A/N: The fascinating characters of Shingeki no Kyojin ~ Attack on Titan ~ do not belong to me, but to their esteemed creator. Enjoy~

Info:

[1] "-heichou". Is actually the shortened form of "-heishichou", which can be translated to "leader of the soldiers". In official translations, "-heichou" has been translated to "captain", which is the English version of the title used in this fic.

The ABCs of Levi

3DMG

Before Wall Maria fell, only those who had chosen to join the Scouting Legion – and there were very few of them – were trained to use the 3DMG beyond the basic act of balancing, swinging and grappling. When they lost as many soldiers to the inept use of the gear as they had to Titans – postmortem investigations had actually revealed that quite a number of soldiers had died due to strangulation by their own wires, amongst other causes of death – Erwin Smith, newly minted Commander of the Scouting Legion, knew that they had to act.

Mandatory 3DMG training, beyond the basic act of balancing, swinging and grappling, was implemented for all recruits. Within the Scouting Legion, Erwin had upped their 3DMG training to hours and routines so severe that their resident counsellors – an ever long-suffering Mike Zakarius and a suspiciously eager Zoe Hange – had begun getting complaints of 3DGM nightmares along with their usual fare of being eaten by Titans, being crushed by Titans, watching as their comrades were devoured by Titans; the standard nightmare of the average soldier.

But, it had paid off.

Injuries due to the panicked use of the gear had decreased drastically – most soldiers now died at the Titans' hands rather than by their own gear – and the average survival rate had increased. Overall, Erwin was extremely pleased with the results.

Until he came upon a street thug, who had not only learnt to use the 3DMG all by himself, but who, when pressed – bribed, threatened, blackmailed or challenged, depending on who you asked – could finish the traumatic 3DMG training regimen faster than most of their competent soldiers.

Without using any gas at all.

And, truly, that was the real reason Erwin had recruited Levi.

He had really just wanted a 3DMG instructor.

Assist

On his first scouting expedition, Levi came back with a kill count of three Aberrant Titans; all solo kills. Erwin was singularly impressed until Mike reported that it was technically one assist and two solo kills: Levi had got the second Titan to take a huge chomp out of the first Titan's neck, which resulted in its death.

The commander was torn between being awestruck and being horrified.

Then, Hange had enthusiastically suggested that his technique be added to the training regiment. Erwin firmly rejected the idea.

He really didn't want to know how Levi had done what he did.

Baby

Erwin first noticed it when inventory-supply time came around. The average soldier wasn't allowed to request anything personal; if they wanted something, they had to acquire it on their day off. Adding personal items to the official supply request was a benefit awarded only to ranked officers; they still had to pay for it with their own money, but it saved them the time of having to buy it on their own. Even then, this was separated from their usual supply needs, like food, weapons and uniforms.

The only exception to the rule was when the personal item was used by so many of the soldiers that it had become a common item, and when this happened, a separate request form would be filled in and attached to the list.

So, Erwin was surprised to see one particular item on the official list; a brand of tea that, as far as he knew, only Levi indulged in regularly.

When he questioned Martha – the soldier in charge of this round of supply delivery and order – her reply was, "We decided that it wasn't fair that Levi-heichou [1] had to pay for it alone when we all drink it."

If Erwin had had less experience in dealing with shocks, he would've choked, ironically, on his mouthful of tea. As it stood, he merely nodded and dismissed Martha, his expression as serene and composed as ever.

Mike wasn't as lucky.

'Since when did everyone start drinking Levi's tea?'

Mike blinked at his commander. Whatever he had expected when Erwin summoned him, it certainly wasn't this. 'It, uh, must be when they see him about their problems.'

Erwin's eyebrow disappeared behind the fringe of his hair. 'See him about their problems? I thought they usually went to you? Or Hange? Since when did they start going to him?'

'…You seriously haven't noticed?'

Erwin wracked his brains, trying to remember a time when he had seen Levi sitting down with a soldier and comforting them. His mind drew a blank. 'I thought they were terrified of him?'

Levi – despite his short stature – was easily one of the most intimidating men in the Scouting Legion, and his fearsome reputation only served to make him seem even more terrifying. His rough demeanour and abrasive manner coupled with his aloof nature certainly hadn't helped matters. He had, even once, made a new recruit burst into tears simply by glaring at him and remarking that "he had missed a spot". That little incident had only added fuel to the fire.

In reality, Levi had been so mortified by the inadvertent and unexpected consequence of his actions that Erwin had had a long, hard laugh in the privacy of his quarters when the younger man had grumbled to him about pansy-ass recruits who blubbered like idiots at the slightest thing.

Mike grinned. With the increasing demands of preparations for the next scouting expedition – and the location of Erwin's own private quarters, which was situated on the opposite side of the Scouting Legion Headquarters Main Building – he supposed it wasn't all that surprising that this new development had slipped completely under his radar.

