Chapter 6: Humanity's Hottest Gets Even

A/N: I won't make a habit of placing notes at the beginning since it interrupts the flow of the story, but as a warning, there will be allusions to sex in this chapter. Canon at this part of the anime places Mikasa at ~16 years and Levi at ~30 years. I'm not too concerned about their ages, mainly because the legal age of consent for sex in many countries today is 16 years, and in others can be as low as 14 years (I reserve my opinions on how appropriate these thresholds are). The main point here is that age/age gaps are not brought up as a concern in this story. But if you feel uncomfortable about any of this, please do feel free to bump up Mikasa's age to one you're comfortable with. Doing so won't change the story in any way, shape, or form.

Now you've been warned, onto the fun stuff. As a reward for getting this far without an ounce of fluff aside from an unsuspecting boob grab, here's a long, Mikasa-heavy chapter. Happy reading!

Day 5

"Lance Corporal Levi Ackerman is particular about his choice of women, preferring them lively and full of fight. This may be due in part to his rough childhood in the Underground, and although the military has since cured him of his wild ways, he retains a love for polishing discovered diamonds in the rough.

It is rumoured that the corporal is a veritable Don Juan and a scholar in the ways of women. Although little prevailing knowledge of his previous relationships exists, we believe that the corporal is to a relationship what fungus is to blue cheese. The corporal may cause an unconventional, overpowering, and even distasteful flavour at first, but will quickly become such a pervasive force in your life that you will soon be left wondering how you ever managed without him.

Did we mention he's still single?"

Picture: A chunk of blue cheese.

Picture caption: Anyone who doesn't love blue cheese is a savage.

Postscript: The writer's opinions are their own and do not reflect those of the Trost Tribute. This piece should primarily be considered as entertainment and not be taken seriously.

Today, Levi wanted nothing more than to get Mikasa alone. That she had turned up at the coffee shop made her the likely mastermind and Jean her reluctant lackey. However, he was still unclear on some of the particulars.

As his squad sat down for their morning briefing, he glanced over slyly at Jean and Mikasa. Jean sat with his fists balled in his lap and refused to meet his gaze. Mikasa was glaring at him with defiance and unbridled fury, her trademark red scarf conspicuously absent.

"We were meant to patrol the walls today, but there's been a change in plans. Instead, you will be cleaning the barracks and mess hall." The whole squad groaned in unison. "Stop whining or I'll have you cleaning out the holding cells as well. Kirstein and Ackerman, I want you both on lavatory duty. The senior officers had a big celebration party last night and I'm sure they left some souvenirs. If I see so much as a trace of sick when you're done, I'll kick your asses and make you wipe up after your sorry selves. All clear?"

"Sir!"

Levi turned to Mikasa, who was still glaring at him with murderous intent. "Ackerman, cut it with the doe eyes. I want a word with you later. Come to my office when you're finished."

After breakfast, Levi was on his way back to his office when he heard his name being called.

"Levi, save me!"

His heart sank. He turned and saw a young woman being dragged along by two military police officers.

"Who is this?"

"Levi heichou!" One of the officers saluted while the other kept their captive in check. "We arrested her in the market square. She was being a public nuisance and overturning carts of produce." He glared at the woman.

"You know what I hate more than dirt? Lowlifes who create messes," He jabbed a finger at the woman's forehead, stopping just short of contact to avoid touching her grime. "Because someone always has to clean up after them."

"To think I did it for you, you ungrateful chibi. You could have been the mold to my cheese!" The woman shrieked hysterically.

Levi stared at the woman coldly. One of the officers cleared his throat nervously while the other one spluttered with laughter.

"This is the fifth one we've arrested for causing public disorder today. None of them have a record."

"Have the women all gone mad overnight?"

The officer coughed again. "I think it's got something to do with your alleged woman type."

Levi glared at the officer. "If you've got something to say, spit it out."

"Have you read this morning's newspaper?"

For the love of God.

"Keep me updated on the situation." Levi instructed, then stormed to his office. That gloomy brat was creating collateral in her rebellion against him and he was going to make her suffer for it.

It was mid-morning. A knock sounded on his door.

"Come in."

Mikasa entered. She saluted and stared straight ahead. "You wanted to see me?" She did not mention their skirmish the previous day.

Levi didn't look up from his work. "Have you finished cleaning the lavatories?"

"Yes."

"Including the ones in the senior officers' quarters?"

"You didn't mention those, heichou."

