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A birthday gift for a friend of mine, Hayley! (grievering/killianisms on tumblr)

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If one ventures out in the dark hallways of the infirmary wing of the castle, they will find it cold and empty and deadly silent, mirroring their typical demeanor. The rooms are empty, save for one that houses two dark haired soldiers that do not look at each other, let alone utter a few words to one another. She, sleeping peacefully with her slightly longer dark hair fanning on the pillow beneath her head, does not try at all to talk to him, who is most of the times lying on his side with his back turned to her. Not that he minds it; in fact, he is glad she does not even acknowledge his presence.

Oh, how ironic it is that humanity's strongest soldiers are bedridden because of a flu.

Books are piled on his bedside table waiting to be picked up, but his will to read them is close to nonexistent. His body aches all over, his eyes hurt and his head throbs; every limb seems to be on fire due to the fever and he is always too sleepy to pay attention to anything. Lately, he does not know anymore if he is breathing at all. It has been two weeks since he was brought to this room, two slow and painful weeks of being confined to a bed and being pricked by needles here and there, and having to share the same room with a girl that hates his guts.

But at least, to his relief and peace of mind, she does not glare at him; like stated before, she barely acknowledges he is in the room. Visitors are frequent, paying visits to her and leaving flowers on her nightstand – the one between their beds always remains empty. The girl who usually steals food from the kitchen comes by more often than needed, accompanied by a shorter guy and another one who has a crush on the bedridden girl. He sits by her bedside and gently wets her dry and chapped lips with a wet cloth while she is asleep, and the food thief and her friend check on the flowers, take away the ones that died and replace them with new ones.

They share a few words with Levi, out of respect; they are not close and surely they would feel guilty if they were to leave without asking him if he was faring fine.

Her brother and their close friend come later in the day, when the sun is setting and the birds are returning to their nests. Eren is more than happy to give the both of them attention, though the captain notices he lingers a little too much by his bedside instead of hers, but he does not look in her direction to see if she has any objections. Mikasa is happy with Armin's company, though, smiling and nodding her head as he excitedly tells her about his new schedule as their Commander's assistant, and she tries to encourage her brother as much as she can when he tells her he is training hard, usually reaching out for his hand and gripping it, holding it in a very weak hold.

This always makes his smile falter and he clutches her hands and promises her she will get better, and as he brushes her sweaty hair away from her face he tells her that he misses seeing her around; that he misses getting mad at her for trying to protect him.

And Levi is never prepared to hear the weak chuckle that leaves her lips when the kid says that before they exit the room.

Eyes focused on the cover of a book that he is not going to read, he hears when she shifts on her bed and tries to get comfortable, even though they both know that no matter the position, the pain in their muscles will not go away. And yet they do not speak for another hour, their meals are always in silence, and they wield their cutlery so carefully, as if the mere sound of the fork hitting the porcelain plate is enough to break the atmosphere they grew used to.

The commander and the scientist are the last ones to drop by, always late at night. By then, the girl is fast asleep, and this is the only time when her face is slightly turned in his direction, facing the door. His friends ask him how he is and Hanji tries to lift his spirit with a half assed joke then comments on how the pile of books never decreases in height ("Say, Levi, one day this pile will be taller than you"). Erwin comforts him before he shuffles away and towards Mikasa, and places a palm on her forehead to feel the temperature. Levi always watches their interaction and never misses how she lightly writhes under his touch; he cannot tell if she welcomes it or not, and that is when the blond pulls his hand away and asks him if they talk at all.

Levi's sigh is enough to answer his question.

This is their routine and it goes on and on for another three weeks, and the flu does not show any signs of going away soon. One day he wakes up from one of his many naps and as he turns around to lie on his back he startles Sasha, who nearly drops the vase of flowers in her hands when she squeaks and backs away – he notices she is alone this time. She greets him quietly, to which he nods, and she steps forward again to place the flowers on the bedside table between their beds. Levi does not show his surprise at the gesture and after she leaves he risks a glance towards the dark haired girl lying on the bed beside his, only to find that she is still sleeping.

