Slumped over at his desk, Erwin lets his forehead fall onto the palms of his hands. Hange had just left his office after bringing news of the assasination of the two titans they had captured for research purposes. As the commander of the group that was humanity's last hope for survival, Erwin only allows himself these moments of weakness late at night, away from the scrutinizing gaze of the Military Police and the hopeful eyes of the new Survey Corps members. Two sharp knocks at his door interrupt his train of thought. He quickly removes his elbows from the table and sits up straight. The door opens quietly, only to reveal Levi. Upon seeing his most trusted squad leader, Erwin relaxes again.
"Figured you would still be up," Levi says, leaning against the doorframe.
"Always," Erwin replies. He scans the younger man from head to toe, noticing tenseness in his posture. "And you?"
"Couldn't sleep." Levi moves into the office from the doorway and pulls out Erwin's teapot to make himself black tea.
"Did you hear about the two titans we captured? Sonny and Bean? Hange is devastated."
"Four-eyes needs her head checked," Levi snickers, and starts to work on loosening the straps of his ODM harness with his deft fingers. After freeing himself from the gear, Levi neatly folds it and places it on the top of a drawer. Erwin watches him, finding a peaceful sense of comfort in Levi's familiar antics. Dressed in only his form fitting white undershirt and tights, Levi hops onto the edge of the desk, facing Erwin.
From this distance, Erwin is able to more closely see the toll that the burdens they share have taken on the captain — dark purple bags kissing his long lower lashes, permanent frown lines, and weariness and alertness that seep from the way he sits — features Erwin is most certain are mirrored on his own body. The commander feels a sudden urge to do anything in his power to wash away Levi's evident fatigue, but immediately scolds himself for this unwelcome and intrusive feeling. This isn't the first time Erwin has felt this way about his squad leader, but he usually is able to brush it off without lingering on the strand of black hair that always falls in front of Levi's stormy eyes, or the natural soft pout of his lower lip that juts out slightly.
"God, that is so hot," Erwin whispers to himself.
"Huh!?" Levi is no longer snickering. He backflips off the desk and reaches to put his ODM gear back on. He is about to fly straight out of the room through the window when Erwin cries out, "Levi, wait! Please don't go!"
Erwin's blue eyes glisten in the dim light hanging above them. How embarrassing of him! He didn't mean to say that; the words just flew out of his mouth like the way survey corps members' heads fly out of titans' mouths when they get eaten. Erwin makes a grimace. Yikes, that was a nasty intrusive thought to have!
Erwin clears his throat and wipes tears of embarrassment from his eyes. "Levi, I was referring to the hot steam that was released by the bodies of the titans that were killed."
Erwin sees Levi scanning him from head to toe with suspicion. "You seem tense," Levi says.
"So do you."
"So what?"
"Nothing, I guess."
"Okay, want to help me relieve that tension?"
"Huh!?"
Levi reaches inside of his tights into his underwear and pulls out a deck of cards. "Let's play Uno with Ellie."
Erwin, disappointed that it was only a deck that was released from Levi's underwear, says, "Very well."
Levi smirks and yells, "Ellie! Bring your ass!"
Ellie, Levi's 15-year-old daughter, enters with a swagger that Erwin has long been sick of seeing. How many times has it been now, that Ellie has butted into his alone time with Levi? Every time Erwin sees Ellie, he is reminded of Levi's former lover, Ellie's mother, and feels a burning jealousy and hate — feelings Erwin knows are unreasonable due to her sudden and tragic death during an expedition a year ago.
"Hi Dad!" Ellie says as she saunters over to the table, hopping onto Erwin's desk, where Levi was previously sitting. Levi, a solid two inches shorter than her, sighs and chooses a spot on Erwin's desk with a stack of phone books to sit on to make him appear taller. Erwin is still taller than the two of them just by sitting in his chair, however.
"I shuffled already, so let's just get started." Levi says as he begins to deal the cards. Erwin begins to wonder how Levi could have shuffled the deck if it was hidden in his underwear the whole time, without using his– never mind.
Ellie yells out, "I'm starting!" And places a yellow skip card in the middle of the three.
After several turns, a smirking Levi places a plus-four card down. Ellie is down to her last card, and Erwin is next to play. A slight grin pulls up the corner of Erwin's normally downturned lips.
He puts down another plus-four card. Ellie immediately bursts into tears. Yelling, "fuck all of you," she runs out of the room and slams the door. Levi shrugs and looks over at Erwin.
"Wanna up the ante?"
"What do you have in mind?" Erwin questions cautiously.
"Let's make this a game of strip Uno," Levi says, still smirking. Erwin cannot believe his ears.
"Y-you want to play s-strip Uno?"
"You scared, Erwin?"
"No! Let's play!" Erwin hurriedly remarks, scared that Levi might change his mind.
"Everytime you draw a card, you take off an article of clothing. Get skipped, you strip. Draw two cards, strip twice. Draw four, strip four times. Understand?" Erwin quickly does the mental calculations. He has at least ten articles of clothing on, as compared to Levi's measly number of three: his undershirt, tights, and boxers. Erwin knows what this means — he would be seeing Levi's beautifully sculpted form in the flesh by the end of the night.
"Yes, Captain Levi!" Despite being Levi's superior, Levi's naturally authoritative voice makes Erwin want to submit to his every command. After Erwin re-deals the cards, they begin to play.
"I'll start," Levi states. Smirk still in place, he puts down a plus four. Taken aback by Levi's strategy, Erwin suddenly realizes that the game of strip Uno will be very different from Uno. Hesitantly, Erwin begins to unbutton his loose shirt with shaky fingers.
"Look at me," Levi commands. Erwin's head snaps up suddenly, and he finally makes eye contact with Levi. Hands shaking too violently to complete the simple task of unbuttoning seven buttons, Erwin gives up and tears the shirt apart. He hears a sharp inhale come from across the small room and sees that Levi has finally dropped the smirk.