"Now I have. Go clean them and get Kirstein to helpf you." An evil thought entered his mind. "Actually, scrap that. Handle the toilets yourself and tell Kirstein to clean the holding cells."

"Yes, sir."

Mikasa entered Levi's office again just before lunchtime.

"Heichou, I've finished my duties." Levi stood up.

"Alright. Show me your work." They left the office and walked in rigid silence towards the senior officers' lavatories, which were closer. Levi looked. His eyes narrowed.

"Did you just sit on a cloth and butt-slide across the floor? I can still see layers of grime everywhere." He gave a sidelong glance. "And is that a shit floating in the cistern there?" Aforementioned 'shit' was actually a partially-dissolved cleaning tablet and one of Hange's many ingenious inventions created for the purpose. Unfortunately for Mikasa, it was coloured exactly like human waste, and Levi didn't care for the distinction. "Don't even think about having lunch until you've cleaned everything to my satisfaction, Ackerman. I want it all done again. I want the surfaces sparkling and the cisterns so clean you could drink water straight from them."

Mikasa's expression remained composed, but he noticed the tension in her frame. "Don't give me reason to make you demonstrate that." He threatened pre-emptively, then left.

Just after lunch, Levi encountered one of the military police officers from the morning.

"How is the situation?" Levi asked.

"Just about stabilised, sir. We've stationed ten soldiers around the busiest areas of the city to discourage further outbursts."

"Did you arrest anyone else?"

"Yes – we've arrested twenty women in total. Commander Dok told us to detain them overnight."

"Tch."

The officer withdrew. Shortly after, he ran into Jean, whose face was white as a sheet. He looked as if he had seen some malevolent spectre.

"Did you clean the holding cells, Kirstein?"

Jean snapped to, suddenly aware of his surroundings. He straightened to and saluted, but his eyes retained their wild look. "Y-Yes sir!"

"You look like you saw something scary. It's just a bunch of women in there."

Jean broke his stance, looking almost indignant. "Just a bunch of women? They're sex-starved maniacs. I almost got mauled in there – I've got bruises from all their pinching and prodding!"

"You got off light." Levi surveyed his subordinate coldly, but inwardly gloated at the boy's misfortunes. The punishment had served its purpose. "Ackerman is still working on the lavatories, so go and help the others."

"Yes sir!" Jean strode off hurriedly, and Levi returned to his office. Shortly after his return, Mikasa entered and saluted.

"Lavatories all clean, sir."

"Show me." They found themselves in the bathrooms once again. He had to admit she had done a reasonable job this time, but he wasn't about to let her off easy. Especially not after the report he had heard.

"Better than your earlier half-assed attempt. But you have some gall, saluting and giving your heart when you've instead given a full-assed job."

"What's the difference?"

"You tell me. If not for your cleaning, I wouldn't be able to tell your heart from your ass." She had walked right into that one. Mikasa glared at him, venom practically dripping from her eyes. Unfortunately for her, Levi didn't scare easily. Instead, he let out a melodramatic sigh.

"I've never shown you my twist-and-swipe technique, have I?"

"Twist-and-swipe technique?" Mikasa's voice cracked ever so slightly.

Levi took the cleaning rag from the sink and stood before her. "It's simple. It works like this." He moved over to a sink. With a flourish, he brought the wet rag down on the surface, then with a flick of his wrist flipped the cloth ever so slightly, exposing a new angle, and wiped again. The sink was suddenly a brighter shade of white, the dirt all contained on a small area of the cloth.

"One surface, two wipes, minimal cloth required. This bathroom would have taken you a fraction of the time with my technique. Now you try it." He held the cloth before her smugly.

After a few tries, Mikasa had the general gist. "Why didn't you tell me about this before, heichou?" She looked like she was about to kill him, but by some miracle kept her temper in check.

"Because the reward is not in the result but in the journey," Levi was practically purring. "If you hadn't cleaned this bathroom with your own insufficient skills first, you wouldn't now appreciate the lessons I'm teaching you. Now do the bathrooms again, from scratch. Report to me again when you're done."

It was late afternoon when Mikasa returned a fourth time looking perfectly composed. Given it had taken so long for her to finish her task with his twist-and-swipe technique, Levi suspected she had spent most of the time beating her features into submission. She saluted. "All done sir."

They went to inspect the bathrooms again, and Levi finally found everything to his satisfaction. "Only took you all day to get everything right."

"Am I dismissed?"

"No. I still want a word with you."

