Prompt by guest reviewer Scott Barcomb: A game of truth or dare. Hope you like it!

10. Truth or Dare


Levi's original squad-

Petra clutched a steaming mug of coffee in her hand as she stood by the open doorway of the Scout Regiments headquarter. A pleasant breeze ruffled her hair and she smiled to herself as she sipped her steaming drink. Moments like these made her feel almost normal, as if nothing was wrong with the world. As If all of them weren't trapped in a cage surrounded by blood thirsty Titans.

As if the dreams they sometimes dared to dream had a chance of coming true.

She glanced over her shoulder and her breath caught in her throat when she saw Levi staring at her. He was, as usual, lounging against the wall by himself, brooding over one thing or another while the rest of the squad played cards on the table.

"This is boring!" Auruo exclaimed, upsetting the current game and reluctantly drawing Petra's attention away from Levi's piercing gaze.

"Only because you're losing. Stop being such a sore loser!" Erd barked, bending down to collect the fallen cards from the floor.

"It really is getting rather dull, to be honest." Hanji quipped in, putting down her own cards with a sigh. "Oh, I have an idea on how to make this more interesting!"

"No." Levi grumbled almost before Hanji had stopped speaking.

"Oh come on, Levi!"

"We are not playing that shitty game again." Levi said, falling into place beside Hanji and leveling her with a cold glare, which had absolutely no effect on her.

"What's this?" Petra asked, taking a seat opposite Levi, feeling somewhat curious. Levi was usually not enthusiastic about many things but he seemed to be even more against Hanji's idea than he usually was, which made Petra all the more determined to find out exactly what it was.

"Don't encourage this mad woman, Ral." Levi sighed.

"Alright, listen up everyone!" Hanji clapped her hands, steadily ignoring Levi. "I have a new game for us!"

"It doesn't have anything to do with Titan experimentation, does it?" Gunter asked her warily.

"Well, no. Although, that might be interesting…" She trailed off, her eyes going glassy for a moment before Auruo cleared his throat loudly, snapping her attention back to the present.

"Right! So in this game, each person gets a turn to choose out of two options- either truth or dare. If you chooses 'truth', then you must answer any question that is posed to you as truthfully as you can and if you choose 'dare', you will have to perform whatever task is asked of you! Simple, right?" Hanji looked around expectantly, already bursting with excitement.

Petra nodded slowly. The rules seemed straightforward enough.

"Wait," Auruo interjected. "If I am to choose 'dare' on my turn, I will have to perform whatever task is asked of me?"

"Yes, I believe that's what I just said." Hanji nodded.

"Isn't that what I already do under Captain Levi's command?"

There was a long, stretching silence and Petra couldn't literally hear the crickets chirping away in the background.

"Why Auruo, do you resent working under my command?" Levi asked him lightly, bringing his coffee cup to his lips as he kept his steely grey eyes trained on him.

"N-No Captain, I only meant-argh!" Auruo ended up biting his own tongue, effectively shutting himself up and inducing a round of snickers around the table. Petra took pity on him and surreptitiously offered him her handkerchief under the table, earning a grateful nod from him.

"So, let's get started!" Hanji burst out, almost quivering in her chair. "Levi, pose me the question."

"When do you plan on climbing into your grave, you old hag?"

"That's not the right question I believe."

He let out a slow, infuriated sigh. "Alright. Truth or dare, Hanji?"

"Dare."

"I dare you to end this shitty game at once."

"Levi!"

"I dare you to stop speaking for a whole month and leave me in peace."

"You're really not caught up on the rules, are you…?"

"I dare you to go fuck yours-"

"Alright, let's move on." Hanji interrupted Levi loudly, forgoing her own turn. Petra widened her eyes at Levi across the table. 'You don't have to be so rude.'

Levi arched an eyebrow back at her, 'What will be left of me if I am not rude?'

So the game went on. After getting some embarrassing confessions out of Auruo about his purposeful mocking of Captain Levi and making Gunter balance a spoon on his nose for the better half of three minutes, it was time for Petra's turn.

"Truth or dare, lovely?" Hanji asked her, adjusting the strap of her glasses and snapping it in place like she was about to start performing some intensive experiments on Petra.

"Truth." Petra answered immediately, not feeling up to performing one of Hanji's absurd dares.

