It's unnecessarily long, but I hope you bear with me and enjoy it!

It probably doesn't match up with the timeline of the manga/anime, but I couldn't bring myself to really care...

"Captain? You called?"

Levi glanced up from the paperwork spread across the bed around him. His sharp, pale blue eyes took in the seven uniformed figures cluttering his doorway. A sigh escaped his lips.

"Come in, brats."

Black boots shuffled in one after the other, slowly forming a semi circle around the infirmary bed.

"I'm not well enough to accompany you on the expedition tomorrow." He caught the fidgety movement of the usually stoic Mikasa Ackerman from his peripheral vision, but ignored it. "So, instead, you will be joining Hanji's squad. From now on until I have healed, you are to treat her as your Captain and your leader. You will respect her, follow her, and obey her orders, especially tomorrow on your mission. If I get word that any of you little shits were causing her any trouble, you'll answer to me, got it?"

Varied responses of 'yes sir' were mumbled throughout the room, and he had to refrain from rolling his eyes.

"Sir?" His attention shifted to the small blonde girl at the foot of his bed. "When do you think you will be able to lead us again?"

"I'm not a doctor, I wouldn't know. But I would guess no longer than a month." He fixed them with a wry look. "Don't think you'll get rid of me that easily."

She nodded, and he took note that the others seemed to visibly relax with the statement, some even flashing a smile at his sardonic humor.

He paused, taking in each of their expressions, before continuing on in a quieter, but more serious tone. "Listen up. You know by now that these missions are by no means simple or easy. Often times, the casualties far outrank the victories. I'm not going to be there tomorrow to clean up after your messes, so make sure you are paying attention to your surroundings. Don't go pissing your pants and getting scared like a bunch of morons; look out for each other and listen to Hanji. The less mistakes you make, the less people you put in danger."

He waited for his words to sink in, adamantly pushing away any thoughts of the encounter with the female titan. There was no need to open up old wounds.

"Alright, brats. Go get some rest. You all look like hell."

As they filed out, he turned back to the folders and reports in front of him, ignoring the itch under his skin that made him want to get up and move around.

"Captain."

He didn't need to look up to know who it was. "What is it, Ackerman."

There was a brief moment of silence, filled only with the sound of shuffling papers. "I wanted to apologize."

"For what exactly?"

"Causing you to be injured."

At that, Levi looked at the soldier, steel eyes narrowing in on the stoic expression of his subordinate. She spoke before he could ask her to clarify.

"It was my carelessness that caused you to get hurt, and for that I apologize. It should be me staying behind, not you." Her voice was monotonous, but he could read the lines of guilt on her pretty face.

The bed-ridden man lifted his eyebrows. "I don't need your apology." Her stormy eyes widened in surprise. "I need you to make sure it does not happen again. I need you to remember how to control your emotions and reactions so that you don't make the same mistake. The past is useless if you do not learn from it. So learn, and protect your squad members out there. Understood?"

Her mouth slackened for a half second, face frozen in a look of shock. But then she clenched her jaw, muscles jumping out, and her expression hardened in determination.

"Yes, sir."

He nodded. "Good. You're dismissed."

She saluted, and then followed her comrades out of the infirmary.

I'm expecting you to carry the squad, look out for all of them even when they can't look out for you. You better not fail me now, Ackerman.

His eyes snapped opened, body tensing at the sound of the door slamming and one million voices shouting. It took him a moment to realize that the legion doctors and other soldiers were in frenzies in the hallway, rushing people onto spare beds and treating dozens of blood-covered patients.

The squads must have returned from the mission. This was something Levi was used to, the panic, the chaos, the screams of the dying.

He pushed himself up into a sitting position just as one of the doctors barged their way into his room. The man's uniform was spotted with crimson, his glasses askew.

"Captain Levi! If you are well enough, we need to use this room for a new patient," His words came fast and slurred. "We are running out of space for the returning sol-"

The short man was already on his feet before the doctor could finish his sentence. All he had was a fucked up ankle, nothing lethal. No use in taking up a room where a suffering soldier could be treated instead.

He limped to the side, working on pulling his boots over his loose pants, so he could get out of the way. The doctor had disappeared outside the room, yelling instructions to others passing by.

Once he'd managed to get the leather boot onto his swollen ankle, Levi shuffled towards the door, only to have his back pressed to the wall as three doctors rushed into the room, followed by a soldier carrying a wounded comrade covered in blood.