When they were back in his office, Levi took a seat at his desk and ordered Mikasa to close the door. He was feeling unusually smug today. It had been a long time since he had been able to take his frustrations out on a subordinate with good reason, and although he had never experienced it personally, he felt like the proverbial kid in the candy was contemplating making her clean out the stables as well when Mikasa addressed the elephant in the room.

"I want my scarf back. I know you were punishing me for what I've done and I did what you wanted without asking. Now give me my scarf and let me go." She spoke calmly, but her fists were clenched and her hands trembled slightly.

Good, letting her stew all day has worn her out, Levi thought with satisfaction. He leaned back in his chair and crossed his legs, looking nonplussed.

"You think you can shit all over me and then waltz out of here? I'm still not done with you. You had almost a week of fun and I only had one day. I think I deserve a bit more playtime. But since you feel like talking now, let's talk. Sit down." She took a seat, glaring murder at him. Her stomach gave a noisy growl which he ignored.

"Tell me why you did it."

"You beat Eren up."

"When?"

"During the military court hearing."

"I did it so he could join the Scouts division. He would have been executed by the military police otherwise."

"You went overboard." Her eyes narrowed ever so slightly.

"So? The boy heals faster than Braus can scarf down a plate of potatoes."

"You couldn't have known about his healing abilities beforehand!" Mikasa insisted. She was trembling with anger.

"Me, too hard on him? Have you already forgotten who saved Jaeger's ass from the Female Titan? Who injured himself saving the whiny sidekick in the process? I should have been harder on you. You have disobeyed direct orders on several occasions to flounce off and rescue Jaeger, even when he didn't need saving. Your recklessness puts the rest of us in danger."

"He's Humanity's Hope!"

"What good is Humanity's Hope if we all get killed trying to keep him alive?" Levi seethed. "Think about it, Ackerman. I kicked Jaeger's ass a while ago. The kid has already gotten over it, but you haven't. And after all this time, the best comeback you have is public shaming? Even that cowardly form of revenge I can overlook, but I can't turn away when you start creating collateral. Today, you created unnecessary work for the military police and turned normal, law-abiding women into hooligans because you wrote that I like them wild. Even the baboons at that news outlet saw enough potential danger to put a warning on the post!"

Mikasa only shrugged in response. Levi glared at her, blood boiling at her flippancy. If he had to hurt her to drive the gravity of her actions home, he would. He leaned forward in his chair.

"You didn't do this for Jaeger, you did this for yourself. You're just using him as a shield to justify your actions."

"You think I don't love Eren?" It was Mikasa's turn to turn livid.

"Your so-called love is an obsession at best. Everyone would be better off if you forgot about him. It's not like he returns your feelings."

Mikasa launched herself at Levi, but he was prepared for her. In one swift motion he dodged her punch and vaulted over his desk. He grabbed her wrists, stamped on her bent knee to pre-empt a kick, then rammed her roughly into the wall, pinning her arms above her head. She writhed against him, and in that moment he became uncomfortably aware of how closely their bodies were pressed together. He could see the contours of her delicately parted lips, admire her beautiful neck – how exposed she looked without her scarf – and feel the slow rise and fall of her supple breast, which he had so basely grabbed the day before. Suddenly, he felt Mikasa sag against him. Her jet-black, shoulder-length hair tickled his shoulder.

"You're right – I shouldn't have written that. But I could never forget about him. Never," she whispered, her voice breaking.

Something tugged at his heartstrings.

"What I meant, Ackerman, is that you need someone who looks out for you too," he murmured. "I don't know much about love, but what I do know is that you need to receive at least as much as you give."

Levi had always imagined Mikasa's feelings as a dial that flipped unerringly between the binary states of zero emotion and terror-inducing rage. Therefore, he was taken by complete surprise when he met her steel grey eyes and found a strange emotion shifting within their depths – Hurt? Sorrow? – followed by a quick shadow and the ghost of a kiss on his lips. He registered the slight tremble of her lower lip at her quiet sigh, a subtle acknowledgement of her wrongdoing. Then she suddenly pulled away, leaving him with the lingering taste of honey, a look of hesitant expectancy in her eyes. His vision blurred; he felt all conscious emotion and thought drain from his body, and suddenly it was just fluid, blissful movement and burning heat. What a strange sensation. What would it feel like if…

He kissed her back, his hands moving down her curves to rest firmly on her hips. As he deepened the kiss, he felt her slender yet strong arms hook around his neck. Like the sturdy willow tree that still bends to the wilful wind, so she was, this strong, stubborn woman, making herself vulnerable in his arms. His desire grew.

