Corporal Levi and Commander Erwin
Summary: Commander Erwin finds his Corporal in the most unlikely places.
Certian scenes relates to the manga: namae no nai hana
Erwin x Levi
Present Time: Old recon corps headquarters that had been abandoned for years.
Behind the closed wooden door of the third floor, to the right of the empty hallway is the usual sound of a pen on parchment paper. The shut-in concrete office was dimly lit with a few lanterns propped along the walls with large candleholder centerpiece placed on the long wooden table that leads the symmetry of the room to look fairly organized. Bookshelves were aligned with parchments and various sized books in alphabetical order; everything seemed to be dusted and cleaned, except the piles of paperwork on the mahogany desk near the end of the office. Behind the stacks of paper is Commander Erwin Smith, leisurely filling data entries and strategic plans of next weeks mission. His face is stern and impassive yet shows compassion when needed, his jaw clenched tight as his lips and his blond hair was always neatly combed to the side.
"Do you shit were you work?" A sharp and abrasive tone cuts the Commander's attention.
"Theses papers aren't going to finish themselves. Corporal." The Commander dismisses the Corporals remark and kept his eyes glued on his task. "You wouldn't like pointless office work, check on the new recruits and see if they are well prepared."
"Four-eyes and Mike are with the recruits. I cam by to tell you take a break," the Corporal's grey eyes pierced at the Commander.
"That's a surprise, didn't know you cared," Erwin was perplexed and raised his head with full attention. " How would I take a break when all I know is work."
The Corporal scoffed and propped himself off the doorframe. The Corporal had a smaller built than the Commander as his was wide and broad compared to the slim figure and black undercut hair, parted in the middle. The Corporal's eyes were sharp and restless, but had a youthful appearance. He holds a constant frown yet calm and unflappable towards the people around him. As he walked towards the Commander with an unflattering look, he halted a few inches from the desk and cringed at the sight. Unconsciously arranging the parchments into a uniform stack, adjusting the quill pens into their slots, repositioning the candleholder two inches back and aligning the books to fit the corner of the desk. As the Corporal ravaged the piles of paper in chronological order, Erwin set aside his quill pen, crossed his fingers and leaned on his chair. Waiting patiently as the Corporal rearranged his desk to his own liking, Erwin felt a tug on the side of his lips as he watched with content. A minute flow by as the Corporal was frustrated with the filing, but Erwin's smile didn't falter as well as his eyes that were fixed on the pale fingers.
Erwin watched the pale fingers holding papers in-between each digits, organizing and reorganizing. His blue eyes lingered to the cleaned pressed white dress shirt that creased with every movement the Corporal made. Now the Commander absently stared at the white cravat swaying from side to side, till it was suddenly still.
"What?" The Corporal's hands were finished and fell flat to his side. His grey eyes were vacant as he rounded the desk to the right of Erwin. Erwin shifted the chair facing the Corporal, his face reached his shoulder and gave a quiet chuckle.
"Aside from the uniform, nothing has changed much, has it, Levi?" Erwin tilted his head and gazed at the cravat. "You look nicer with that on."
"And you look less like an idiot-," Levi raised his hands to part Erwin's dishelveled hair, but was interrupted by Hanji.
"Mike made some soup -," Hanji jumped back, "ah, did I come at a bad time?"
"No, we were discussing about the mission," Erwin was the first to break the tension and waved at Hanji to leave.
"I'll see ya downstairs then," Hanji left with a coy smile.
Erwin waited till Hanji was down the stairs and a let out a heavy sigh as the mood turned sour and Levi's hands were curled into a ball. Not much he can do, but to ignore the situation and got up with a dull ache in his back. Erwin parted his own hair and gave a look of approval from Levi. He didn't say anything but crossed his arms in irritation.
"We better eat before the recruits do," the Commander softly tugged Levi's cravat to come along; it didn't take much for Levi to respond as he was walking right beside him.
/
After dinner, everybody was asleep except for Erwin, who went back into his office. Lighting a new candle and placing it in a holder, Erwin reached inside the desk drawer for the leather-bound journal he kept through his youth. He closed the drawer and held it tightly to his side and contemplated for a while till he set the candle down and sat on his wooden chair. Flipping through the pages of old sketches of soldiers, nature, Titans and thoughts of his travels, something floated onto his lap – a wilted daisy.
