Aaaaahhhh I had such a productive week, lovelies! I'm so happy, the story is coming along really well and the choices I have to think of are becoming more and more complicated and I love it! And I'm really feeling the pull towards the dark side and pulling some GoT-type moves, however we'll see how the story chooses to flow.
As always my lovelies, go ahead and enjoy this chapter and don't forget to toss me a little review, to let me know what you think~ ;)
P.S. All Attack on Titan characters belongs to Isayama Hajime. I only own my OCs.
24. Why you love me
~ 850 ~
"That... sounds insane..." Eren blinked, once Erwin had finished explaining the training strategy he had come up with.
"Watch your tongue, Eren!" Armin whispered, looking mortified at how his friend had just addressed their Commander.
"Well this is only a first attempt." Erwin explained, seemingly undisturbed by Eren's words as he turned to Levi and Natalie who had been studying his written ideas. "What do you think? Is it doable?"
"I'll try it first." Natalie replied, reaching out to press a finger to Levi's lips when the Captain tried to protest. "At least if I break anything, it'll heal in a couple minutes."
On that note she walked off while still examining the papers and trying to visualize what Erwin had come up with. Stopping after just a few steps she turned to look over her shoulder at the group.
"Eren... come with me. I'll need a Titan to try these on and you need to practice your hardening more. Commander, could we get our hands on some old, dull blades for this? There's no point in risking any harm to Eren or wasting good blades."
"You'll have them by tomorrow." Erwin promised, walking off to handle that. "Levi, I'll leave you in charge of the training session for today. I'll want a full report from both of you, afterwards."
"Could... we come watch, Captain?" Armin inquired, gesturing to himself and Mikasa.
"I don't see why not." Levi agreed. "Maybe an outside eye can more easily spot any flaws, so we can fix them."
"I'll do my best!" he grinned.
"So? Where should we do this?" Eren inquired of the redhead.
"Somewhere in the same general area as the orphanage I'd guess... or at least in a similar spot." she pondered aloud, gesturing for them to follow her to the stables. "Just somewhere without trees or houses... maybe somewhere hilly. Since we're doing this to prepare for Shiganshina, it'd be better if we could train on similar terrain."
Leading them out of the district, she and Levi eventually agreed to stop in a hilly area outside the nearby forest.
"Alright..." she stated after they had tethered the horses to the nearest trees. "Eren, just make sure to stay away from the forest. Should we first let him train a bit with hardening, Captain? If he's tired, maybe he'll move more like an actual Titan..."
"Hey... I can hear you, you know." the boy retorted, earning a hair tousle from the redhead.
"I was joking... lighten up a little. Well, then let me try first and then I'll tell you what to do for this hardening session."
"Understood."
With that reply he headed away from the group until he felt he was at a safe distance, before biting down on his hand and taking a deep breath as the Titan's body formed around him. Gesturing for Natalie to come at him, he watched as the woman retrieved her hilts and briefly checked the equipment. He was still nervous about it, but at the same time eager to see if the new training would work. Still it startled him when she charged at him, looking as if she was measuring the distance between them until at last she shot the anchors just below his kneecaps. At first she allowed the reeling cable to drag her feet along the ground, before he saw her leaping up and at the same time using a burst of gas to propel herself forward until at last the cables threw her between his legs like a slingshot.
By the time he had turned his head to look for her she had already anchored into his back to keep from flying further than necessary, the cables pulling her up to land on his shoulder.
"It worked..." she said, heaving for breath more due to the adrenaline surge than actual effort. "I had a clear shot at the ankles and the nape while I was doing this. Alright, Eren... one more time; this time I want you walking while I do it."
While he nodded she used the cables to lower herself to the ground, going back to the others to let them know that her first attempt had been a success. When she raised her hand Eren backed away and started walking slowly, trying his best to mimic the Titans he had seen so far. This time, when she had measured that she was close enough, she anchored both cables into the same leg using the same method as before to circle and get behind him. Using the slight inclination of the cliff as well as the gas burst to propel herself upwards, she once again leapt up while turning midair to face his back. However, as he moved his leg forth for another step she failed to withdraw the anchors at the right time and his motion threw her off balance smashing her into the ground.
"Shit..." she spat, sitting up and grabbing what she knew was a broken leg judging by the amount of pain.
"Are you alright?" Armin called out as the trio rushed to check on her.
"Yeah. I just miscalculated when to release from his leg. I'll be fine in a few minutes... Captain, make sure you time this one well or you'll just end up like me."
While Armin and Mikasa helped her back to their horses and sat her on a rock, Levi went to test out what she had done. As she had expected, he did it faster and better than her and to her relief succeeded even where she had failed. It was only after much insistence that they eventually allowed Armin and Mikasa to try as well, Levi saying that he believed more in learning through practice rather than theory.
"Relax..." he plopped a hand onto the redhead's shoulder as she anxiously watched Armin attempting the second maneuver. "They're not in my squad for nothing."
Even so, she could only breathe in relief when he ended it successfully and landed on Eren's shoulder, before lowering himself to the ground and rushing back.
"I figured it out!" he grinned. "There's a clear ten second window that you have to get through before you pull the anchors back from the leg. I first saw it when the Captain did it, then again with Mikasa... it was ten seconds each time, and then it worked for me as well."
"Good job spotting that. That should help our soldiers to do it more easily." Levi nodded. "Make sure to add this to your report."