"-losing blood, and fast!"

"Get'em on the bed! Hurry!"

"-her name?"

"-risk entering a coma-"

"-Mikasa Ackerman!"

Levi was just about to exit the room when the soldier frantically uttered the name he was so familiar with. Whirling around, he did a double take on the soldier and the injured cadet.

"Kirschtein!"

The taller squad member looked up at his commanding officer, panic and fear evident in his pale skin and strained jaw. There was drying blood streaked across his face, adding to the wild, haunted look in his eyes. "C-Captain?!"

A doctor shoved them both into the hall, yelling at them to give them space. If his ankle bothered him, Levi didn't even notice.

"What happened to Ackerman?! Who else is injured?!"

The boy's mouth opened and closed, too shocked to choke the words out.

"Pull your shit together, Kirschtein!" He barked, impatience and worry making his voice harsh.

Jean shook his head, running a hand through his hair. "I-I don't know! I mean, she was all over the place, killing t-titans like crazy! We all would've died without her, I don't know, I didn't really see-it was all too blurry, sir, I just-one moment she was there, and the next she was on the ground... There was so much blood... I couldn't-"

"Is anybody else hurt? Did anybody else get injured?!"

The frantic boy shook his head. "No. No, she saved all of us. She didn't let any of us get hurt."

Levi stared for a moment, brow furrowing and eyes flicking from one of the boy's eyes to his other. But both of their attention was jerked back to the infirmary room as the doctors began to raise their voices, urgency clear in their tones.

"We have to perform immediate CPR, there's no other-"

"Figure out how to clot the wound, she's losing way too much blood. She won't survive another five minutes if we can't slow it down."

"Someone has to hold it while we get the injections ready, we need someone to-"

"Tell me what to do." The three doctors looked up as Levi rolled up his sleeves and volunteered himself, hesitating only a second before shoving a wadded cloth at him and instructing him to keep pressure on her midsection where a gash almost the length of his forearm stretched across her abdomen.

He grimaced at the wound, but obeyed their orders, pressing down with fingers spread as a red stain slowly seeped through the white fabric. He hardly even took note of the other men as they worked, concentrating only on staunching the blood flow beneath his palms.

"Come on, Ackerman," he muttered under his breath, "You're tougher than this."

She started to convulse suddenly, sunken eyelids fluttering and a horrible gasping sound coming from her cracked, dry lips. The doctors flew into action. Two held her limbs down, soon joined by Jean who had snapped out of his traumatized state, and the other injected a needle of some sort into her neck.

Levi fixed his eyes on her pale, sweaty face, willing her to hang on. "You're my most promising cadet, so don't you dare give up, you little shit."

Whatever the doctor had injected seemed to take effect as her thrashing slowed, muscles beginning to relax again.

"You still have a family to return to, so hold on, Ackerman."

A few whimpers sounded from her throat. Her eyes were cinched shut, teeth ground shut beneath pursed, chapped lips. It was the most vulnerable he had ever seen her.

"If you die, you'll leave behind Eren, and Armin, and everyone else, so live. Don't be a selfish brat."

Her body went slack, neck craned to the side at an awkward angle. The doctors continued to work on her, gently moving Levi's hands away from the wound. He must have done something right because they nodded and said something about her odds looking better.

His gunmetal-blue eyes raked over her exposed skin where they had cut through her uniform, and made a mental map of her bruised and bloodied body. He counted about twenty-seven forming bruises, eleven cuts, and one wrist that looked at least sprained. That was all he could catch before he was once again ushered out of the room, the doctors shutting the door after him.

The majority of the population who know Levi's name all have the same understanding of who he is.

It is widely believed that he is:

Skilled.

A fighter.

Ruthless.

Un-feeling

Emotionless.

It is very scarcely known (in fact, only known by the Great Soldier himself and a handful of others) that he is truly:

Flawed.

A victim.

Understanding.

Loyal.

Compassionate.

So it really shouldn't be all too surprising that Hanji found her friend and fellow soldier sitting behind his office desk with a less-than-stoic look in his eye.

The spectacled woman sighed, collapsing into the chair across from his, the unusually cluttered desk between them. He acknowledged her with a nod, not bothering to greet her verbally.

"Any news?"

