"[l/n], [f/n]... Awfully young to be a commanding officer, aren't you?" Levi finally started the conversation after a nerve wrecking moment of silence.

"What?" He really caught you off guard by the question, but you quickly managed to put your act back together. "I guess I'll take it as a compliment; I need to hurry up if I want to become a captain at your age, though."

"Touché" Levi smirked. "Didn't mean it as an insult. I'm just curious... You have quite an exceptional military career, that's all."

"Exceptional, huh..? And what do you know about my career?" You gave him an unimpressed look. If he had something to say, he should just spit it out.

"Let's see… You graduated from the 99th training corps in 845, easily joining to military police as the best of your class. You fought in the colossal titan attack during that very same year, and then after 5 years of steadily climbing the ranks you fought in Trost where you were promoted to commanding officer right there in the field."

"You looked me up? That's not creepy at all…" It was really starting get difficult to keep your cool act together. He had obviously read your file, but why go through all that trouble in the first place? "But yeah, it's pretty handy when almost half of your superiors drop dead at the same time―" You stated sarcastically. "You'll just fly through the ranks because you happen to be the best of the worst. But enough about that, I doubt that you brought me all the way here just to discuss about my career?"

"I didn't." Taking a hint that you were less than interested about the topic, Levi straightened his posture as he headed over to a tree not far from you. You hadn't noticed it before, but now you could see there was something hidden behind it. "According to your file, what ensured your place as a number one of 99th trainee corps were your 3dmg skills―"

"Are those..?" You peeked over his shoulder to see better when Levi revealed the hidden items under the burlap.

"I was thinking we could find out how much your skills have rusted during these past years you've been busy collecting taxes and arresting local drunkards." He glanced at you over his shoulder, a vicious smirk on his face.

"Are you serious?" You gasped― Sure enough, what you had in front of you was a pair of 3dmgs, one for you and one for him.

"How does it look like? What, are you scared?" Levi, who was already attaching the 3dmg to his harness, gave you another mischievous look.

"Me? Never." No, not necessarily scared, but pretty damn nervous! It had been too long since you had a chance to practice with 3dmg, so your skills definitely weren't as sharp as they used to. Back in training corps you were confident― even somewhat cocky― when it came to your skills in the air, but you weren't feeling so sure anymore. "Captain Levi is from a bit different league, to say at least! Not like I have to prove anything to him, but that did sound like a challenge..!" Mustering all your strength to keep your hands from shaking, you grabbed the scabbards and began to gear up as well. "Why I'm this nervous, anyways? What does it matter what he thinks about me?" You secretly scowled at him. "I'm just another good-for-nothing, lazy ass military police piece of-"

"Ready?"

"Hm? Oh, yes." You quickly put on a straight face after you realized that you were still glaring at him with a sour look when he glanced to your direction. "You sure know how to show girl a good time― First an interrogation and now a pressure test." You said as you straightened your back, all ready to go.

"I… Uh…" Levi looked somewhat flustered by your words, unable to come up with a response― It was difficult not to smirk to the fact how easily you had destroyed his almost condescending act.

"Hey― I was just kidding." Unable to hide your amusement any longer, you gave him a mischievous grin accompanied by a wink before dashing up into the air. If only judging by the very first few minutes, you had to admit that your performance was anything else but convincing; Even with a headstart, it took no time for Levi to catch up with you. You made some real rookie mistakes due to your nervousness, but after a while you started to feel more and more confident. Unlike you had expected, Levi didn't comment on your futile start, but instead gave you constructive criticism when you needed it most. He had been right about one thing, though; It didn't took too many rounds around the forest when you already felt a need to land on a tree branch to catch your breath.

"You're getting a hang of it― I'm almost impressed." He smirked as he landed next to you on the branch.

"Almost impressed?" You grinned, swiping sweat from your forehead. "Thanks, I guess… But I admit that I really am out of shape..! It's funny how quickly you forget how intense working with 3dmg is; I can only imagine how stuck my back will be tomorrow morning!"

"True." Levi smiled shortly, still staring into the darkness of the forest. "But, you know…" Turning his attention to you, he took a step closer, gesturing you to turn your back at him. "If I may..?" After you had hesitatingly obeyed, he carefully placed his hand onto your shoulder and other behind your lower back, gently tilting your body posture backwards. "It's alright, just lean against my hand― I'm not going to let you fall." He assured as he felt your body tense, shifting his hand from your shoulder down to your waist to correct your posture even more. "There; Leaning backwards like this should take some pressure off from the back, but it requires quite a bit of practise to hold up the posture up in the air as well. It may feel a bit unstable at first, but..." You tried to listen, but his words merged into unreadable babbling; All you could think of was his hand on your hips and that soft breath on your neck. Every passing second made you more and more aware of the deadly fall below you― Although you weren't going to admit it to yourself, the dangerous part of the situation just made it all feel even more intense. "...Got it?"

"Y-yeah..!" You stuttered as you snapped back to the reality, nodding confidently although you didn't hear even half of what he just had explained to you.

"Good. We should still have time to-" Levi was about to suggest trying the new technique in practise, but a voice calling out for him from the edge of the forest made both of you jump. "Damn it…" Levi cursed under his breath, glancing down into the darkness. "Looks like I have to go."

"...It's fine…" You managed to whimper― When both of you were startled, Levi had instinctively wrapped his arm around your waist to ensure you wouldn't lose your balance, pulling you so close to him that his chest was now pressed against your back.

"I trust you can find your way back?" He asked, finally releasing his grasp. "Too bad we had to cut this short."

"It's alright, really." You spun around to give him as reassuring smile as possible, trying your best to hide the fact that your legs felt like jello. "I'll be fine."

You watched him effortlessly swing himself down to the forest floor, disappearing into the darkness of the night after glancing up to your direction one last time. As you waited a couple of minutes that he and whoever was down there with him would leave, you couldn't help but to ponder the events of this very unusual evening― Why he went through all the trouble to set up something like this? Not mentioning how many rules he must've broke: 3dmg usage outside the combat situations was strictly controlled, meaning that not just anyone could march to the armory and snatch a gear set when they pleased. "Yeah, he wanted to make up for the alcohol fumed first impression he gave of himself, but isn't this bit too much..?" You thought to yourself as you swung yourself down as well. "Returning the tax list and an apology alone had been more than enough― Not that I'm complaining..!" Something about the whole situation kept nagging you, no matter how many times you told yourself to let it go while you took off the gear and left it back to the same spot Levi had originally hid them. "He didn't say anything like it, but this whole thing felt almost like… a date?"