'Levi caught one of the men skulking around in the corridors after curfew. Instead of sending him back to his room, he made him tea and sat with him for a few hours until the soldier calmed down.' Mike shrugged. 'You know Levi. He's the lightest sleeper of us all, and after it happened a few times, most of the soldiers started going to him instead.'

That explained a great deal. Levi, for all his short-temperedness, could also be one of the most patient men Erwin had ever known when people genuinely needed him. More than words, he was a man of action; once you got past that sharp tongue and foul mouth of his, he was a surprisingly gentle soul, who cared a great deal for those in his responsibility and under his command.

Not that Erwin would ever mention these thoughts of his to said gentle soul, who would murder him without even batting an eyelash if he caught even a drift of them.

'Not to mention, he babies them.'

Erwin sputtered. 'He what?'

The smirk on Mike's face was wicked and full of mischief. 'Apparently, if after everything, they are still too terrified to sleep, Levi assures them that he would destroy any Titan who tries to get them in their sleep.' That little titbit he had overheard from Petra – a spirited young woman, who, Mike predicted, would become one of their most formidable soldiers in the future – and he hoarded it with glee; it was the perfect blackmail material.

At the image the words conjured in his mind – Levi, waving his blades around as he rode on his stallion, a regular knight-in-shining-armour Scouting Legion style – Erwin started snickering.

Mike's smirk only grew larger. 'People are already whispering about his incredible battle feats; it won't be long before they start giving him nicknames. I call dibs on "Levi the Titan Slayer".'

That was the last straw. Both men dissolved into laughter as they imagined the look of utter horror and disgust they could picture so clearly on Levi's face if that ever came to pass.

Erwin never told Levi of that little discussion – he rather liked his limbs intact – but that memory did surface when Levi – as predicted – earned a title that would be whispered in awe for the years to come.

He would become known as Levi, Humanity's Strongest Soldier.

Captain

True to his reputation of being a brilliant strategist who could out-think the average person by ten steps, Erwin had foreseen that his appointment of Levi as captain would cause massive problems and incite vicious doubts; most of the soldiers who had worked with said man would agree that he deserved it – they had actually stunned Erwin in the strength of their loyalty when they vouched for Levi – but Levi being Levi had also managed to create the worst enemies of a group of people who were extremely aggressive and very outspoken.

If the Military Police had a reputation for laziness and arrogance and the Stationary Guard had a reputation for being average and ordinary, the Scouting Legion had, without a doubt, the reputation for being the most insane and bull-headed of the bunch; the average scout was scary, and the more veteran soldiers were given an extremely wide berth – because these people hadn't just seen Titans, they had killed them and survived.

And, that was why Erwin knew that it would take drastic measures to get the more problematic soldiers to accept Levi. With that in mind, he organized a minor scouting expedition – nothing too dangerous; a short trip into the least treacherous Titan territory on the map – as a solution to his problem.

Levi had always proven himself best when his men were in danger.

And, true to his reputation, Erwin's plan worked brilliantly.

Even if his most hardened men had, somehow, been turned into a blubbering mess of terror, which – Mike reported smugly – had absolutely nothing to do with the Titans they did encounter – the usual four-meter monsters – and everything to do with Levi himself.

Who had, apparently, scared them witless by mass-slaughtering the Titans before their very eyes, in record time, without a getting single drop of blood or scratch on him.

On the other hand, the other half of their company – Hange added gleefully – had been so entirely impressed that they had been reduced to mindless Levi-worshippers who had thought that Levi was a "god sent". There were even a couple who had been so utterly besotted that they had, apparently, described Levi as "a beauty to behold" when he was killing Titans.

The day came when Levi would officially accept his rank in a public ceremony.

The cheering and applause was deafening.

And, not a single complaint was to be heard.

Desperate Measures

It was the only time that Mike and Hange had ever remembered seeing the commander being so frantic in the midst of battle – the other scouts would later confirm that Erwin's eyebrows had, perhaps, twitched more than the usual, but that was it – but they supposed it was to be expected.

Levi had just sent word that his company was dangerously close to annihilation, and that he had run out of blades.

By the time they got to him, he had been backed into a corner by six Titans with two new recruits – both of whom had lost their 3DMG and their weapons – who had actually managed to cower and hide themselves behind him. But, it was Levi that disturbed Erwin more. Said man was brandishing a steaming, blood-soaked makeshift weapon that looked suspiciously like a nozzle.

The commander would later learn from the recruits that the captain had actually managed to kill two four-meter Titans with the weapon; he would also learn that the weapon was indeed a spare nozzle that had come from the bottle of disinfectant that Levi had insisted on carrying around with him despite Erwin's argument that it was nothing more than deadweight.

Needless to say, he never commented on Levi's cleaning supplies ever again. He also cautioned the rest of the scouts against antagonizing Levi when said soldier was in the midst of cleaning because cleaning supplies weren't listed as weapons in their insurance.

No matter how deadly they had proven to be.