That is the first and only change in their routine that he is aware of.

In one rainy morning, the first day of their eighth week inside the infirmary room, something disturbs him in his sleep. His senses are slow to return to him, the only thing he can think of is that he might go crazy if he does not heal soon, for he is tired of feeling tired and sick, and tired of having to lie in a bed all day and do nothing.

It takes him time, but eventually he realizes he is lying on his back and the feel of something tapping constantly on his lips makes him think of when Kirschtein wets the oriental girl's lips with a damp cloth. So he squeezes his eyes and forces them open, for the thought of having a grown man doing that to him is disturbing and unnecessary, and when his eyes focus they lock with a pair of gray blue eyes, Levi cannot hide his surprise.

"Are you thirsty?" She whispers and does not wait for his answer to reach out for a glass of cool water, and she offers it to him once he is sitting on the bed, back slightly curved due to his achy muscles. He takes the glass from her and drinks it as slowly as his thirst will let him; his throat is parched and he tries to ignore her hands when they touch his neck with the cloth to wipe away his perspiration.

"Why are you doing this, Ackerman?" He asks, voice hoarse, and she shrugs as she takes the empty glass from his and wipes his forehead and cheeks. Her half lidded eyes seem more tired than usual, her lips are tragically chapped; if she does as much as smile (like she smiles to her friends to comfort them) he is sure the skin is going to tear, and it is going to bleed and hurt.

Mikasa puts away the cloth, "Blame it on the fever."

He ignores her. "Go to bed and drink some water." And she ignores him as well as she wets the cloth in a basin of water on the nightstand, and he does not know why something inside him snaps then. Maybe it is because they ignored each other for so long and suddenly she decides to take care of him, maybe it is because he does not like it when people do things he can do himself, or maybe it is because that he, yes, cares for her and does not want to see her get worse.

If they did not care for one another then they would not have stayed out in the rain helping each other fight off titans, and most importantly, protect each other from said creatures.

If she did not care for him she would not have patched his wounds up, and he would not have carried her all the way to the camp because she sprained her ankle.

So he grabs her scarf and pulls her towards him, and his tongue dances across her lips as he wets them, but he is not expecting her to open her mouth, much less to meet his tongue with hers, and the next thing he knows she is climbing on his bed and straddling his lap, her long white skirt riding up to her mid thighs as his hands caress her soft skin. Her hands cup his face, his skin is not as soft as before for he has yet to shave, but she does not care and she pulls away from his mouth to trail fervent and wet kisses on his jaw line and neck, and he grips her rear and forces her to rub against his growing erection, and they both let out a quiet moan. But the moment is short lived, because their runny noses and their fever and their achy bones do not allow them to go much further, but they share a look and a silent promise that they will finish it once they are better.

"For how long have you been taking care of me while I sleep?" His thumbs smooth circles on her waist and she shivers on top of him.

Her tired eyes meet with his, "A while." When his eyebrows arch ever so slightly, she sighs and moves to lie beside him under the covers. "Around five weeks." Levi hums as he puts an arm over her shoulders and pulls her close, and it does not take long for her to fall asleep.

It is mid morning when Erwin, Hanji and Armin stop by the doorway before they leave for a meeting, and they are surprised to find Levi reading one of the many books piled on the nightstand, but it is when Eren squeezes his way through their bodies so he can enter the room (and accidentally trips and falls on his knees) that they notice the extra body on the bed. Mikasa shifts under the covers when the sound reaches her ears, but Levi squeezes her arm softly and she stops moving, and remains quiet even when her brother hastily stands and opens his mouth, ready to cry out for an explanation, but he is cut short when a book is thrown his way and he barely evades it.

Levi feels their inquisitive gaze on him and without taking his eyes away from the book, he flips the pages and answers in a raspy voice, "Blame it on the fever."