Chapter 44: Love Isn't Brains

"I hate you!" Nora snarled when Levi had her immobilised for—if his count was correct—the fourth time during this sparring session.

Damn, but he was enjoying this far too much; his girlfriend like a feral animal in his hold, shouting abuse at him. Now that was his idea of a fun afternoon. From behind, he had his arms around her, locking hers—crossed over her chest—in place like a vice, his hands gripping her wrists.

It was a shame he couldn't see her face now. The times before, he had either wrestled her to the ground or sent her there ass-first, and damn had he seen. Her delicious fury just a little too wide-eyed, chest heaving just a little too much, face just a little too flushed. All of it suggesting her agitation had more than one source. And if he was maybe partly at fault because he kept touching her just a little longer than strictly necessary, in places not strictly necessary, then too bad.

Shit, had he missed training.

"If you had dodged instead of trying to throw a punch when it's that easy for me to grab you, this wouldn't have happened, brat," he said calmly, his cheek a mere inch from hers. "How often have I already told you?"

"That manoeuvre would have worked with everyone else!" she spat. "You're just freakishly fast."

"Just listen to what I say, for once, and you might not end up like this quite as often."

In her anger, she redoubled her efforts to break free, throwing her head back, trying to tear her arms free, kicking at his shin. With how he had positioned them, she had no real chance of hitting him—but her flailing was annoying, and he wouldn't just let her misconduct sit. This was work, after all. How else was she supposed to learn? He reinforced his hold on her, pressing her tighter against him, clutching her wrists even harder.

"Ow!" And still, the nutcase kept fighting back.

"Stop struggling, and I won't have to use as much force."

"You could just let me go!" she damn near screeched. Even so, despite her efforts to break free, she leaned into him a bit in answer to his tightened grip, as if on instinct, maximising their contact. Levi didn't know if she noticed. He sure did. And if he didn't pull his mind out of the gutter quick, they'd have a situation here, something she was bound to notice, with her ass flush against his—

No. He was the one in control here.

"I like to wait until I'm sure you won't try to claw my eyes out, first thing." He was playing with fire, but he couldn't resist any longer; he brought his mouth close to her ear, so close his lips grazed her earlobe when he murmured, "But you're still so… worked up."

Nora tensed in his arms, all of a sudden motionless. "Obviously, when you are—" She broke off, still panting.

"That's more like it," he praised, his voice very low. He let go of her all at once, taking a generous step back.

When she turned around, she looked like someone had just emptied a bucket of water over her head. It lasted only a few seconds before her expression went back to pissed. "If I could land only a single, proper blow on you. Only once," Nora said, diving her fingers in the hair at her temples in her frustration, where it was already coming loose from its braid. "Y'know, a little nosebleed, or maybe the hint of a black eye… That would be so nice. I'd even settle for a good punch below the belt." She gave him a sweet, dreamy smile that should not have the effect it had on him, considering its cause.

"Little psycho." Not that her wish would ever come true. But, looking at her, he found himself saying, "If it helps: you're decently fast and you've got some dirty tricks up your sleeves."

Her brows drew into a mulish frown. "Yeah, 'cause I learnt all that from you."

Typical. He huffed. "Just take the compliment, for once. You're not the only one who's been trained by me. You've always been crafty."

"Fine," she mumbled, directing her gaze at the grass next to Levi's feet. Grimacing, she suggested, "Another round?"

As much fun as it would be… "No, that's enough for today," he said, not only talking about her. "I'm more in the mood for a quick tea break." His voice had dropped with the last sentence. Somehow, he'd accidentally made tea sound dirty. And there was absolutely zero reason for tea to sound dirty. Especially not when said tea was consumed outside their quarters.

Nora blinked at him, lips parted, eyes glazed. Not helpful; it gave him so many more ideas than he already had. Each even better than the last, none of them advisable at the moment. Seemed he wasn't that unimaginative, after all.

"Y-yes, right," she stammered then, squeezing her eyes shut for a moment. "Tea, mess hall. That's better."

Sometimes, it was hard to wrap his head around what he was capable of doing to her. That he was able to return the favour. He would never get sick of it.

She strode off, her pace faster than reasonable.

No matter. He'd catch up.

###

At this time in the afternoon, an hour or two before most of their comrades finished training, they usually found the mess hall deserted. Nora always cherished this occasional treat: leaning with Levi against the counter, the teapot between them, each holding their cup; she like a sane person, he not so much. (Admittedly, she would miss it if he suddenly stopped. That went for his quirks and habits in general, even those that annoyed her.)

Nora did her best to focus on the steaming brew in her hand. Otherwise, she might cherish this a bit too much today. Shit, that infuriating bastard. Always so close, with his feel—hard muscle, strong hands, hot and soft skin—and his scent, goading and befuddling her with his perfect baritone. It had got worse ever since the Mission—capital M, that was how she had started to think of it. It also didn't help that he'd started to take extra care not to trigger her regeneration, she had noticed. Less pain to distract her.

