A/N- Also took out some small details in the last chapter (moon + star). Because I took such a long break I honestly forgot what that was about.. *sweatdrop fail* Also THANK YOU FOR STICKING WITH ME I LOVE YOU ALL VERY VERY MUCH!

One more little note: if there are any horrendous mistakes I apologize. I am unbearably excited to finally release a new chapter, and didn't really proof read. If anybody wants to be a beta/editor pm me? Off to die under a pile of homework.. D:

"Wake-up," a semi-annoyed voice spoke near her ear.

"What?" Mikasa blinked rapidly, attempting to get rid of any sleepiness left in her eyes.

"My shoulder hurts," Levi replied. "You fell asleep while waiting for the results."

Mikasa abruptly sat up, realizing she was, in fact, leaning on her asshole of a captain's shoulder.

"Ow," Levi gasped as her head knocked the side of his chin. "Calm yourself."

"Sorry." Mikasa tightened her maroon scarf around her neck. "Where are the results?"

"Here," he shoved a few papers under her nose. "You passed, although one stupid asshole thought you shouldn't."

"Really?" she raised her eyebrow. As she scanned the paper she saw tha one of the judge's comments were overwhelming negative, ending with statement that declined her advancement. Luckily for her, the other two judges had given her praises.

"Ha, this judge is funny," Levi smirked, "he says 'Your triple axel-quad toe is far above your level, a move only the most talented of skaters should try'. He clearly doesn't know how well you skate."

"Thanks," she smiled lightly at his comments, feeling happy and carefree.

But just a few meters away stood Annie, feeling definitely unhappy and tense.

"Don't call me, 'my Annie'," she spat to the platinum man.

"Isn't it right though? I'm such an important part of your life."

"Hardly," she replied. "Just because you shagged my mom doesn't mean shit."

"Hey now," his gaze darkened, his eyes dark unlike her blue ones. "Remember why you're here. Okay, my Annie?"

"Fuck you."

"No, watch your mouth my Annie. I've told you it's not attractive countless times."

"I don't give a single shit," emphasized her foul language, "about being attractive.

:-:-:-:-:-:-:

When Levi woke up the next morning, his shoulder still hurt. And he did not hesitate to share.

"Mikasa I'm positive you fucking hurt my shoulder."

"Boo hoo," Mikasa deadpanned. "Concentrate, our advancement trials are on Monday. We're only a few days away."

"Ugh, turn on the music then," he said, skating away from her to take his place.

As the violins started, he spun effortlessly before skating behind her to hold her shoulders. She responded, swaying to the movements in perfect synchronization.

As she twirled, barely fitting under his arm, he caught a whiff of her perfume.

And once again, his thoughts completely stilled. It was a different scent from before, this time a brisk mixture of lemons and grapefruit, borderline smelling like cleaning supplies. However, the smell was saved by soft middle notes of vanilla and a muted musk.

Unfortunately for both of them, his slight delay in action caused her skate to lock into his as she attempted to preform their next element. The metal clanked against each other and Levi found himself face down on the cold ice.

"God dammit," Mikasa groaned, her legs trapped under his. "Just when I thought we we're starting to get along you go and be idiotic again."

"Everybody makes mistakes," he huffed, pushing her legs off his to extract himself from the surface of the ice. "Just concentrate, our trials our tomorrow." He nearly rolled his eyes at himself, his hypocrisy making him both amused and guilty.

"Oi," Reiner called, causing both of their heads to snap over. Neither had realized his quiet entrance, an impressive feat for a man as large and heavy as he was. "Why're you both face down on the ice?"

"We're getting up now," she scoffed.

"Well practice starts now. How long have you two been here? I thought six in the morning was an early start, but here you two are."

"We both came thirty minutes early to practice," Levi replied. "Where's Erwin?"

"Coach Erwin," his voice called, carrying an almost strident tone as he barged through the doors. "Sorry I'm late, but you will address me as Coach Erwin."

"Yeah, sure," Levi said, his delinquent attitude flaring up.

Practice passed rather uneventfully, although the tension in the air was evident. It was almost as if a string was being pulled taut, and all of them were waiting for it to snap, or for somebody to reach out with a pair of scissors and sever it themselves.

Although Mikasa was sure the majority of this apprehension stemmed from the trials approaching, she couldn't help but feel unnerved each time Annie's eyes swept of her actions.

As class concluded, Levi called Mikasa over. "We have an hour and a half until classes. I'll make breakfast in the rink's kitchen and then we can run our routine one more time?"

"Are you attempting to bribe me with food?" she asked, slightly amused. "If you make me my green smoothie, then yes."

"Hell no," he scoffed at her fastidious nature. "I'm making eggs, sausage, and fruit. You know, normal food for skaters to eat. Not your green vomit shit."

"Fuck off," she rolled her eyes. "Why don't you just make me both?"

"Fine, how do you want your eggs?"

"Sunny-side up."

"Unlike your personality," he teased.

She felt slight anger flare to the surface, but instead smirked back at him. "Shut up asshole, I'll help you in the kitchen."

"Seriously?" Levi asked in shock, moving to walk towards the kitchen.

"Yeah, what's so surprising?"

"Nothing, nothing," he muttered, pushing the doors to the kitchen open. He opened the fridge, grabbing the eggs, sausage, and various fruits and vegetables, throwing them onto the counter.

Mikasa watched, leaning against the table and definitely not admiring him. Not at all appreciating how his body began with broad shoulders and narrowed down to thin, muscular hips. Or when he tried to reach the top shelf, his shirt raised up, exposing dimples on his back.