"The doctors are still with her, according to Arlert and Braus." His hand came up to tug at the pristine white fabric hanging from his neck until it loosened.

"It's been, what, two hours since they first brought her in?" Hanji furrowed her dark brows in concern. "Damn, I knew it was bad, but I didn't think she'd be in for that long."

Levi pushed his chair away from the desk and leaned forward so his elbows rested on his knees. He raised a hand and pinched the bridge of his nose, eyes screwing shut. "I know. The rest of those brats have been going insane worrying about her. If they get anymore antsy, I might have to knock them out just to get some peace and quiet."

She almost laughed. "Sure they're the only ones worried?"

The dark-haired man opened one eye to glare at her. "What are you talking about, I'm a heartless bastard, remember? I don't worry about anyone but myself."

Despite his biting words and sarcastic tone, she knew he was just as worried, if not more worried, about the soldier than his squad members. Hanji wasn't dense. She understood that Levi worked very hard to keep up the reputation that he had, almost sadistically enjoying his title as the 'man-without-emotions.'

She also understood that it was only a facade. He felt just as much as everyone else, and he had every excuse in the handbook to be a wallowing hole of self-pity, but he chose not to be. He chose an image of cold indifference over one of pathetic need. But it wasn't the truth. The truth was, he just learned to hide his brokenness better.

There's only so much loss one can experience before it ceases to be a surprise anymore.

"Keep telling yourself that, old man." His half-hearted scoff told her she was right on the mark.

There was lull in the conversation, a pause as they both rested from the constant anxiety of the last twenty-four hours.

After a while, Hanji spoke up. "She's a born leader, y'know." She waited for him to respond, but he stayed silent. "I've never seen someone with her stability, her determination."

Levi was as still as a statue, the top half of his face covered in the shadow from his hair.

"Out there, she was a beast. It was incredible how she took down titan after titan-you should've seen it, Levi." Hanji let out a breath of awe, shaking her head. "I swear, I didn't even need to be there. She just took over like she'd been their captain for years. And the way they all listened to her and worked together-you'd think they'd known each other their whole lives.

"I'm telling you, Levi, we'd have been titan shit if she hadn't been there. The number of casualties we'd have had if she wasn't in our squad-it'd be through the roof. She was like everyone's collective guardian angel."

Hanji tilted her head to the side, studying the shorter man's rigid form. "She reminds me a lot of you."

Levi finally looked up, a crease between his eyebrows, and steely gray eyes burning with something she couldn't quite name, but something she fully understood nevertheless. "I was never that good."

She didn't miss a beat. "You are that good." Her eyes narrowed, daring him to disagree. "We both know that when it comes down to it, you're the one everybody trusts with their lives. Nobody trusts somebody they think is bad."

He didn't disagree, but the skeptical frown tilting his lips assured her that he didn't quite believe her either. "Whatever, shitty glasses. This world is too gray for good and bad."

This time she did laugh, a raspy, genuine laugh that lightened the mood. "Face it, Levi. No matter how much you try to keep up the whole hardass routine, we all know you're just a big softie inside."

He scowled and sat back in his chair, crossing his arms. "At least I'm not the one crying my fucking eyes out over a pissy titan."

A grin split her face. "Ah, there's the Levi I know. Bout time you stopped moping around."

The corner of his mouth twitched, but his face stayed stony as ever. "Please let the door hit you on your way out."

Hanji pushed herself out of the wooden chair and opened the door to his office. "Cheer up, grumpy-bitch."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXx

Levi pushed open the door, blinking at the dawn light streaming through the window.

"Captain! I didn't know you were-uh-going to visit."

His narrow blue eyes met with the wide green ones of the titan-shifter. The teenager was sitting in a chair beside the bed, where a very familiar, yet fairly different girl was sleeping.

"Has she woken up yet?" He didn't bother sitting down, just stood at the foot of the cot, leaning slightly more on his good foot.

Eren shook his head, eyes returning to the unconscious girl. "No. Armin told me the doctor said she probably won't be up for a couple more days."

"Hn. Don't disturb her. The more she sleeps, the faster she'll recover." He watches how the boy's tight grip on her hand loosens, as if he's afraid she'd break with the pressure. Levi had to refrain from rolling his eyes. He could imagine the raging fit the girl would make if anyone treated her like some kind of glass doll.