He broke away and trailed kisses down her neck, enjoying her small moans. He took one of her hands in his and moved it gently down his chest, encouraging her to explore his body. He shivered as her shy fingers traced lightly over the toned muscles of his arms and back, reaching lower to brush over his buttocks and his thighs. He released her from the wall and led her, kissing and fumbling, to the floor. His whole body was on fire; he couldn't hold out for much longer. He broke away from her momentarily to gaze into her eyes, questioning silently.

Do you want me?

He felt her urgency, matched it with his own, and together they succumbed to their passion.

An undefined length of time passed in a flurry of frenzied, lustful forays, broken only by heavy breaths and soft sighs. Eventually, as they melted into each other with the mind-shattering completion of another satisfying interaction, Levi registered hazily that the sky outside had turned dark. He slowly grew conscious of the cold, hard, floor beneath him and of his growing hunger, and ruefully realised that they could not stay on his office floor forever. Plus, he still wanted answers. He waited for a moment, then spoke.

"Why the newspaper?"

Mikasa lowered her chin the way she would burrow into her scarf when she was embarrassed. "I know how you hate people digging into your life and thought that would be an appropriate way to take revenge."

"Because you were thinking about how Eren's life became public knowledge after we learned about his titan form."

Mikasa nodded mutely.

"Your writing was shit, but it seems to have worked on at least half of the population. The press team will need to take lessons from you," he joked dryly, but she didn't laugh. "How does Kirstein fit into this?"

"He was annoying me. I told him I would go out with him if he could outrun me on horseback in a four-hundred-meter race."

"Stupid." Levi remarked.

"He lost, so I had him deliver the articles for me – "

"Stupid and honourable," he sighed.

" – though he refused to meet with the Trost Tribute when they contacted him."

"And you went instead?" Levi stole a sidelong glance at Mikasa.

That burrowing action again. "I wanted the articles published."

Her voice sounded off. Levi wanted to press further, but she looked uncertain. Perhaps she, too, didn't know why she had gone to meet him. Suddenly, his grumbling stomach reminded him of the time. Untangling himself from the arms of the woman next to him, Levi started to dress. Mikasa dressed as well but dawdled awkwardly as he pulled his things together.

"What?"

"I want my scarf back. Please."

Levi gave her a long look. Then he opened his desk drawer and handed the scarf to her. She took it awkwardly.

"Don't think I've forgiven you yet."

Mikasa looked away.

"I should be dismissed for this." Shame permeated her voice.

Normally, she would have been. However, the Scouts division had suffered severe losses in the past month, and they could not afford to lose the woman worth one hundred men. "Don't be too hard on yourself," he said lamely.

"I've cared for Eren for a long time. He's always been by my side, but somehow, he's always looking past me, never at me. I thought that the only way to make him see me was to become strong so I could protect him from everything."

Levi crossed his arms and turned away to hide his discomfort at her admission. He wasn't used to dealing with others' feelings. "Sometimes people only see what they want to see. If they don't see you, you can either try harder, or you can accept that and let go."

"I've tried so hard." She whispered bitterly.

"Then stop forcing it. You're persistent, but you also need to learn that sometimes it's better to move on. Jaeger is a grown man, he can look after himself."

"Anyway, it doesn't excuse what I've done to you. I…" she was blushing but forced herself to look him in the eye. "I'm sorry, heichou."

Levi put a hand on her shoulder and gave it a comforting squeeze. The stables would wait another time. "Apology accepted…though there is one more thing you can do to make amends."

"What is that?"

"I'll tell you later," he checked the clock. "Go clean yourself up, then meet me by the gates. We'll eat in town."

"Is dinner on you?"

"Don't push it, brat."

Levi watched a small smile grace Mikasa's lips as he held the door for her. As they left, he noticed that she still held her scarf in one hand.

A/N: Thank you for reading and for all the support so far, we've hit over 150 unique viewers (squee!), and it means a lot to me to see your interest and engagement! I also really enjoy getting non-English reviews and running them through google translate. It's like unwrapping presents on Christmas day. :D

I've learned a lot after just writing and publishing these chapters, e.g. as my first fic in many years, I now remember the importance of declaring a pairing to increase visibility. *waggles eyebrows* I've also identified some very minor plot inconsistencies and errors in previous chapters, so from now on I'll post one chapter a day and work on smoothing out the inconsistencies/details of previous chapters. Sorry it's tedious, but I'm a fussy and detail-oriented person and some of these things escape me until I've posted. Thanks again for reading, please fav, follow, or review and let me know your thoughts!