Blindsided PART I
Uma's POV:
The next morning, I was woken up out of a dreamless sleep by Levi, who practically threw my door open.
"Wake up, we're cleaning HQ today." He said, his tone dispassionate as he tossed a headscarf and dust cloth on my bed.
"W-what?" I groaned into my pillow, still half in a sleepy daze. "Do we get breakfast first?" I asked… more like complained. I was too tired to conceal my annoyance. Luckily, Levi didn't seem to hold it against me.
"Of course," he replied, looking at me as if that were already a given.
He made to leave causing me to relax a bit, but then turned back at the last second, making my heavy eyes snap open once more. "Don't go back to sleep." He sternly warned before closing the door behind him.
"Wouldn't dream of it," I muttered sarcastically into my pillow. If this was what he meant by telling me 'the real work starts tomorrow', I wasn't having any of it. Contrary to what Levi thought, chores were the last thing we needed to be doing. Not to mention, allowing me an extra hour of sleep wouldn't have killed the bastard. It was in fact leave time.
Rolling out of bed, I grabbed a clean shirt from my dresser and began to put it on. Reaching the third button, I briefly eyed the large V-shaped scar over my heart in the mirror before continuing. Donning my uniform pants and boots, I headed into the mess hall to scrounge up some breakfast.
"Is there any coffee?" I asked upon entering the room.
Levi fixed me with his signature dull glare as I slowly made my way to the table. It would have put me on edge if I hadn't of been so desperate for something to wake me up.
"I made tea." He said, placing a pot on the table beside me.
Unused to drinking tea, I looked down at it hesitantly. I wondered if it was going to taste bitter like I remembered from my childhood.
"Tch, you look like you're going to puke." Scoffed Levi dryly.
"Sorry," I muttered quickly, pouring a little bit into a cup. Bringing it to my lips, I tried a sip. I could feel my eyebrows shoot up into my bangs as I immediately took another. The taste was pleasantly smooth and the aroma sweet. It was nothing like the tea I've ever had before, which tasted like tree bark in hot water.
"This is good..." I said, half amazed, before immediately grabbing up the pot like a man dying of thirst and pouring myself a full cup.
"Don't be greedy." Levi scolded me before sitting down in his chair.
Being chided on my manners by Levi? That certainly was a new one. However, I had to admit, my behavior was a bit unbecoming. It was just the two of us after all. Certainly not a mess hall crammed full of starving soldiers like it usually was. I couldn't remember the last time I ate with someone just one-on-one. I supposed I should enjoy it.
Watching as I warmed my hands with the cup, Levi pushed a little craft of milk towards me.
"It tastes better with this," he muttered, his gray eyes trained on the table.
I felt a slight knotting in my stomach as I nodded and poured some of the milk in my tea like he suggested. Silently, I took another sip and found he had been right. The tea was now as sweet to drink as it was to smell.
"Did you make this?" I asked, hoping my question didn't offend him. However, I wanted to break the uncomfortable silence hanging between us.
"You don't see anyone else here do you?" Came his blunt reply.
A simple yes or no would have sufficed.
"It's good, thank you." I told him, offering him a hint of a smile.
There was a flash surprise in his shadowed eyes and it made me immediately tear my gaze away from him in embarrassment. Was my attempt at politeness that shocking? Out of the two of us, I wasn't exactly the crude one. I had to admit I was somewhat insulted by his reaction. Levi really had a way of making someone feel like an idiot.
I suppose it might have been the first time I ever smiled at him, though. In fact, I knew it was. That could have merited the look he had given me. Now self-conscious, I shuffled the plates and reached into the basket in the middle of the table and pulled out a bread roll, which I proceeded to pick at. We sat in silence for a bit before Levi finally spoke.
"Why did you join the military?" He asked, his question seemingly out of the blue. Though it had the potential to be insulting, the way he asked wasn't. He actually seemed like he wanted to know.
Looking down into my tea, I stared hard into the pale, murky liquid. I wasn't about to spout off some bullshit about wanting to save humanity, but the truth was just so embarrassingly ugly that I didn't want to tell him about that either. Finally, I just shrugged my shoulders.
"It was somewhere to go." I told him, slowly turning my cup in my hands. It wasn't the most elaborate of answers but it wasn't a lie either. "What about you?" I asked, wanting the attention off of me.
Levi sighed, leaning back in his chair and crossing his legs. He almost looked bored. "I was forced into it, and after I paid off my debt, I stayed." He answered simply. I could have pressed him further, but I didn't want to invite the opportunity for him to do the same to me.
"You must like it though," I told him, slipping a piece of bread into my mouth. "I can't imagine anyone making you do something you don't want to."
"Tch, I was just thinking the same thing about you." He replied, actually meeting my gaze.
I smiled then, a truly genuine smile.
"Damn right."
It may not have seemed like it, but what Levi said, he meant it as a compliment. We finished our breakfast, for the most part, in silence before he gave me a list of chores to complete by the afternoon. Even with all his ridiculous criticisms on my cleaning, it turned out to be not such a terrible day.
AN: REVIEW FAVOR FOLLOW! A huge thank you to everyone who has been enjoying my story so far. I'm really excited for the part II of this chapter- it's where the main intrigue begins. I hope you all enjoyed this moment between Levi and Uma. I tried to show off Levi's more socially awkward side. It's cute (not to mention slightly uncomfortable) when he tries to be genuine to someone and I wanted to show him starting to make that attempt for Uma.