His gaze studied her sleeping form. She looked better than she had twelve hours ago. Her skin seemed less ashy and more full of life, and her breathing was beginning to even out. The blood-soaked clothes she had been wearing before had been thrown out, replaced instead with a clean white shirt that was loose enough to fit the bandages around her stomach.

"Do you think she could still die, Captain?"

Levi was startled out of his observations by the boy's quiet question. "What kind of bullshit question is that, Jaegar?"

"I just..." The short man watched as Eren flexed his jaw in a paranoid motion. "I keep thinking of how close I came to losing her, how I didn't even get to say goodbye, and I can't help but be afraid that she really isn't going to get better. I'm afraid she'll die and I won't be able to do anything about it."

"Because you're in love with her."

"No!" He raised an eyebrow at the boy's red cheeks and vehement response. "God, no. I mean, yes, I love her, but not like that! She's my sister for God's sake! Blood relative or not, she's still my family, just like Armin is."

Levi thought he felt some kind of tension lift out of him with the kid's explanation, but he couldn't be sure why. "Alright, no need to flip your shit, Jaegar."

Eren blushed pink, but suppressed his embarrassment for the time being. He lifted a hand to rub sheepishly at the back of his neck. "Anyways... what I'm trying to say is, back when we were on the mission, I really thought she was going to die, and I suddenly started to think about all the 'thank yous' and 'I'm sorrys' that I never got to tell her. There was a lot of stuff I still wanted to talk to her about, and seeing her like this, unconscious and weak..." He let out a soft breath. "I just hope the doctors know what they're talking about."

The squad leader blinked, taking in the pained expression on the teen's face. He didn't know how to respond. Dammit, he was good at fighting and being aggressive, not comforting little brats. Lucky for him, Eren didn't seem to care whether he said anything or not.

"She didn't tell me this until just a little bit ago, after I woke up, but right before my Mom died in the titan invasion, she told Mikasa to protect me, to look after me." His half-lidded emerald eyes settled on the recovering girl, hand gently stroking her dark hair that was sticking to her sweaty forehead. "It was her dying wish."

And suddenly it was beginning to make sense. Levi was starting to see how everything fit together, why she was willing to lay down her life for her brother's.

But then again, it wasn't just her brother's life. In fact, she had almost died because she had been willing to put everybody's life before her own.

Hanji was wrong. Mikasa was not like him.

She was far better than him.

For she had learned how to live selflessly in half the time it took him to even begin to understand a life beyond his own.

Levi glanced up from the report in his lap, blinking several times to regain the moisture in his eyes.

It was late at night, or early in the morning depending on how you look at it, on the third day since the mission. That evening, the doctor had said Mikasa was showing promising signs of recovery, that she would be waking up at anytime in the next day.

So, it went without saying that the entire squad would wait around until that moment came.

His eyes adjusted to the dim, auburn-tinted lighting that came from the small oil lamp on the table next to him. Back slumped, and head hung over his chest, Eren snored softly from his place against the wall. Leaning on his shoulder was a peaceful looking Armin, Krista's head resting in his lap. Back to back, Connie and Sasha lay in partially curled positions at the foot of the bed, the latter of the two drooling out of the corner of her mouth. Levi wrinkled his nose in disgust. Jean lay between them on his back, a jumble of incoherent words streaming from his lips every few minutes.

Behold, this was his fearsome squad; exhausted, passed out in various forms of discomfort, and all surrounding the sleeping girl on the bed.

He was simultaneously bemused and a little proud.

His gaze shifted to Ackerman, who lay on the bed looking for all the world as if she hadn't almost been eaten by titans a few days ago. She was beginning to gain back her healthy glow, and the cold sweat that had adorned her pale skin disappeared as her fever receded. The white, scratchy medical blanket was pulled up high to her neck.

It was a nice neck, Levi decided. Slender, lean. Her eyelids fluttered in her sleep, as if she were fighting a war in her dreams, and he noticed how long her dark eyelashes were, sweeping down to the top of her cheeks. A tiny cluster of freckles, so faint he had to lean closer to even see them, spotted the bridge of her nose, like a minuscule constellation of stars.

But what he liked to look at the most, were her lips. They pouted in her sleep, puckered just slightly. Her bottom lip was flushed pink, and her upper lip began in the same shade but faded into a light dust color as it made its way to the two peaks just under her nose.

He wondered what she tasted like.

As if somebody had slapped him, he stumbled out of his train of thought, shaking his head like he could physically get rid of what he had been thinking.