With her out of commission for the moment, and not wanting to waste Eren's transformation, Natalie directed him to focus on hardening his knuckles for that training session.
"If you're going to fight Reiner, let's first try something that won't exhaust you on the spot. Try covering just your knuckles in crystal and focus the hardening there as much as you can. The denser it is, the easier it'll be for you to break even through Reiner's armor."
Directing his Titan to sit, Eren did as he was told. For some time nothing seemed to happen, other than the outer layer of skin rippling every now and then as if it was trying to respond to his thoughts. And then just when he was starting to get tired and contemplate extracting himself from the Titan, he felt a powerful ripple coursing down from his shoulders towards his hands. Next he knew the back of his fingers was slowly covered in glimmering crystal, although he couldn't maintain it for more than a few seconds due to exhaustion battling to overtake him.
"I did it!" he grinned tiredly, pulling himself out of the Titan's body and scaling it to get back down to the others. "It was only a few seconds, but I did it! If I try it when I'm more rested, I'm sure I can do it right!"
"Then let's come back tomorrow, and we'll try to work on this more." Levi agreed. "Armin, Mikasa... you two will be coming back with us."
Over the course of the following week Levi and Natalie had spent most of their time with the trio. With Eren and the redhead taking turns to shift so that they could practice their hardening while acting as bait, the others were left to work out any remaining problems with Erwin's training program. On the sixth day Natalie had had Eren practicing weapon creation again, though she advised him to leave it as a last resort due to how taxing it was on his stamina.
With Erwin having provided them with the blades she had requested, they had been able to practice properly now that their attacks carried no risk of injury. All that left, was for them to figure out some way for the rest of the Survey Corps to practice.
"What if we could somehow move the training dummies with horses?" Mikasa suggested that afternoon as they were discussing the issue.
"There's no way you're getting that on a cart, without it falling over." Levi replied.
"Also, the dummies are too thin." Armin agreed. "They'll never resist a direct attack with blades. And the anchors might also damage them too much for that to be of any use. We need... maybe some better dummies?"
"What if we make them?" Eren chimed in, startling Natalie when he grabbed her shoulder. "We can make them out of crystal so they won't break."
"That only leaves the problem of how anyone can hook properly into them, without any risk of the anchors snapping." the redhead contemplated aloud, turning to the paper in front of her and reaching down with a pen. "Maybe... like this?"
Drawing a humanoid shape, she added halves of cylindrical shapes to its back, arms and legs.
"If we use half-cut logs and tie them to the crystal skeleton, we can use those as anchoring points. We'll use the regular stuff for the nape and ankles, which is what everyone should focus on hitting as quickly as possible. So let's say... four on the back, two on each leg – front and back – and then two on the outside of the arms. It's not ideal, because Titans won't just be standing still waiting for people to attack. But it's the best we'll get..."
"We'll need a lot of logs for this." Levi hummed. "But I guess trees can be replaced... our soldiers can't be. Then, let's try one more time to do a team attack and then call it a day. Eren, can you still turn? You can stand still this time."
"Yes, of course!" the boy replied, immediately getting to his feet and running off to do just that.
'Maybe I should make one final try with the hardening for today, since I turned anyways.' he mused once he was again looking at the world through his Titan's eyes.
On that thought he turned his focus from Natalie and Levi's attempt of a concerted attack, to his hands wondering what he could try. And then an image flashed through his mind, of him watching his Titan sprouting spikes from its back. While he couldn't do it exactly like that this time, maybe he could try to do it along his arms instead.
'That would make for good defense, right?' he pondered. 'If I can suddenly pull that off I could take Reiner or anyone else by surprise... maybe even blind them.'
While he was focusing on that, Armin was carefully watching as Natalie and Levi worked in tandem with the dull blades, leaving a trail of strikes as they gradually made their way up Eren's body towards the nape.
"What... is that?" he blinked, when out of nowhere he could swear he had seen the skin on Eren's Titan rippling like water.
"I think Eren's taking advantage of this to train his hardening more." Mikasa reassured him, although she too had somewhat narrowed her eyes when the skin on his shoulders rippled again.
'Come on... come on...' Eren gritted his teeth.
He was right on the verge of doing it; he could feel it – maybe if he focused more on that memory he had seen with Natalie, it would work.
'Come on!'
But then it all happened so fast his mind couldn't even process it at first. A shudder crossed the entire outer layer of skin on his body and made him gasp. Then he felt as though the skin was extending outwards, hardening into crystal and he turned his petrified stare over his shoulder when he realized the sensation was coming from his back.
"Wha—?!" Levi too gasped as he pulled himself up with the cables, only to be suddenly faced with a mass of glimmering spikes jutting out towards him.
In that same instant, as Mikasa and Armin watched in horror, Natalie too noticed the ripple in Eren's skin and looked up.
"Move!" her twin's voice shouted in her ear when she froze at the sight.
It felt surreal as she watched herself hooking into Eren's back, reeling in the cables along with a powerful burst of gas and reaching Levi to push him out of the way a split second before one of the spikes impaled her shoulder, another piercing the side of her abdomen. At first it seemed like time had stopped, as she looked up to meet the terror-stricken stare she could read even in the Titan's eye, the mind numbing pain having taken her voice away.
