August 842
-A little over a year since Levi joined the Survey Corps.-
-Part I-
Heavy grunts. Muffled yelps. Unrestrained groans.
Levi's brow twitched in annoyance.
All around him, sweaty soldiers grabbed and clawed at each other's exposed sunburned bodies. Clouds of yellow dirt and sand huffed into the air as scrawny backs slammed to the ground.
Levi had found comfortable recluse in the shade of the training ground watch tower, where he sat unbothered. Not a single cadet even dared look his way, while the officers mingled into the training. Wearily watching the slow birth of a congregating crowd at a corner in the distance, Levi recalled the sweet smiles and smooth talking Erwin had strung together to get Levi to waste his time here.
"Tch," Levi kissed his teeth. This was nothing more than glorified babysitting. Watching the sorry grappling matches before him, Levi realized he didn't envy Commander Shadis' predicament— Survey Corps recruits were most often the scraps of the trainee litter, those that didn't meet Military Police or Garrison standards. Gawky, desperate kids with questionable healths and histories. Half the brats spent the time fighting heatstroke instead of each other.
With a grunt, Levi rose. As much as he tried, he couldn't ignore the exponentially growing commotion on the other end of the training ground.
Walking under the relentless heat of a summer noon's sun, Levi found himself followed by both his shadow and the usual hushed murmurs. Few liked him, even fewer trusted him, but all kept their distance. Just like where the sky was a rotten decrepit ceiling. Who knew the sun would change so little?
At the perimeter of the commotion, Levi spotted a familiar shaggy ponytail.
"Oi," he spoke up just loud enough for Hange Zoe to hear him.
The Squad Leader broke away from their conversation with one of their team captains, a slender dark-haired woman, and immediately flashed a wide grin over their shoulder at Levi.
"Ah! Levi! We were just talking about you!" Just like the woman at their side, Hange's chest was tightly bound with thick black fabric that matched that of their shorts and knee pads. Their taut muscles were accented by the recently bronzed skin, which glistened warmly under the sun. Months ago, Levi hadn't exactly been shocked to learn Hange was indeed female, but he had been surprised at the pang of disappointment that came with the revelation. And despite how stupid Levi knew it was, that little "pang" still crept up to haunt him every other time he saw Hange's stupid face.
One look at Captain Patricia let Levi know that "we" was composed of Hange Zoe and Hange Zoe alone.
"Why? What the hell is going on?" Levi hated how even as he came to stand by the crowd, all the taller figures before him completely blocked his view of the riveting attraction.
Hange's eyes shined. Quickly, they signed something to Patricia and without warning, set a hand to Levi's forearm. "Find out yourself," they said and before Levi could protest, they pulled him through the tightly knit quilt of disgustingly moist, foul-smelling, sticky bodies. What made it even worse, was how fucking clammy Hange's own palm and fingers were. Levi's skin burned where they touched him. Yet, he didn't pull away.
"We were just debating..." Hange began as they pushed out into the front lines to stand right before the blossoming fight, "if you could beat the winner."
Erwin slammed his shoulder into Mike's chest. Not without difficulty, Mike stood his ground; his long arms reached around Erwin's back.
Levi watched the two giant ogres grapple: blond hair stuck to wet brows, bulky muscles twitching, veins weaving prominently through bulging bare arms, and strained smirks working to hide their struggles.
Their huge feet kicked up dirt into unlucky onlookers' eyes. Spurts of sudden movement nearly sent them colliding into the excited crowd.
"This must be what it's like to watch two bulls fight for dominance with an audience of sows in heat," Hange mused at Levi's side, folding their tanned lean arms over their chest. It was then Levi realized that the front row consisted primarily of female figures and men of a certain reputation. Who could blame them? Levi himself was struggling to keep a clear mind as he watched the feisty pair drag each other to the ground, their limbs wrestling for a firm grip over an arm, a neck or hips.
The only one that didn't seem the least bit phased was Hange, who now accepted a canteen bottle that was passed to them by a quiet brunette from Patricia's team. From the corner of his eye, Levi saw Hange tilt their head back as they took long greedy gulps. A droplet of water trickled down their chin, along the curve of their neck and rolled down the crevice of their chest.
Hange turned to him. Levi's gaze intensely focused forward.
A second later, he felt Hange tap the bottle lightly to his shoulder. He made a show of pulling his attention away from the tussling men to look at Hange.
Silently, they offered him the bottle.
Silently, Levi accepted the bottle.
Levi's thirst proved to be stronger than his disgust and he took a careful sip from the shared canteen. Fuck. He curled his lip back in disgust. Even the damn water was fucking warm. Levi quickly passed the bottle to the cadet next to him.
Besides him, Hange sunk to the ground, sitting with one leg stretched before them and an elbow resting on the bent knee of the other.
Levi looked down at Hange and watched them watch Erwin and Mike. There was a feverish hunger in their flickering gaze that didn't quite match the lustful glances of the other soldiers. Levi saw with what scrutiny Hange followed every movement, every shift, every swing, buckle and pull of the match. As always, Hange's curiosity was oozing and overflowing.