"It's very distracting, by the way," Levi said all of a sudden, voice low, as if plucking the word from her mind. She looked over to find he had abandoned his tea. Eyes sharp, he took hers from her suddenly slack fingers and put it down on the counter, as well. "What the training does to you. What it did to you, today." He stepped in front of her, close, too close. Again. Heartbeat accelerating, Nora tried to back away when there was no more space, to begin with. The edge of the counter pressed into the small of her back.

Of course, it was obvious; only thinking of earlier had been enough for the excitement to keep simmering deep beneath her skin. She had more or less admitted it to him, once. They both kind of had. Yet here he was, perfectly composed, talking only about her, cornering her, exposing her. She couldn't let that sit.

"So you're telling me I'm alone in this, then?" she whispered.

There was the hint of a look in his eyes when they sparred—so dangerously similar to the one now—but he was always so subtle, so controlled. She felt it, though. Like his accelerated breath, warm and bittersweet against her skin. Something that couldn't be explained by physical exertion, not from a meagre sparring session that was demanding so ridiculously little from him it didn't even begin to test his stamina.

"You kidding?" His voice was a deep rumble as he stepped into her space, his thigh somehow ending up between hers. She had nowhere to go, no way of escape. "When I've got you pinned down, utterly at my mercy, and I see that you like it… How it frustrates you." He pressed his thigh against her crotch, trailing his fingertips down her front; from her collarbone, over her breast, to her hip. It was fleeting and dampened by the protective layer her clothing provided, yet sparks crackled on Nora's skin, tightening something low in her belly.

Fuck, he was so, so right, and she hated it almost as much as she loved it. Being with him was the one time she didn't always need to be in control, could safely give it up and let go of everything except him. Always having to fight for control, to think, to keep it together, was so bloody exhausting.

But the effect he had on her left her vulnerable if she wanted or not, whenever and wherever, hence exacerbating today's frustration. She could hardly talk about giving up control when she barely had it in the first place.

"This is really not the right time to discuss this," Nora muttered, squirming against his thigh, trying to escape where there was no escape; she only made it worse. Shit, the friction, the heat seeping through their clothes. "In fact, we needn't discuss this at all."

Levi's hand roamed her side, unhurried, and found her arse, squeezing lightly. He was watching her intently with eyes like polished steel. "Tell me you aren't wet already."

That made it worse, too. A hot ache had settled between her legs, her heart drumming against her ribcage. She wasn't a liar, so she said nothing. Stop being so blunt—so you, she wanted and did not want to say instead.

"I can see it in your face. It's hot as hell," he rasped.

Before she knew what was happening, his thigh retreated, and he had her black trousers zipped open.

Nora was paralysed like prey in the face of its predator. "You shouldn't—"

Heedless of her half-arsed protest, he slipped his hand inside her clothes—inside her knickers.

"Shit," she hissed when his fingers glided along her folds, one dipping inside her. The bolt of lust shooting to each and every nerve ending was far more intense than it had any right to be. Especially in the fucking mess hall of the Survey Corps base, against a fucking counter.

"I knew it," he said hoarsely, more than satisfied with what he found. Leisurely, he pumped his finger inside her, his thumb circling her most sensitive spot. More heat exploded deep within, and she clenched around him, her hands clutching the edge of the counter so tightly it hurt.

She could barely talk anymore. Hell, she could barely think, other than that Levi was finger-fucking her basically in public. Her voice was high and breathless. "This really isn't—"

"Tell me to stop, and I'll stop." His mouth found her neck, nipping at the tender spot above her collar with his teeth. He kept stroking her, merciless. Curled his finger inside her, just so. Nora's limbs turned to jelly.

"Arsehole." Nora was almost moaning the word. "You're evil."

Levi gave a single dark chuckle—a close-lipped hm sound—that straight up made her want to come. "You knew what you were getting yourself into. I warned you often enough." He increased the pressure just the slightest bit.

She could no longer answer; aside from suddenly being unable to form sentences, her teeth dug into her lower lip—a desperate effort to keep quiet. If he kept this up, she wouldn't be able to. If he kept this up, this would be over in a minute, in fact. And it looked like he really had every intention of keeping this up.

"I wonder how quickly I can get you off," he murmured against the skin below her ear just then, almost achieving his goal right then—absolutely fucking keeping this up. "And later, once we're in our bedroom, I'm gonna—"

The door opened. They both froze, heads turning in unison towards the source of the interruption.

The members of the Special Ops Squad gaped at them. All four. Oh, shit.

A vivid image of their perspective crossed Nora's mind: Levi pinning her against the counter, his now unmoving hand shoved deep into her trousers.