Then she felt as though her insides had nearly been pulled out, as time started moving again when he withdrew the spikes, leaving her to watch the ground approaching rapidly just before Levi managed to catch her. She saw the steam erupting from the Titan's nape as the young Captain laid her on the grass, and heard Mikasa and Armin running over just before she spotted Eren behind them.
"Natalie! Are you alright?!" he cried out, kneeling next to them with an unsettling horror in his teary eyes. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean it! I swear I didn't mean it!"
"Eren!" Levi shouted to cover his screams and shut him up, while at the same time trying to figure out how to contain the bleeding until she healed enough for it to stop. "Calm down... freaking out won't help anyone."
"What even happened?" Armin asked, turning to his friend while Mikasa did her best to tend to the redhead's shoulder. "What did you do?"
"I... I was trying to do that, but on my arms not my back!" he replied, grabbing his head. "It's... I saw myself doing it, before... just..."
"It's alright, Captain." the redhead at last sighed, doing her best to try and focus on healing the hole in her stomach and hoping it would work to speed up the process. "I'll be fine... Eren..."
When she reached for him, the boy crawled closer and grasped her bloodstained hand between his.
"I'm sorry..." he sobbed, clearly still rattled that he had nearly killed them.
"Enough... you didn't mean it. Just next time... warn us before you try anything new. Also, we'll need to train that; that seems like an incredibly useful defense, if it doesn't take too much strength out of you."
"Only you would think of strategic uses in this kind of situation, idiot." Levi huffed, scolding her with a subtle note of humor in his tone.
'Fuck... I need to be more careful...' she clenched her jaw upon closing her eyes, after smiling softly at him, when her mind instantly replayed her twin's memory of Eren causing Levi's death in the same manner. 'If she hadn't told me to move, Levi would have...'
"What do we do, Captain?" Mikasa inquired. "Do we wait here until she heals?"
"Let's stay..." Natalie nodded to Levi who seemed unsure of what was the best course of action. "And... maybe let's not mention this to Commander Erwin. There's no point in making a fuss over an accident."
"...Alright." the man at last replied, reaching to brush her bangs out of her eyes and trace his thumb across her forehead. 'Always so stupidly kind... you idiot...'
But he too didn't really feel like handling the commotion that would arise if people learned Eren had nearly killed him and Natalie. He could only hope Eren had understood the gravity of what he had almost done, even as an accident; and that it would serve to deter him from repeating something like that in the future.
~ oOo ~
With Natalie deciding to take a few days off training, Hange had taken over Eren's practice with hardening. And through the researcher's sharp mind, they had come up with an incredibly effective use for the sealed gate of Trost. With great use of his ability they had created a narrow passage, its walls connected through crystal strands thick enough to resist even the largest of Titans. At the top Hange had had the soldiers install a pulley system which acted as a guillotine, with a tree trunk in place of a blade. It was the researcher's belief that a strong enough hit to a Titan's nape, even from the blunt end of the heavy log, might have been enough to kill it.
"Success!" Hange cheered loudly in the crisp afternoon air when they were testing the new weapon. "How do you like that?! Say hello to the Executioner from Hell!"
The Titan lured there by the soldier waiting in between the walls had jammed its head into the narrow tunnel, and the hit to its nape had successfully killed it leaving the carcass to start evaporating.
"Did you see that, Eren?!" Hange grinned turning back to the boy, only to find Levi in the process of offering him a handkerchief for his nosebleed.
"He needs a break." the young Captain replied. "He's done nothing but hardening experiments lately."
"I'm sorry... I went a bit too far."
"It's alright, Hange-san." Eren retorted. "Who cares how I feel? Let's make weapons and head to Shiganshina as fast as possible."
"Speaking of weapons..." they perked up. "Levi, how's the gear training coming along?"
"Natalie and Armin showed Erwin their idea for the new training dummies, this morning. She'll try to make one tomorrow, when we get the logs we need, so we can test it out and see if it'll handle the abuse."
On that note, after telling Eren to go back to his room and rest for a while, he left Hange to their excitement and walked off.
"Where are you going, Levi?" Hange called after him. "Don't you want to help me test out the Executioner?"
"I've already seen that it works; what more do you want? Besides, I'm busy..."
"Huh? Busy with what?"
Not bothering to reply anymore, the young Captain walked off along the Wall until he was certain Hange and the others couldn't see him anymore. For the past few days he had started his own training. So far, he had managed to get himself in the necessary state to trigger such an insane surge of strength only once... and that had been by focusing intensely on the memory of Kenny nearly shooting Natalie in the face. On the way his stomach had tightened to where he'd thought he would throw up; on how his heart had been drumming in his ears to where he'd felt his head would burst; on how he had clenched his jaw to where he'd thought his teeth would shatter, or how his brain had already depicted for him the spray of blood coming from her skull as the bullet split her head open.
But it was by no means an easy thing, with how emotionally drained it left him...
'I'll need a shower after this...' he mused, retrieving his hilts and walking off the edge of the wall.
Acting as bait to lure a few Titans to follow him, he eventually anchored himself a few meters above them and took a moment to watch the creatures clawing at the wall to try and get him.
"You and your dumb faces..." he huffed, readying his swords and taking a deep breath.
For a moment he contemplated whether to try and make use of that memory from the caverns again, before his mind brought another image to the surface. Of course, back then it hadn't affected him to the extreme because he wasn't that close to her, but now...