'Dangerous thoughts, Levi. Be careful there.'

He blamed it on lack of sleep. Or stress. Whichever one caused a person to think such inappropiate thoughts of his own cadets.

"Dammit." He cursed under his breath, blinking hard and returning his attention to his report, where the threat of beauty could not distract him.

Time passed in a slow crawl, the sound of the soldiers breathing lulling him into lazily reading his paperwork, often having to go back and re-read a sentence that he didn't quite get the first time.

His eyelids were just beginning to droop shut when he heard a low groan and movement from beside him. In a second, the drowsiness left him, and he stared intently as the woman began to stir.

Her eyes opened, brows furrowing in confusion and pain. She blinked slowly, gradually becoming more aware of her surroundings. It took a moment before her head swiveled to the side, dark gray irises widening as they caught sight of him sitting calmly to her side.

"Captain?" Mikasa's voice came out raspy and dry.

Levi did his best to look nonchalant, as if he hadn't been through hellish concern the past couple of days. As if there wasn't a burst of relief flooding through his veins at the sight of her waking from her coma. "Welcome, back to the world of the living, Ackerman."

She started to push herself into a sitting position, but only got about an inch off the bed before the pain kicked in. Lips pursed and eyes shut at the tortuous feeling, she groaned lightly and settled back down on the bed.

"An admirable attempt, but I'm afraid your body is too fucked up for you to do anything right now besides staying still." He almost smiled at the sharp glare she sent his way, not realizing that he had missed it so much.

Her eyes scanned the room, widening in surprise at the congregation passed out on the floor. "How long have I been out, sir?"

"Around three days. You weren't supposed to wake up yet."

"My apologies. I'll try to stay on the brink of death a little longer next time."

This time, he did smile, albeit a small, wry one. "Please do. We already have more than enough annoying morons running around."

"Well, now you have an annoying moron laying around." Gleaming, ashy eyes gave away the stoic expression on her ivory face.

"Here I was hoping you'd wake up a changed woman, without all the sass."

"If I can't fight with my body, what else am I supposed to use?"

He rolled his eyes, and stood up, reaching for the white bandages, warm bowl of water, and bottle of salve that were resting on the table.

"Preferably, you wouldn't fight back at all." He pulled the blanket away from her, and slid an arm carefully around her torso, trying not to disturb her injury. "Now hold still, I need to change your bandages."

He leaned over and propped her up on the bed, stuffing a pillow behind her back to help support her. Her face was close to his neck, and he could tell from her labored breathing that she was trying her best to mask the pain.

"Lift your shirt." She shot him a dark look, but he only raised an eyebrow in response. She must have decided he wasn't being a pervert, because a minute later, she grasped the hem of her top and rolled it up, holding it as far away from her stomach as possible.

Levi set to work, unraveling the gauze around her waist, grimacing at the bloody mess it left behind. He wrung out the rag in the bowl until it was just slightly damp, and cleaned out her wound as gently as possible. The whole time, she barely made a sound, just watched as he passed the cloth over her stained stomach.

He was just beginning to wrap a new set of bandages when she spoke up.

"I'm sorry."

He lifted his eyes from where his hands were working to her face. "For what?"

She avoided his eyes, voice barely above a whisper. "For failing you." This time, he couldn't conceal his surprise. "You told me to protect them," her eyes flicked to the six bodies strewn across the floor, "and I failed. I should have been more careful not to get caught by the titans. They could have died while I was injured."

Levi's hands went still mid-wrap, and he straightened his back until he was looking her in the eye. She bit her lip, and he willed himself not to be distracted.

"Ackerman. Do you know how many titans you took down singlehandedly on that mission?"

She finally looked up at him, puzzled. "What does that have to-"

"Do you know?" He calmly asked again. She scowled.

"No, but why does-"

"Thirty-four." His voice was firm, giving her no room to question him. "You killed thirty-four titans all on your own, in one mission. That's a higher body count than most soldiers get in their lifetime."

"I can kill as many titans as possible, but what would it matter if one of my squad members dies?" Her face contorted in shame and irritation. "What does it matter if I can't manage to save just one person?"

"Mikasa." He forgoes formalities and last names in favor of holding her attention in the utmost seriousness.

She flares her nose. "Yes?"