Wordlessly, Levi squat down besides them, his weight upon the balls of his feet and elbows resting at his thighs, hands hanging between his legs.
It was strange, watching two grown men fight so... cleanly. No dirty tricks, no rage-filled uppercuts and kidney punches. Mike could've easily killed Erwin three times in the past half minute alone if he abandoned the military training regulations. It was clear that Erwin stood no chance at winning. Yet, Levi couldn't deny that some unbridled joy rose within him as he watched Erwin's knee collide with Mike's diagram, flipping the later over the former. All the same, it was also a pleasure to watch Erwin's smugness be shot to hell as Mike quickly recovered and hooked his leg over Erwin's exposed arm.
The crowd stirred, growing fiercely excited as they watched the Commander's righthand man struggle.
"Can't decide who you'd rather see beaten and humiliated more, can you?"
It took Levi a second to realize that the musing was not his own thought, but rather Hange's. He looked at them. They looked away, a small smile at their lips. Levi didn't answer.
"Why the hell do we bother with this?" he muttered just loud enough for Hange to hear a moment later, "This shit isn't exactly going to be useful for fighting Titans."
"Why not? Don't think you can wrestle one down to the ground?" Hange deadpanned.
Levi snorted. "I might as well oil up and get ready to be it's suppository."
Levi didn't view himself as a particularly funny guy, but Hange seemed to disagree. A few heads turned their way when Hange barked with laughter. At the sound of their distinctive laugh, the corner of Levi's lips twitched up.
With a chuckle still lingering in their words, Hange conceded, "It is weird, isn't? Yet the officials insist on it."
Levi hummed. The two of them watched Mike maneuver Erwin's chest against the ground, pinning him down.
"So what was the verdict of your debate?"
Mike's forearm was now just under Erwin's neck, twisting his arm behind him.
"It'd be a tie."
"Tch."
He didn't have to look at the Squad Leader to know they were grinning again.
Soon Erwin and Mike were sitting up, panting and shaking hands. It was clear that the shorter, but bulkier, of the two men was more spent. Levi and Hange didn't move a muscle as the blond Squad Leaders ordered the soldiers to scatter and go back to their own training. Hushed excitement crowded the air as debates about the fight sprang up all around them.
Erwin rubbed the back of his neck and once more, Mike apologized for using a tad too much force with a devilish smile. Mike stood up first and extended his hand to help Erwin up. The former said something that made the later laugh.
Levi narrowed his eyes. Silently, his body straightened.
Hange looked up at him and cheekily hummed, "Have fun," as they twirled their fingers in a little goodbye wave.
Erwin noticed Levi approach first, then Mike. Immediately, the air soured and grew heavy.
Not one for small talk, Levi promptly asked Mike how long he needed to recover.
Mike narrowed his eyes. He dragged his thumb over the tip of his sharp nose. "Nothing to recover from," he answered tightly, "I'm ready to go now."
"Good."
This was the most the two of them had spoken to each other since Levi joined the Corps: on expeditions, they were cast to either side of the formation; within the walls, they cast themselves to opposite corners.
A faint look of amusement danced in Erwin's striking blue eyes as he watched the two men— their notably unique physiques comically accentuated near each other.
"Rules?" Mike asked tersely.
Levi's interest peaked. The men didn't take their eyes off each other.
Erwin set a hand on each of their shoulders and answered for Levi. "No casualties," he said, firmly, but with good cheer. "I need my strongest soldiers, and my comrades, at my side."
"No broken bones," Levi deadpanned immediately.
"No major bones broken," Mike countered.
Levi approved.
Erwin eyed them wearily, but didn't comment. Instead, Levi felt his warm large hand give his shoulder a telling squeeze. Levi's heart tightened and Erwin walked away.
There was no need for Mike and Levi to shake hands. Both took the time to run their hands over the sandy dirt, making sure their grips wouldn't be slippery.
Erwin settled down on the ground next to Hange, comfortably leaning against them.
The cadet that had passed Hange the canteen mused, "It's like watching a squirrel try to box a tree." Someone gave her a good smack upside the head.
Levi squared up. As did Mike.
Levi's strategy was simple— he wasn't going to let the giant mutt wrestle him to the ground.
"Show him, Levi!" Erwin called out.
"Pound his ass, Mike!" Hange yelled out cheerily.
Tch. Traitor.
A/N: ah! a bit different then the other chapters! kinda strange seeing Levi and Hange not be quite comfortable around each other, right? also, I always wondered what the relationship between humanity's stronger and humanity's second strongest was like— especially since both were so close to Erwin. so we shall see~~. also, I usually hate OCs with a passion but I realize in order to keep the mood of loss and despair that AoT is known for, I'm going to have to sprinkle in some loses and some despair y'know? so small characters of no real consequence like Patricia might appear from time to time, with the presumption that they passed before "we"— manga/anime folks— were introduced to the survey corps. Anyways! Thank u for reading all this! Hope y'all are having a lovely day~~