'Alright.' he scowled when he felt his hands clenching around the hilts involuntarily.
Fixating his gaze on the Titans below him, he allowed his brain to replay the morning when Natalie had saved Hange's life. How he had watched her pushing the researcher out of the way, how that Titan had grabbed her out of the air – and out of reflex his eyes went to one of the Titans below him when it once again reached up grabbing at nothing. Slowly but surely his mind was fooled into painting a realistic image of her in the clutches of that Titan, as if he was truly seeing it before his very eyes. As if he was once again hearing the crunch of bones that even back then had made him sick to his stomach, once again seeing the blood she vomited onto the creature's hand.
He could feel it coming, in the way that a wave of anger overtook him; in the way his heartbeat quickened from the increased levels of adrenaline, in the way his muscles tensed and twitched, in the way his breath turned to an irate panting like that of a cornered animal. Gritting his teeth when his intuition flared to tell him it was the right moment, he flicked his right blade backwards and released the anchors letting himself fall towards the Titans. At the last second he hooked into one of the outstretched arms and twisted himself into his signature saw blade motion, his gaze reddening from the blood sprays left in his wake.
By the time he had once again hooked into the wall he was a heaving, furious mess, covered in steaming blood and sweat. Below on the ground, all that was left of the five Titans was a scattered array of diced limbs and organs gradually evaporating. And then he realized that he was involuntarily glancing around trying to locate Natalie, despite some part of his brain still aware that she wasn't there.
'It worked... but...' he contemplated, feeling so emotionally drained that he was almost numb even as he brought a hand up to his aching forehead. 'Shit... this is messing with my head.'
Dropping the dulled blades he used the gear to scale the wall and go over it, making his way to the barracks. Maybe a shower really would help him clear his mind a bit because the way he was still so wound up, even after reminding himself that Natalie was actually unharmed, was somewhat alarming.
~ oOo ~
'Fuck... I can't calm down...' Levi scoffed, dropping the pen onto his desk and covering his face with his hands.
After a shower and a change of clothes he had retreated to his office to handle his daily share of paperwork. But even after so many hours he was still high strung, his muscles still full of tension to where he felt his hands shaking as he pressed them against his face. He hadn't sought out Natalie since returning to the barracks, because he'd thought that would have been a childish thing to do... but now he was starting to wonder if maybe he should have gone to see her before getting to work. Some part of his mind was still hung up on the fact that he didn't know whether or not she was alright, no matter how he kept repeating to himself that she was.
'Maybe I should just go see her...' he pondered, his breathing strained from his constantly elevated heartbeat. 'No... it's so late... she's probably asleep already.'
Pulling his hands away he watched his twitching fingers for a moment before heaving a sigh and clenching his fists.
'What the fuck do I do? There's no point waking her up just because I want to see her face... but there's so much time left until morning.'
It was really messing with his head, that damn training. But he knew he had to do it, if he wanted to spare as many of their soldiers as he could. And then he visibly jerked in his seat when the soft knock at the door startled him.
'Natalie!' he nearly gasped, knowing it was her by the way she knocked; and he instantly felt an overwhelming need to not just see her, but to touch her – to make sure she was there, that she was alright.
When he failed to speak up, too afraid that he had no control over his voice, she cracked the door open and poked her head inside blinking in surprise at finding that he hadn't fallen asleep.
"Why didn't you answer, if you were awake?" she asked with a measure of humor, closing the door behind her and placing a steaming cup onto his desk. "I thought you might want some tea, since you're working late again."
When he inhaled deeply to give himself a moment of settling down, now that he had seen she was perfectly fine, her expression grew concerned.
"Levi...?" she called softly. "Are you alright? What happened?"
"I did it again today." he at last replied once he was certain he could keep his voice in check, reaching to sip the hot tea. "Five Titans in less than two minutes..."
"That... that's amazing!" she smiled encouragingly, before realizing that might have been exactly why he looked like he wasn't feeling well. "But... are you alright?"
Setting down the cup and unable to bring himself to admit that he wasn't, Levi only raised his hand to show her his still twitching fingers.
"Wha—!" she gasped, her tone sounding alarmed as she walked around the desk and took hold of his hand.
Almost immediately he saw the guilt filling her gaze as she brought his hand up to her lips, quite nearly hugging his arm.
"I'm sorry..." she whispered, her breath warming his knuckles and her lips tickling his skin. "I'm so sorry..."
"Stop apologizing for being smart." he replied, at last feeling his mind calming now that she was touching him. "I'll just be more careful from now on..."
Not that he could be more than he already was; he would just have to learn how to deal with the emotional turmoil. But then he was suddenly aware that his vision had darkened and that his nose was full of that pleasant rose scent of hers. And when he felt her arms around him, he realized his face had been pressed between her breasts when she had moved to hug him.
'Fuck... you always smell so nice...' he mused, closing his eyes and breathing in her perfume deeply until it filled his lungs and his head.
"You're such a stubborn asshole sometimes." she berated him, drawing his attention back to her just as he was about to wrap his arms about her waist. "If you need my help, just say so... I know it's not easy to ask for it, but you know I'll never judge you for doing that. Why didn't you come see me, if you couldn't calm down on your own?"
Though she couldn't see it, he smiled at her bossy tone and at last coiled his arms about her, pulling her to lean against him. When one of her hands grabbed the backrest of his chair and she gasped at the unexpected shift of her weight center, he only held her tighter.