Instead of giving into his impatience and flat out telling the girl to suck it up and stop blaming herself for nothing, Levi turned and pointed to the slumbering group of teenagers around them.

"Guess who, of the six, would be dead today if you had not killed so many titans." Her eyes narrowed in confusion. "Go on. Guess."

"Krista?"

"No."

"Jean?"

"Negative."

"Connie, Armin?"

"No, and no."

"Sasha."

"Wrong again."

"Eren?"

"Nope."

Her tone grew impatient. "That just proves that I'm-"

"It was a trick question." He used her flustered response as an opportunity to continue wrapping the bandage across her bruised and bloodied waist.

"What?"

"The answer is all of them." Levi finished changing her gauze, tugging her shirt down. He levelled his face to hers, arms braced on the mattress so that they were only inches apart. "Every single one of them would be dead right now if not for you."

Mikasa's mouth opened and closed, the surprise evident on her face.

He didn't give her a chance to argue. "And not only them, but soldiers from Hanji's squad too. Four, to be exact. And you want to know how I know?"

Levi reached into the pocket of his jacket, and pulled out a packet of various sized papers. He dropped them on her lap, and then crossed his arms over his chest.

"Thank you letters. I received four of them from the soldiers themselves, each asking me to give them to you when you woke up. And these are only the four who decided to write a letter. For all you and I know, there could've been more."

She was silent, her head craned as she stared at the letters.

He sat down on the edge of the bed, angled so he could still face her. "So don't give me this bullshit about 'failing the squad,' because you saved every damn one of them, and still managed to get out of there alive yourself. That's what I call the exact fucking opposite of failing. Second, you don't owe it to me to be the best soldier you can be. You owe it to yourself. So even if you had sat around doing nothing during that mission and watched all your team mates die without a second thought, you still wouldn't owe me an apology. You'd owe them and yourself an apology. If anything, I'd be the one to say sorry to you, because if you didn't do your damn best, then that would be my fault as your teacher for not teaching you right."

His tone softened, posture losing its rigidity as he decided to add a personal touch to his lecture. "Look, Ackerman. You've got a lot riding on you as the 'Soldier worth one hundred men,' but trust me when I say this; if there's anyone I'm willing to bet on out there, it'd be you."

After a terrible second in which Levi began to think she had fallen asleep for that entire speech, Mikasa raised her head, short, black hair brushing her jawline. His breath caught in his throat when he saw the tears pooling at the edges of her eyes.

She smiled, and Levi swore his heart jumped into his stomach.

"Thank you. Really." One solitary tear fell down her cheek. "When I thought Eren died back in Trost, I believed that my entire existence had become meaningless. I was ready to die, because what purpose did I have in this world if my one responsibility, my only salvation, had disappeared? But now, I know that Eren isn't the only one that counts. I have a new family here, people I'm willing to die for, to live for. So thank you, for helping me see that."

By now, she was crying freely, her breathing coming in ragged gulps. Levi didn't have anything else to say, so he did what instinct told him.

He reached out and tugged her to him, until her face was buried in his neck and her arms wrapped around his torso. His hand came up to hold the back of her head and he listened as she sobbed quietly.

After a few minutes of him enduring such physical affection, and her managing to soak his jacket in disgusting snot and tears, he couldn't help but snark out a rather 'Levi-ish' comment.

"I know that was a pretty emotional moment, but I didn't think it warranted such a shitty sobfest."

Her hands gripped tighter at the material on his back. "No, that's not it. My stomach just really fucking hurts."

Levi immediately let go, pulling away, and she groaned softly at the sudden movement. "Oh shit. Here." He moved the pillows and helped her lay back down, readjusting the blankets so they rested over her chest.

Mikasa's breathing evened out as she began to relax against the bed. He watched her dark lashes flutter as her eyelids started to droop, weighed down by exhaustion. Within seconds, she was back to being unconscious.

The short man brushed a strand of hair out of her face, slanted, pale blue eyes fixated on her slightly parted lips. He sat back down in the stiff, wooden chair, and listened to the hushed snores of his squad, surprised that they had all slept through his and Mikasa's conversation.

His own eyes began to shut, the stress finally catching up to him, and he thought, for a moment, that he wouldn't mind being in a family like this.

It was then, right before he fell away to peaceful sleep, that Levi suddenly realized he had, without any hesitation, annoyance, or impatience, comforted Mikasa.

Well, fuck.