Gingerly picking up the flower, Erwin robotically maneuvered his hand to place it next to the drawing of a young dark-haired boy. A distant smile crept on his face and traced the outline of the faint drawing with his fingers. Smudged and tinted throughout the years, he clearly remembered the day they met. Swiftly shutting the journal when he heard faint footsteps from the halls, Erwin grabbed the candle and cradled his journal in his arm. He opened the door and found Sasha smuggling a potato in her pocket.
"C-Commander!" Sasha saluted. Erwin's smile fell flat and looked down the empty halls.
"…Carry on," Erwin waved his hand for her dismissal.
"Yessir!" Sasha saluted once more and left in a hurry.
Erwin walked the opposite direction from Sasha, to the end of the hall – to the right was his room and across was Levi's room. Erwin paused from the faint light coming from the cracks of Levi's door. There were quiet shuffles and cursing and eventually Erwin figured out that Levi was undoing his belts. Erwin tapped his journal and hung his head low to hear the struggling coming behind the door. A Minute flown by and Erwin could feel the anger from Levi. Erwin gently knocked on the door and all went silent.
"Do you need any assistance?" Erwin teased. "Levi?"
"Go to hell." Erwin laughed quietly as he heard the belts fall on the floor.
/
The next morning, Erwin took a free day and left his work clothes behind and wore a thin long-sleeved shirt, rolled to his elbow and tucked in his white pants. Erwin parted his hair to the side and left to roam the abandon building. Starting with the main level, he found Levi dusting one of the many bookshelves in the room. Erwin decided to stay and watch from the entryway as Levi gave a frustrated grunt when he rose to the balls of his feet to wipe the top shelf. Erwin formed a placid smile from observing the Corporal's small stature as he propped himself up with on the shelves to clean the top. Erwin remained silent to see Levi hauling a chair in the middle of the room to clean the chandeliers.
"Damn ceiling," Levi muttered to himself as he barely brushed the bottom of the chandelier.
"Need any help?" Erwin managed to walk in before Levi thought of adding another chair.
"I got it," Levi shot him a glare.
"I know," Erwin gave him a reassuring smile, knowing he meant it. "What am I suppose to tell everybody that Lance Corporal Levi didn't die a heroic death but by a piece of furniture," Erwin gestured his empty hands towards Levi.
"This better be clean when I come back," Levi threw the duster at Erwin and hopped off the chair.
For the past hour Petra asked around where Commander Erwin was, they gave he answers that lead her no where, she checked his office, conference room, bedroom and even the stables, till she spotted Erwin slouching near the wash bin, washing dishes. Petra walked towards the Commander and pulled back when she saw Levi emerging behind the drying laundry. She shrieked and felt a blush creep to her cheeks as she hid behind the stonewalls. Tucking her hair behind her ear, Petra peeked back and saw Levi hanging the laundry on the line as well as scrapping the residue from the plates and handing them back to Erwin with a distraught expression.
"What are you doing?" Auruo shoved Petra's body down to spy.
"Wah! Nothing!" Petra elbowed Auruo and went back to Erwin and Levi chatting.
"Clean it again." Levi threw the dish back to Erwin.
"I think you are more fit to be Commander," Erwin stared at the plate and scrubbed harder. Erwin heard nothing for Levi for a moment and leveled his head. He was aware of what the silence meant.
"Levi." He knew this conversation would come up sooner or later, but it would be best if it would be never.
"Levi," Erwin called out the second time with regret. Levi hung more sheets on the line.
"Have you chosen who will be next-," Levi was cut off with a loud crack.
"I guess I washed it a little too hard, I'll see if we can replace this one," Erwin stood up with a weary smile and walked away, leaving Levi with the dirty dishes.