"Is that any way to speak to your Captain?" he retorted, his voice muffled as he nuzzled his face more in her soft chest.
He was finally coming down from that tension, feeling relief washing over him now that his mind was reassured that she really was there, in his hands. That she was real, warm, alive; that he could hear her breaths and feel her heartbeat through her chest.
"...Are you tired?"
Her sudden question compelled him to lean back so he could see her face, and he arched a brow at her flushed countenance, already aware of what she wanted from him.
'You horny brat...' he mused with a measure of amusement, before shaking his head in reply. 'Well, I did kind of neglect you recently... didn't I?'
"Then..." she stammered, trying to muster the courage to say it.
"What?" he goaded her on when she didn't continue, his hands sliding down from her lower back to take hold of her hips. "If you don't tell me what you want, I won't know."
"...You won't get... upset?"
"Huh...?" he retorted, utterly confused at her weird response and wondering for a moment if maybe he'd read her wrong for once.
But then she leaned over to kiss his cheek, before she moved to his ear which she lightly nipped between her lips. She was resolved to say it... if he got upset, she would just apologize and see from there how she could salvage the moment.
"I want to fuck you... Captain..." she whispered heatedly.
At first his eyes widened at such a direct and lewd proposal coming from her, and he felt his arousal spark to life as though she had flipped a switch in him.
"...You want to fuck me?" he retorted, involuntarily smirking at the thought.
"You liked it when I handled you at the training yard that day... didn't you?"
At that he did lean back again, staring at her in surprise; she'd never addressed that before, and he hadn't even guessed that she still recalled it. Or that she had been able to read him so well even back then.
"You..." he huffed, before deciding that he would hand over the reins for once. "If you think you can do it properly... then show me."
He had always been curious to see just how demanding and assertive she could be, and it seemed she had finally worked up the courage to show him. Though he had a feeling her lack of experience would prompt him to retake control soon enough. Still, if she wanted to try doing that for him then he wouldn't discourage her; he wanted her to build up more confidence in herself and in how much sway she held over him, in how captivatingly beautiful she was, in how much she could make him crave her.
On that note he stood from the chair, removing his cravat and dropping it atop the papers strewn across his desk. But when he again reached for her hips to pull her closer, she arched her back and leaned away from his kiss.
"Let's try not to ruin your paperwork, hm?" she smiled, briefly gesturing to the still full teacup that she didn't want them accidentally spilling.
With his attention diverted, he felt his shoulders twitch when her fingers interlocked behind his neck and she used that to gently coax him into following her away from the desk. Looking back to find her playfully biting her lip, he couldn't have resisted kissing her if he'd had a knife at his throat. It was more than obvious that she had no experience playing the seductress, yet that clumsy innocence was exactly what he found so enticing about her. He had just fully delved into the kiss, relishing her taste on his tongue, when he felt her hands clenching onto his shirt right before she pushed him onto his seat on the couch.
'What... was I so out of it, I didn't even notice her leading me here?' he grunted in surprise upon falling onto the cushions.
His thoughts were quieted when she climbed onto his lap, her mouth capturing his with almost desperate need while her tongue sought out his own. He almost felt sorry to a degree for having neglected her all that time, after giving her a taste of what sex felt like. Then again he did love that urgency and hunger in her demeanor. He had just reached up for her cheek when her lips moved down to his jaw line, which she used as a trail back to his earlobe that she tenderly rolled between her teeth, before the tip of her tongue traced the outline of his ear sending a pleasant tingle down his spine.
All the while her hands worked the buttons of his shirt and he was grateful that neither of them was wearing their coats that night. Abandoning his initial intent, he let his hand fall down to her waist before moving lower to grab a handful of firm rump, causing her to jolt.
'Is she... just really sensitive tonight?' he mused, testing it by moving his hand between her legs and pressing the hollow of his palm against her groin.
Her gasp warmed his ear and he felt her nails briefly pressing into his stomach as she was working to pull his shirt free from his pants. And then he visibly jerked in surprise when he felt her tongue trailing along his neck, at the same time when she unbuttoned his pants and slipped a hand inside, taking hold of his half-erect member.
'It's... really hot...' she mused, enjoying the pleasant sensation of smooth skin and the way she felt it growing larger and harder at her touch.
She could still smell the soap from his shower, mixed with that forest fragrance that she loved so much, and it urged her to want to pleasure him even more. With her so focused on that, it startled her when he all too suddenly grabbed her chest.
"Lean back for a second..." he said, prompting her to do just that with a puzzled look. 'Is she not wearing anything under this?'
Making quick work of the first few buttons he pulled her shirt open, only to blink in surprise when her breasts spilled out of their confines.
"You... were you actually planning for this?" he retorted, looking up to the guilty expression she was half hiding behind her hand.
"No..." she lied, too embarrassed to admit that he was right. "Sometimes I don't put my bra back on after I shower. It's... uncomfortable..."
In the way she was trying to bite into her hand in shame he knew she wasn't telling the truth, and so he narrowed his eyes at her while he reached to squish her nipple between his fingers.
"I thought we agreed you won't lie to me..." he scolded her, even while enjoying the way she moaned into her sleeve and shuddered at the pleasure.
"It's just... embarrassing to show you... this side of me..." she replied, unable to look away from his piercing stare in spite of wishing to just disappear. "You're always so busy... I don't want to... burden you with my spoiled brat needs."