She wanted to curl up and die. In fact, her insides already were. She wiped her palm over her flaming hot face.

"What is it?" The only emotion detectable in Levi's voice was mild vexation. "Can't you see we're in the middle of something?" He didn't even bother to remove his hand from its incriminating position.

"I, uh—we—" Sasha gave up on her stammered reply. At least she'd tried.

Jean was the first to recover. He cleared his throat, staring at a point above his superiors' heads. "Sorry to, uh, interrupt, but Hange asked for—"

"We'll be there in a few minutes," Levi cut him off, jerking his chin at the door.

Was he for real? Nora really hadn't thought it through when she'd got herself involved with him, had she?

"No, we'll be there right away," she said, a bit too loud. She took a step to the side, away from Levi's touch, fixing her trousers with unsteady hands.

"O-okay," Armin stuttered, his tone similar to hers. "I suppose we'll wait outside?" Despite it sounding like a question, the four of them fled without further hesitation.

The moment the door fell shut, Nora hissed, "Do you have no sense of shame whatsoever?"

Levi was propped against the counter like nothing had happened. If one neglected to look below his belt. "Why would I? It's a waste of time. And everyone knows we're banging, anyway."

"That doesn't mean they have to watch."

"The aim here sure as hell wasn't to get caught. Plus, we were fully clothed."

Pointing out that he'd been inside her, clothes or not, didn't seem helpful, so she just shook her head at him, glaring. "Well done, really. Now my underwear is soaked."

"I know," he said, slow and deliberate, voice gravelly. Just as slow and deliberate, he produced one of his white tissues from his pocket, and wiped his fingers, one by one, keeping his hot-steel-gaze fixed on her all throughout.

Impossibly, the situation in her underwear worsened. She bit the inside of her cheek, hard. "Bastard," she said, directing her glare to the floor.

#

They joined the squad in the corridor after an extra minute or two that Levi had needed. The others hopefully didn't ponder on the reason for the brief waiting period.

"I'm so sorry you had to see that," Nora said after clearing her throat twice, aiming for a practical tone.

"Us, too," Mikasa answered for all of them, stoic as ever.

No further comments were made on the subject as they walked the corridor. Nora had the suspicion they would have given her a harder time had Levi not been with them. Something like, "Seriously? The mess hall?" or, "Just how horny are you two?".

To both of which she would have known no other answer than "yes".

Out of nowhere, shortly before they reached Hange's office, Sasha spoke up, voice subdued. "Connie would have laughed his ass off, once the initial shock passed."

Pain shot through Nora's chest; pain that, at the same time, left behind a trace of warmth.

That was new. New, but not unwelcome.

"True," Jean said, his nonchalant tone belied by the slightest tremor in his voice. "I would have had to smack him upside the head."

A smile tugged at Nora's lips, painful but real. "He would never have let me live it down, that's for certain."

#

Neither the walk to the office nor the brief talk during helped for much longer than they lasted. Still sufficiently foggy-brained, Nora found herself in another meeting with Hange, Ayad, and her traumatised squad mates. Now what a fucking day; Levi's timing was sublime. She could barely believe what she had let him do—or rather, where.

On the other hand, she could. And she very much could feel it. Sitting still was a challenge of the same difficulty that landing a hit on Levi was.

Hange, fidgety as usual behind her desk, opened her mouth, took a closer look at the six of them, and paused, brows pinching, evidently changing her mind about what she was going to say. "What's up? Did you run here? Y'all are a bit red in the face—save for you, Levi. And what's with the weird looks?"

Seconds of uncomfortable silence passed. Nora inspected her fingernails.

"The brats interrupted our tea break," Levi said.

No further information was provided.

"Okay," Hange said after six additional seconds (Nora had counted). Her brow smoothed as she nodded at the scientist sitting at the short end of the desk—who was grinning, for some reason. "So, Hakim, tell us about your findings."

Whatever it was, they wouldn't learn a lot; either there wasn't much to be found, or Ayad had found something big and hid it from them. Nora had shared her assessment with Hange, who was decidedly more optimistic ("Think about the things he's told us already. Think about the trust we've built!"). Yet, the fact remained that he still refused to answer some of their questions. Above all, those that pertained to any part of his research other than the development of different titan serums, and even there, he was stingy with the information he provided.

It was impossible to tell when he knew a whole load of nothing and when he kept quiet because the contrary was the case. Ayad kept his cards close, and if he was ever bluffing, he did a bloody good job at it. As long as he was useful to them—or as long as he let them believe so—he would enjoy special treatment and get to do his research with brand-new, fancy equipment. Soon.

But who was she to judge; he might be feeding them crumbs, but he got crumbs in return. In times of hunger, crumbs were valuable.