"Mikasa...Mikasa," his call jarred her out of her thoughts. "A little help," he scowled.

"Ha, still can't reach the blender, chibi?" she asked, approaching him. Her head easily saw over his, and she moved her body closer, barely touching his as she reached over his head to grab it.

Levi stood rigid, hyper aware of the slight brush of fabric, her scent, and the slender fingers accidentally running over his. He chewed his lip nervously, feeling himself become ridiculously embarrassed by this situation.

And apparently, Mikasa realized too, clearing her throat with a guttural noise and hastily stepping away to avoid worsening her gaffe.

"Here," she shoved it at him.

"Thanks."

They continued in silence, the sizzling of the pan the only noise breaking the silence.

It left Levi internally groaning. How could their relationship be so incomprehensible? Half of the time he wanted to murder Mikasa, and the other half all he wanted to do was watch her skate hour upon hour. He needed some conclusion before he slowly drove himself crazy attempting to make sense of their love-hate dynamics.

"You're burning the sausage," her montone voice called from where she was sitting at the table. "I thought Captain Levi was good at everything, especially simple tasks."

"Shut the fuck up brat," he rolled his eyes, throwing a steaming, slightly charred sausage onto her plate.

"I don't want it," she said. "I'll eat the egg and smoothie."

"Picky," he countered, sliding it onto his plate. "Sorry princess."

"Don't call me that."

"I'm sorry, are you my senior?"

"In skating, yes," she joked back, earning her a rough kick to the side of her chair.

"Watch your edge brat," he said as he sat next to her, haphazardly placing the egg on her plate. "And your gourmet fucking vomit," he placed the glass of kale, carrots, and fruit mixed up.

"Thanks," she bit at him before settling into a comfortable silence.

It was almost a hospitable feeling for Mikasa as she grew accustomed to seeing Levi's scowling face next to her. He gave his shoulder occasional rolls, signaling his muscle was still tense from her head's weight.

"Did you do any exercise before you came to my trials?" she inquired, feeling slightly guilty about his back.

"Skated a bit with you, remember?"

"Oh," she nodded. "And how did you sleep on it?"

"On my back."

"Is there anything I can do?"

"Unless you want to become my personal masseuse, nothing fucking much," he joked.

"Okay," she said, chugging the last of her smoothie to stand behind him.

"I was joking," Levi said quickly, slight bewildered as her pale hands touched his shirt, pushing in slow circles that not only relived the tension in his shoulder, but also pain from his overworked muscles.

He was constantly amazed at her duality. On one hand, she was aware and mature, always sensing social cues and handling herself with grace. Yet, he noted that she was occasionally naive and innocent. And this was one of those times. She seemed altruistic under her facade of hating him, offering a back massage in response to Levi's joke. It genuinely pleased Levi, but he couldn't help but feeling uncomfortable at the unexpected development. She had been increasingly touchy with him, something not unusual for pair skaters to be with their partners, but to him it was a miraculous event.

He admitted he was often abrasive, his words spitting from his mouth before he could stop them. It was natural her coldness and his brashness would collide unfavorably, but it seemed to him that they were overcoming their exterior personalities.

He would be lying if he said he didn't hate her. But he would also be lying if he said he didn't like her.

He craned his neck to let Mikasa reach for a particularly tough knot as the door swung open.

"Getting along?" Erwin raised a single eyebrows. "What a pleasant sight."

"Hardly," Levi replied with noticeably less feeling behind his words.

"I left my duffel somewhere in here," Erwin explained his sudden arrival. "Class starts in an hour, so don't be late."

"Yes sir," Mikasa nodded. She felt her face match the color of her scarf, which was to her, an unknown reason.

As the door closed Mikasa silently left Levi's back to wash the pans in the sink.

:-:-:-:-:-:-:

"Guess who's back," Annie said as she glowered silently, sitting in Bertholdt's and Reiner's room.

"Who?" they asked in unison, wondering who was able to successfully turn Annie's permanent slight frown into a scowl.

"Jackson and his stupid 'my Annie'" she huffed, shifting on Reiner's bed again. After seeing Mikasa stay with Levi after class, Annie assumed it would be easy to slip into Bert and Reiner's dorm without questioning from Mikasa.

"Huh," Reiner rubbed his jaw, readjusting himself on the foot of the bed Annie lounged on. "Why?"

"How the hell would I know?" she sent him a pointed look. "But he failed Mikasa on her advancement test, which screams far too obvious too me."

"He's an expert," Reiner countered. "He's run so many people out of this industry, he knows what to do."

Annie rolled her eyes. She was positive his "expertise" did not become infallibility. "Well now Mikasa thinks of him as the crazy platinum judge who failed her. Shouldn't he be trying to keep a lower cover?"

"Calm yourself," he persisted. "I think you're overreacting because it's your father."

"Don't call him my father!" she snapped. "I will wring you by your fucking neck."

"Annie," Bertholdt whispered from the bed across the room.

She blinked once. Twice. Slowly gulping until her usual callous nature returned.

"Forget it," she spoke carefully. "We'll just let Jackson run amuck."

"Well," Reiner said. "We can't tell the boss what to do."

A/N - YAY! I hope you all enjoyed! Sorry for such the long wait and THANK YOU AGAIN for sticking with me.

Just wondering ~ what do you think of their relationship dynamics? I am purposely making them super unstable and confusing, but is it working? Also, what do you think of Levi falling for her first? That's what I'm planning on but I'm not one hundred percent sure I'm going to do that, so if anybody feels strongly let me know!

~ emmalia-chan