'Of course you're still thinking of me, you idiot...' he mused while his expression involuntarily softened; wrapping his arms about her waist and pulling her to lean against him, his breath warmed her lips as he spoke. "Don't ever be afraid to tell me what you want. No matter how busy I am, I'll always try to make time for you."
Moving a hand around her neck he pulled her hair aside and leaned up to kiss her skin, again taking a deep breath of her perfume.
"Don't ever be afraid to take what you want from me. You have no idea what your confidence does to me... how arousing that is..." he assured her, nipping at the sensitive flesh and feeling her fingers pressing into his shoulders. "Your needs aren't something to be ignored; they're not anything unnatural, or shameful. So don't ever be embarrassed to tell me what you need..."
"Then..." she at last whispered, after taking a moment to gather her courage again. "Don't mind if I do... Captain..."
There it was again; she'd done it earlier too and he couldn't tell if it had been intentional or not. But the way she rolled his rank off her tongue on that sensual note made him twitch in his pants. Without another word she got to her feet and bent down to remove her boots, before unbuttoning her pants and pushing them down until she kicked them aside. And he had to admit, there was something about how she didn't bother removing her shirt, or even fully unbuttoning it only leaving the ruffled white fabric to so perfectly frame her chest, that drew his focus to her breasts again and again.
But then she leaned over him to press her lips to his and his attention went to how she slipped between his thighs forcing his legs apart. Had she been more experienced, he would have hazarded a guess as to what she was about to do. But this way she truly caught him off guard with how she gradually lowered herself to her knees, kissing a trail down along his stomach. With how she finished unbuttoning his pants and tugged so dexterously on the fabric until his erection was freed of its confines, leaving him to sigh in relief.
"...You. Do you even know how to do that?" he taunted her.
"I have a general idea... and you can always tell me how you like it." she retorted without missing a beat, feeling him twitch in her grasp when she looked up at him with as playful a smirk as her nerves allowed her.
To look at her face he never would have guessed she was nervous, were it not for the faint trembling of her hands as she allowed herself to get used to his shape and length.
"You can hold it tighter... it's not going to break. Just don't squeeze it like you're trying to strangle someone."
The unintentional laugh that escaped her made a corner of his lips twitch and when she smiled up at him he had to fight the urge to end her practice right then and there, and ravish her until she couldn't walk anymore. Again she lowered her eyes and he felt her plush tongue warming a trail along his length, compelling him to sigh at the pleasant sensation. Reaching the tip he saw her hesitating when she got her first real taste of him, savoring his flavor before she parted her lips and poked out her tongue again. The heated breath she released over the sensitive head went straight to the core of him, sparking that familiar tension in his muscles, just before she plunged him into the moist warmth beyond her lips.
'Fuck... she doesn't need any experience, when her mouth already feels so nice...' he clenched his jaw, feeling his heartbeat quickening and the blood rushing to his groin to fully awaken his manhood.
While her motions were timid and awkward, the mere fact that she was willing to do that for him, that she was working so hard to pleasure him... that made the experience so much better, so much more special to him.
'You're so goddamn beautiful...' he mused, watching her as she tried to gauge the pace that would satisfy him, before his mind blanked for a moment when he felt her teeth grazing against the shaft as his blood flow expanded it to its full girth. "Nat..."
At his grunt she immediately released him, though she seemed to realize just from looking at his face that he wasn't hurt.
"Did I hurt you?" she asked, wanting to make sure.
"No..." he breathed deeply. "You just don't need to do this all the way..."
At first he thought he'd fucked up when she puffed out her cheeks at him, just before she went right back to what she had been doing, leaving him to enjoy the view of sinking over and over into her insatiable mouth. With how she had adjusted to accommodate his girth, she was clearly a quick learner; and he felt that in the way she at last found her rhythm, starting to build up his pleasure while he gradually pressed his fingers deeper and deeper into the couch, letting himself get carried away by the soft greedy moans she added to her efforts. But then she suddenly released him again, instead trailing her tongue along his length all the way to the sensitive tip that sent a pleasant shiver down his spine.
"You taste... so good..." she whispered, and he could see it in her eyes that she was enjoying it just as much as he was.
"Nat..." he replied breathily, reaching under her chin to turn her eyes to his. "If you're tired, you can leave it at that. You can try it again next time, if you want to."
But when she shook her head, he had to smile at her determination to pleasure him. With that, he was resolved to let her do as she pleased.
"Does it... feel good?" she asked even as he gasped when she started using her hand in place of her mouth.
"Yeah... it feels really good."
It was unexpected, but it really did feel as good as his husky tone made it sound even if most of his pleasure had to do with her, rather than the act itself. And when she again smiled up at him, he felt himself twitching in her grasp before she had even taken him into her mouth again. With how his body's own lubricant was mixing with her saliva, coating every bit of his shaft that she took in, she was able to pick up the pace and take him deeper. He could feel her throat moving against the sensitive tip as she repeatedly swallowed, mingling that with a taunting sucking motion, driving him insane as he tried to hold back from bucking his hips. Over and over she did that, pressing and twisting her tongue around the sensitive rod, winding up the string of pleasure pooled in his groin until he knew he had passed the point of no return.
"N-Natalie..." he grunted, reaching to thread his fingers through her hair when he felt himself twitching in her mouth. "I'm..."