"Hmmm," Hanji leaned forward, resting her elbows on the table as she appraised Petra for a full minute. "Have you ever been in love?" She finally asked.

The question took Petra aback. Whatever it was that she had been expecting, it was not that. She tried very hard not to let her gaze stray to Levi's but in the end, she failed. Her amber eyes met his sharp grey ones for a brief moment. He was slumped back in his chair, looking as if he was barely paying attention to the game and was lost in his own thoughts but Petra knew he was listening in on to each and every word. The very thought made her mouth go dry with apprehension and her muscles went rigid as she debated the answer. Sure, she had whispered of her love to Levi a few times in the concealing darkness of Levi's bedroom but to admit it out loud in front of everybody? Of course, she wouldn't be taking his name but…

"Petra?" Erd prodded her, snapping her out of her reverie. She looked up and saw that each and every eye was trained upon her. All except Levi, who seemed too busy in his cup of coffee but was waiting for a response all the same.

"Yes." Petra finally replied, enunciating the word loudly and clearly. "Yes, I have."

It earned her a round of wolf-whistles from the boys, which made her roll her eyes even as her cheekd grew slightly warm. She didn't dare to meet Levi's gaze and instead chose to study her own hands while the ruckus died down.

"You wouldn't care to tell us who, though, will you?" Gunter pried.

"Wait for your turn, don't be an impatient brat." Levi murmured, not lifting his eyes from some documents stacked neatly on the table. He had abandoned the cup of coffee and was now riffling through some files Erwin had entrusted upon him, apparently looking for something. He was always working.

"It's your turn, Levi. Don't be a spoil sport." Hanji urged him, putting on her best puppy dog face which went thoroughly ignored but Levi glanced up anyway.

"Fine." He finally waved a hand as if acquiescing. "Ask away, Ral."

"Me? Oh, right. Yes. Truth or Dare, Captain?"

"Hmmm," He hummed, the sound rumbling from deep in his chest, making Petra squirm in her chair. "Truth, I suppose."

Petra hadn't thought of a question beforehand and blurted out the first thing that came into her mind. "Same question as Hanji, then. Have you ever been in love?"

"Captain Levi? In love?" Erd looked bemused but shut up quickly as Levi's eyes flickered to him.

"No," Levi's reply was almost instantaneous and clipped, as if the question was not worthy of his consideration and went back to riffling through his documents, not sparing any of them another glance. "Steer clear of such wasteful questions in the future, Ral." He added. Petra nodded stiffly, murmuring a 'Yes Captain' in response before she quickly finished her cup of coffee and excused herself from the game.

"But we only just got started!" Hanji protested, pulling her lips into a pout.

Not wanting to stick around a minute longer, she gave a hasty excuse."Play on without me, I need to write back to my Father before I turn in for the night."

Before anyone could argue with that, she flashed them all a stiff smile and left the room, all the while scolding herself for being so obvious. They wouldn't catch onto her disappointment, would they? What if someone linked her reaction to Levi's statement?

But most of all, she felt like a fool. She felt like a complete and utter idiot for even asking Levi that question. Obviously he would say 'no' in front of everyone.

"Petra," A familiar voice floated from behind her, making her stop dead in her tracks.

"Captain?" She answered back stiffly, not bothering to turn around to face him. She didn't want him to see her face before she had a chance to compose her features into a placid mask.

"Are you angry with me?" Levi asked, stepping closer to her. Her breath hitched slightly as she felt his body press up against her from behind. His strong, slender fingers closed around her wrist, turning her around so that she was facing him.

"No, why would I be?" She managed.

"You're a terrible liar, so don't even bother."

"I am not angry, no."

"Disappointed?"

"I get it, Captain, I really do. You couldn't have said it in front of everyone without rousing suspicion. It was stupid of me to even ask in the first place." Petra shrugged, not quite meeting his eyes.

"Levi."

"What?"

"Call me Levi when we are alone."

"Well, Levi. Okay."

"I don't want to share you with anyone else." He said all of a sudden. "Not them, not the world. Not anyone."

That made her look up. Before she could even form a coherent thought, he leaned forward and pressed his lips against hers firmly, as if asserting a point and all Petra could do was close her eyes and submit herself to him, as she had done very long ago.


Next chapter: A game of Truth or Dare between Eren and co.! R&R :)