid if you truly believe that anything you say is going to have any effect on my decision whatsoever."

She was perfect, beautiful, ripe for the taking. But she was also headstrong, obstinate, and stubborn as a mule. There was no way she would let me just take her. She already knew what I had done with the other Cadets, and she was determined not to fall for the same trick; because that's what it was – a trick. The moment I realized what I was doing to her – not seducing her, but tricking her into doing something that would ultimately hurt her – I dropped the seductive act and sighed, my hands cradling my forehead.

"You're right," I sighed. "Just go to sleep."

"You're fucking stupid if you think I'm sleeping here," she said.

And she grabbed her pillow and shoes and left, slamming the door in the process. The moment she was gone I punched the wall.

The only girl I'd ever been willing to let stay the night and I'd fucked it up.

Reaper's POV

I stormed out of his office and out to the stables, through the stable exit and out to the labs where I knew Hanji would still be working. I burst into her office to find her sitting at her desk with her head resting in one hand and a pile of paperwork on her desk. She looked up when I entered, her face immediately brightening on seeing me.

"Hey, Reaper!" she chirped. Then she noticed the pure fury on my face and her own face fell. "What happened?"

"Corporal-fucking-Levi happened, Hanji!" I spat.

"What did he do?"

"He tried to seduce me!"

Her face turned back into an expression of excitement.

"Did you agree? What was it like?"

"I said no, of course, you idiot!" I yelled. "He was trying to use me as a fuck toy!"

"How do you know he wasn't legitimately serious about you?"

"He was grooming me, Hanji! 'You're quite intelligent' and 'ever observant.' And he called me naïve and used a painfully seductive voice-"

"You like him, don't you," Hanji interrupted me. I stopped in my tracks and whirled around to face her.

"I- I-"

She squealed and raced up to me.

"You do! Okay, what are the wedding colors going to be?"

"Hanji!" I yelled. "There will be no wedding because I do. Not. Like. Him."

"Then why are your lips swollen? Why do you have a hickey on the left side of your neck? Hm?"

Fuck.

"I don't like him like that. Got it?"

"Me thinks the lady doth protest too much."

"Don't you quote Shakespeare at me!"

I slumped down against the wall and slid until my forehead hit my knees. Sighing, I wrapped my arms around my legs and rested my head against them.

"Help me," I groaned.

"Help you get the man? Well, first you need to-"

"No, Hanji," I sighed. "Either help me face him or find me a place to sleep."

I heard a sigh come from the Squad Leader's direction, then boots against the wooden floor. In a moment she sat beside me with her back against the wall. She threw her arm around me.

"You're pretty headstrong for a teenager," she said. I immediately stiffened.

"I'm twenty years old, Hanji," I said.

"Stop bullshitting me and tell me how old you are. Seventeen? Eighteen?"

I shook my head.

"I'm twenty."

"Stop."

"I'm twenty, Hanji."

"Nineteen?"

I shook my head and leaned it back against the wall. I rolled it slightly to face the mad scientist.

"Do you really wanna know?" I asked in a defeated sigh. She nodded vigorously. "Fifteen."

"WHAT!?"

"Not so loud!"

She was suddenly fussing all over me, pinching my cheeks and toying with my hair.

"Fifteen!? Aww, you're just a baby! You're a bit younger than he usually likes but I think it could work-"

"Hanji!" She silenced herself. "He. Can. Not. Know. Got it?"

"Why can't he know?"

I rolled my head back to face the front.

"I don't know," I sighed. "I just have a really bad feeling about it."

We were silent for a few minutes, the only sounds being our breathing and the pervasive noise of crickets.

"So can I sleep here tonight?" I asked.

"Of course you can, silly child."

"Shut up."