He would have told her to let go of him, that she didn't need to go that far for his sake, but his voice died when he felt her hand taking hold of his testicles and gingerly squeezing the overly sensitive flesh. With a gasp, he again clenched his jaw and felt the pressure in his stomach snap as he emptied himself in her ravenous mouth, feeling a twitch coursing his thighs. Though she did her best with it, he had expected her to choke and pull back, the last drops of his seed staining her chin. He had been about to tell her that she could spit it out, just when he saw her throat moving as she swallowed. Wiping her chin she curiously examined the sticky fluid clinging to her fingers, before poking out her tongue to lick them clean with a half-lidded gaze.
"You... where did you learn to make this lewd face?"
Startled, she looked back at him as if she hadn't even realized what she was doing, prompting him to lean over her and cup her cheeks in his hands.
"If you keep making this face at me, I won't be able to hold back anymore."
"Then... you really enjoyed it?"
"Idiot... why would I lie to you? You still have a lot to learn, but for your first time it did feel good."
Pressing his lips to her forehead, he heard the soft giggle that left her and moved down to place a feathery kiss just beneath her eye, her thick lashes tickling his skin.
"Then lie down..." she whispered, reaching to caress his hands as he leaned back from her.
"Like this?" he inquired with a measure of humor, gesturing to his disheveled clothes and arching a brow when she nodded.
Curious if she really did mean to fully take the reins, he did as she requested while the redhead got back to her feet. And when she pulled down her panties and he saw the glistening stain on the fabric, he got the best confirmation that he hadn't been the only one to enjoy her efforts. Without another word she climbed over him and he saw the hesitation in her eyes.
'Idiot... I love that you're doing all of this for me, but...' he mused, reaching out to place his hands on her hips with a soothing caress in spite of his humorous retort. "Don't be shy... didn't you want to fuck me?"
At first she leaned onto her hands and lowered herself until he felt her warm slit resting atop his erection, and his fingers twitched when she started so tantalizingly moving back and forth coating his length in slick moisture. He just had to reach up and stroke her flushed cheek, his fingers trailing down her neck until he grabbed one of her breasts making her moan softly. She looked so dazzling from that angle, as she leaned over him – almost surreal that he wondered for a moment if he was just dreaming; with the shimmering warm glow of the candles playing on her skin, and the moonlight from the window outlining her hair with a silvery halo. With that half-lidded lustful stare, with her lips parted as she panted softly, with how she was arching her back to press her breast into his hand.
As if that had been her cue, she leaned back and reached between them sliding his length between her fingers as she positioned it beneath her. With a deep, quivering breath she lowered her hips again and arousal knotted her stomach when his eyes instantly fixated on where he was gradually sinking into her. Once she was certain she had a good grip on him she removed her hand to give him an unobstructed view of it, feeling the way his grasp on her hips tightened more and more the deeper she took him into herself.
There was no way she was doing that on purpose, but damn if the way she took him in so slowly wasn't just mesmerizing. How he could see every inch of himself disappearing into her, at the same time when he felt her walls clinging to his flesh trying to pull him even further in. But then his mind blanked and his vision blacked out for a split second, and he couldn't tell what had happened. By the time he had recovered he at last noticed that her leg had slipped off the edge of the couch, leaving her to fall the rest of the way onto his lap. He was now completely buried inside her, the tip of his length pressed against her deepest parts and he wondered if that had triggered an orgasm or if it had just been a pleasure spike.
'At least it didn't hurt...' he huffed, before turning his eyes up to her. "Are you alright?"
"Yeah..." she replied, her voice and the soft moans laced with her labored breathing telling him that she had nearly climaxed as well. "Sor—"
Before she could finish her apology he pressed his thumb to her lips before tracing the contour of her mouth.
"Do you want me to take over?"
Again his mouth twitched towards a smile when she shook her head with determination, and he relaxed, letting himself sink into the couch while Natalie repositioned herself properly. At first she barely even moved and he knew she was scared of hurting him just by how intently she was fixated on his face.
"It won't break, dummy..." he encouraged her, moving his hands to grab her rump and guide her into a pace where he could at least feel a bit of friction.
Again she didn't disappoint, picking up on his hints and settling into a rhythm that soon had him sigh out in pleasure. She wasn't going anywhere near fast enough to finish him off, but for now he could afford to let her practice on him a bit. At least that was the thought he had started out on, only to realize after a few minutes that her slow pace was driving him mad with the desire to just ram into her until they both orgasmed.
"Listen here, you..." he at last huffed. "Are you planning to tease me like this until tomorrow?"
"But... you're already holding my hips so tightly..." she replied. "I thought it... might hurt if I do it... any faster..."
When she reached to touch his hand, making him realize she was right and that he had her hips in a vice-like grasp, he at last snapped and sat up nearly causing her to fall backwards in surprise.
"I'm sorry..." he said, his scalding breath on her neck making her twitch as he wrapped his arms about her waist. "But at this pace you're just teasing me to insanity."
Her attempt to speak only came out as a surprised moan when he lied back down pulling her along with him, just before lifting his hips and thrusting all the way into her. Again his hands found their way to her hips which he used both as leverage and to hold her in place, sweeping her up into his own rhythm. He absolutely needed to peak and he wanted to do it inside her, to once again see that blissful rapture on her face, to hear her call his name with that lust dripping voice.