Levi clenched the white sheets in anger and held his tongue. Levi knew he would dart away from the topic, but it just makes him more enraged by how little he knows about Erwin. They have been on many expeditions that caused them to share the nights together in comfortable silence. He trusted no one because no one ever shown him how too, till Erwin gave him a purpose to live. Levi grew to rely on him, there was nothing out of place - he was a perfect leader, but one that had many secrets. Levi furrowed at the thought of Erwin keeping secrets, he felt useless not knowing what he thought most of the time.
"Give this to Erwin, will ya?" Hanji handed an envelope to Levi with a grin.
"I'm busy, you hand it to him," Levi spat.
"Do you want to deal with the soldiers then?" Hanji negotiated. Levi was too engulf in his head that he didn't noticed the King's troops unloading the food and armor supplies.
/
He searched in the usual places: the office, conference room and the library. The last place he would be is in his room; Levi barged in as always, seeing Erwin quickly shutting his journal.
"Letter from the pig," Levi waved the envelope in the air.
"You mean the King?" Erwin quirked his eyebrow and stuck out his hand, signaling Levi to hand him the mail. Levi complied and walked inside the room to give him the envelope. Erwin set aside his journal on the bed and opened the mail and smirked as he read.
"What's in there?" Levi blurted.
"You wouldn't be interested," Erwin smiled it off, keeping his eyes on the letters.
"I meant the journal." Levi quickly closed his mouth when he saw Erwin's perplexed face.
"You wouldn't be interested in that either," Erwin gave a genuine smile. He stood up to sign the papers and stuffed it back in the envelope, "Give this back to the soldiers."
Erwin left it at that and Levi left without an answer.
/
It was late at night and Levi had trouble sleeping. He tossed and turned till he had enough and laid on his back, staring at the ceiling with the journal in mind – the same leather-bound journal now tattered with scratches and dirt. Levi never questioned what was in the journal nor did he intend too, but today he felt curious. He knew asking Erwin would lead to a pointless conversation, which always ends up with them drifting into their past. Levi lay on his bed, listening to stale night, till annoyance built up and left him marching to Erwin's office. Levi gritted his teeth for a couple of minutes before deciding to leave the night without answers –why did I even come? Levi thought.
"Levi?" Erwin greeted him with soft smile, "Coming in?" Erwin opened the door a little wider. Levi hesitated but accepted.
"Couldn't sleep?" Erwin cautiously watched Levi's body stiffen as he shifted his head to the journal. "If you're curious, you can look inside."
"It's none of my business," Levi cringed when Erwin read his thoughts.
"You haven't changed much, aside from growing a few inches," Erwin's tone became playful as he measured Levi's stature when he walked pass him.
"Shut up." Levi mustered out and pushed Erwin with force, but felt his hands being wrapped and dragged into the Commander's space. Erwin towered over him like a giant and he knew too that he had more strength. Levi gritted his teeth and pulled back, but failed as he took in a light musk of Erwin's cologne. His large hands were gently squeezing Levi closer and positioned his other hand on Levi's lower back, bringing their bodies together. Levi felt Erwin brushing his back with his thumb, cooing him to settle down. Erwin's hands massaged Levi's tense muscles to the curve of his sides down to the hem of his pants, pausing for a brief moment when he saw the scowl from Levi, so he went back to original spot.
"Humanity's most powerful soldier," Erwin provoked, "it's an honor," Erwin raised Levi's hand to his face and placed butterfly kisses on each finger. He reached the pinky and pressed his lips hard on his palm and rested his eyes to Levi. They were half-open with lust and Erwin felt a fiery rush from his chest that swallowed his patience and crashed his lips onto the smaller man.
Erwin couldn't remember the time he felt wet lips that molded perfectly with his. He grabbed Levi's hair and guided his face up for a better angle. He felt the vibrations of moans escaping Levi's mouth and shot a heat wave of greed to his entire body. Wanting more, Erwin parted Levi's lips to feel the wetness of his corporal. They kissed feverishly and held tight to one another as they roamed around. What seemed like hours was broken when Levi finally pushed Erwin before he could touch him.
"Enough," Levi met Erwin's eyes for a split second and left. Erwin gained his composure and parted his hair, the rush from before died down. He stood tall with defeat as he covered his face trying to hide the glimmer of tears collecting around his eyes.