In that vein—no pun intended—all the samples Ayad had received to date were of Levi's blood. They wanted to wait how that went, at the very least, before he got even a drop of Nora's. Using her, they wouldn't just give away shifter blood; after all, Ayad and almost everyone else didn't know she was a Rosenberg, however much that entailed. Who knew what Ayad might find? With the few outdated instruments currently at his disposal, he probably wouldn't be able to tell something was off, but they couldn't be certain.

If only they could afford the luxury to wait until they could entirely trust the people they volunteered important information to! Still, for all her optimism and recovered penchant for taking risks, Hange wasn't reckless. Usually. Compared to before she had become the commander, the risks she decided to take were well-calculated. Withholding Nora's blood at first had been her idea.

"I must disappoint," Ayad said. No surprise. "I am still waiting for better equipment. In accordance with his enhanced healing, Ackerman blood coagulates easily three times faster than regular blood, that's about all I could test out." He paused, taking in the faces of all present, who were—Hange and himself aside—standing in a half-circle for lack of enough seats. "It is another word for clotting."

Nora rolled her eyes at his condescending tone. "I know what coagulation is."

"Me, too!" Hange put her hand up with enough enthusiasm for an entire school class.

"I didn't." Levi shrugged with his arms folded in front of his chest. "And I don't see why we should care. It's not really anything new."

"Hakim told me something else, too, earlier," Hange said, unperturbed. "Did you know? Proprioception is supposed to be the sixth sense, including the unconscious awareness of body position, force, and movement, and seeing as these are preternaturally sharpened in Ackermans, we believe it's one of the crucial factors making them so—"

"Shut up, I got it. Mikasa and I are good at fighting. Again, nothing new." Behind him, Mikasa gave a nod.

Nora's lips quirked, and even though she felt a little sorry for Hange, she couldn't resist saying, "You know, simplified like that, he's not wrong." After all—for no specific reason—she'd rather not extend the duration of this meeting any more than necessary.

Before Hange could protest, Ayad interjected, "No, you are right. Keep up your end of the bargain, and I might be able to do more." No wonder he wasn't offended; his greed held a higher priority. Higher than his manners, at any rate. Probably realising that, his eyes widened a little. "I mean no disrespect, Hange; I know this takes a while, and neither of us can make promises. So, what is next, in the meantime?" And Ayad was back to business, searching Nora's gaze. "Do I get to examine your blood?"

"No." Levi's answer was immediate and definite.

Ayad's face fell. "You want to decipher the mystery that is Eldian biology, yet you deny me shifter blood. I cannot work miracles."

"Tell us how the powers came into existence and maybe we'll reconsider sometime soon," Nora said, all confident, as though she hadn't just made the first eligible demand that came to mind, and as though she had coordinated this with her two superiors beforehand. Not that she needed to; only Levi might have vetoed, and not entirely for professional reasons, she dared presume. In fact, she felt his glare bore through her temple. But even provided Ayad had the means to do anything with it, they couldn't deny him her blood forever; it was too vital for their research. Again, time and trust were luxuries.

He sighed indulgently like one would with a child that wouldn't stop nagging one with pointless questions. Anything else he likely wouldn't have answered for such a weak promise. "All we know is that your ancestor came into contact with something that altered—or added to—her genetic makeup."

So it truly wasn't just some elusive energy, it was something palpable—almost. Something that really, physically changed their biology, their genetic makeup. He had already explained genes to them, and since then, Nora had read that book he had recommended to her. Eye-opening stuff, she had to admit.

"And you don't know what exactly that is Ymir came in contact with?" asked Hange.

"We have theories." His tone made it clear that he wouldn't elaborate here. "But yes, we don't know what exactly, or where. Mainly, we try to investigate what makes your blood and spinal fluid so special, and how to get the most use out of it."

And eradicate all the Eldians that aren't needed for that purpose.

That much was painfully obvious ever since the basement, and nothing anyone present wanted to comment on. Even Hange contented herself with a nod.

"I suppose that's everything for now?" Nora said after the silence had stretched for what she considered long enough. Another nod from Hange, and she half-turned. "If you'll excuse me, I'll go take a shower—"

"Me too," Levi threw in, all indifference, and Nora gave her best to keep a straight face and ignore the clenching sensation reawakening her core.

"—but this was all very enlightening, thank you." She turned and went to the door a bit faster than she should, passing her squad mates, Levi on her heels. She didn't hear, but felt it, her nape prickling.

"Rude," Nora heard Ayad mutter just before Levi shut the door from the outside.

With that click, they made eye contact, and there was no room for pretence. She saw his throat bob as he swallowed. The next instant, his hand clasped her wrist.

It was fascinating how fast one could walk without actually running.

AN: I blueballed myself with this one. I don't know if it's just me, or if I'm being mean. I only know I had to do it.

(And the pun really wasn't intended. When I realised while editing, I naturally had to keep it.)