"Fuck... you're squeezing... so tightly..." he grunted, making a mental note that she was definitely more sensitive in that position.
"I can't help it! You're so... rough..." she choked on the ever growing pleasure.
Each thrust felt like it would be the one to break her, with how he was hitting her deepest parts every time, causing her walls to clench around his length. Every time his fingers twitched and gripped her flesh even tighter, mixing her pleasure with something bordering on pain, she couldn't help but moan for him; couldn't help sinking her nails into his arms; couldn't help bucking her hips in time with his own. And then all of a sudden her vision was filled with bright lights and her mind blanked, the shudder that rolled down her spine lodging itself in her groin, making her walls throb around him and curling her toes.
More than the sensation itself it was the euphoric look in her eyes and the salacious tone on which she breathed out that she loved him, which drove him over the edge. Moving his hands lower to her rump he pulled her hips down until he was again fully buried into her soaking, heated core. Tilting his head back into the cushion when his entire body tensed, he clenched his jaw with a harsh groan as he found release. For a split second he was completely unaware of everything other than her body weighing on him, before his mind resumed working leaving him to heave for breath.
The feeling of her lips on his neck startled him, and he adjusted the position of his head as he let himself sink back into the couch. Realizing he was still gripping her with excessive force, he moved one arm around her waist while the other hand he tangled in her hair.
"Had enough for one night?" he huffed, feeling her muscles gaining slack even with the occasional twitch as she tried to calm her breathing.
"No... but I think... we've pushed our luck enough... by staying here." she retorted.
"You horny brat..." he again huffed, this time with almost a laugh in his voice as he tousled her hair affectionately. "You know, I'm not a young man anymore."
"Says the guy who took down five Titans in two minutes." she retorted. "I don't think I can even walk properly right now."
Her legs were even now trembling and she knew she'd have trouble getting to her room. And he only proved her point when he recovered and sat up before she had even relaxed enough to not need him for support, his words somewhat confusing her when he spoke again.
"You need a shower."
~ oOo ~
"You're the worst..." she pouted, in spite of her tired but content expression.
"That's not what you were saying ten minutes ago, when you were begging me to fuck you harder." Levi retorted with a satisfied smirk, his hand trailing along her back as she lay in his arms. "Weren't you the one who complained you didn't get enough?"
"That didn't mean you had to—!"
"And why wouldn't I?" he cut her off, pressing his lips to hers and again smirking at the blush covering her cheeks. "Or did you think I never missed you?"
"Still..." she huffed, unable to withhold a tender smile. "At least we were in the showers, so I suppose..."
Though she had tried her best to convince him he didn't need to heed all her silly demands, there had been no reasoning with him. Even now she was half-aroused, half-embarrassed that they had ended up doing such a thing where anyone could have walked in on them, from hearing the running water so late at night. At the same time she couldn't deny the thrill of it, even if she had only fully calmed her heartbeat once they were locked away in his room.
"Don't ever be ashamed of what you want." he said, as though he had read her mind. "I needed this... I needed you so much, tonight."
More than his words, it was his grateful tone that reminded her of the bad mental state she had found him in earlier.
"Levi..." she began, not really knowing how to continue; whether he would feel that she didn't have faith in him, if she asked him to stop that training.
"I know." he replied, pressing a tender kiss to her forehead. "I know you're worried... I know you want me to stop, but I can't. I don't want any more of our soldiers to die, than necessary, and I'll do anything for that."
"Then... at least come see me afterwards, if you need to. Promise me you won't try to bottle it up again."
When he failed to answer she leaned up on her elbow, moving a hand up to stroke his hair.
"Levi... promise me!" she demanded, staring intently into his eyes and clasping his face between her hands when he tried to look away. "Promise me!"
At last she saw his expression softening in a mixture of amusement and resignation, his lips twitching towards a smile.
"Alright..."
"Say it. Promise me!" she insisted through her teeth with a frown, knowing he was only trying to skirt around the answer.
"You're so beautiful when you're angry, you know that?"
"Save the compliments for after you promise me..." she retorted, puffing her cheeks out at him when his words made her blush.
At last he failed to withhold a chuckle in the face of her determination and wrapped his arms around her.
"I promise, you stubborn brat..." he said, just before leaning up to claim her lips.
"See? It wasn't that hard." she smiled, sounding satisfied that she had forced that out of him.
"...Huh? That was the hardest thing I've ever had to do." he retorted, pulling her off him and at the same time using the inertia to reverse their positions. "If I was still a thug, I would've demanded compensation for that."
"Then I'm lucky you're a hero nowadays... Captain..."
"How are you just five years younger, when you're such a brat?" he huffed, closing his eyes for just a moment to enjoy the way her fingers caressed his cheek.
"Isn't that why you love me?" she retorted with a cheeky smile.
Again his expression softened just before his knuckles ghosted across her soft cheek. If only she knew just how many things he loved her for; sometimes he did wish he was better at using his words to tell her, no matter how much he was certain she could read it in his actions. How much he loved her for making such an impact on him even as a child, for how she had grown into such a caring and kind woman, for how selfless she was, for how she had been at his side through all the horrors of their daily life, for her bravery, her intelligence, her ability to still find joy and meaning in living through the hell that was their world.
"That's right..." he agreed at last, relishing her embrace when he again claimed her lips.