Hello all! As summer has rolled in I found myself to have more time for writing and so I have finally taken the time to put this new story up that's been siting in my hard drive for a few months now. Since I've been on here I feel my writing style has matured and I hope that will reflect in this as it is first story I'm posting after such an extensive unofficial hiatus. Please enjoy :)

The day was an insignificant day as far as days went in the Survey Corps. It was sunny with a mild temperature and temperate breezes. Leaves spiraled lazily from their perches on the branches, green grass swayed easily in the slight wind, and clouds rolled lethargically in the vast sky. Young soldiers ambled about with a relaxed gait to their strolls; enjoying the normality and peacefulness of the scene, and basking in the presence of their close comrades. It wasn't very often that the soldiers who risked their lives to venture outside the walls got to see a peaceful day such as this. They relished it, some even hoping that such a day would never end. To Lance Corporal Levi though, all of this hardly meant anything. It was simply a better day than yesterday, it truly held little more value than others.

Levi sat lounging in his office sipping a brew of gunpowder green tea in the company of one Mikasa Ackerman, the person he seemed to find himself in the company of more often than not these days. They sat relaxed on an old leather love-seat that had been in the office long before Levi had begun using it, maintaining a respectable distance yet still close enough to soak up each other's presence. His arm was slung casually over the back of the couch, leg thrown haphazardly over his knee while Mikasa sat curled up contentedly. He wrinkled his nose slightly at the smokey grass essence currently settling on his taste buds, he honestly preferred the more mild taste of chamomile but it had been Mikasa's turn to pick the flavor and the woman seemed to have a strange affinity for the strong grassy taste. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Mikasa give a lazy smirk at his subtle distaste and he rolled his eyes, knocking his knee against her own. She chuckled, he flicked the back of her head impishly. The woman huffed in mock exasperation, eyes going skyward.

Levi wasn't quite sure when they had become so close. Despite having friends and acquaintances their own age, they simply found it natural to drift towards each other when in large crowds. Or any other setting for that matter. Some reasoned that it was their quiet demeanor that led them to stick together. Others said it was their blunt and harsh way of speaking that had people keeping a wide berth, making it inevitable they would speak to each other.

Hanji would joke and call them old souls or kindred spirits and would go on for a few minutes in a tangent about fate. Neither Levi nor Mikasa believed in that kind of superstitious garbage; nor did they really care to listen to it. If anything, the spewed crap about the stars aligning in the right place and 'horoscopes' only further proved Levi's theory that Hanji was deranged. If it had 'horror' as a part of the pronunciation then obviously it wasn't beneficial to a person's wellbeing.

Oftentimes soldiers would whisper rumors about them dating or being lovers. If one was to look at it objectively, it was an understandable assumption; what with humanity's most powerful soldiers being in each other's constant proximity nearly every hour of the day. It was added fuel to the fire as Levi had neither the patience to dispel said rumors nor the mercy to spare for shitty loud-mouthed brats who should be cleaning instead of talking. Mikasa simply didn't care what others thought of her.

There had been no specific time the phenomenon, as their friendship had been dubbed, occurred. There was no special event triggering their conversations that led them to forge this bond. It had come as a shock to both when they sat down to dinner one night and realized they had been off in their own conversation for the entire duration of dinner without a violent fight breaking out, leaving the rest of the Special Ops squad to stare at them oddly.

Mikasa didn't know when she had stopped referring to him as the "irksome shorty who had hurt Eren" and Levi was just as stumped as to when he stopped calling her "that damned disrespectful brat". It had been a natural progression. Maybe they realized they were getting too old for such juvenile treatment, although Mikasa could stand to slide a snide comment in about Levi's height in correlation to his age in that retrospect. Perhaps they had subconsciously needed something more than frustration and exasperation from the person they related to best. Whatever it was, the transition had been natural. Natural and unfamiliar but not entirely unwelcome. People like them needed to cling to natural. Natural was normal, natural was what should have been in this world. They needed normal, and if normal so happened to be a quirky companionship where insults were endearments and affectionate touches were slightly less than broken ribs, then so be it. They could live with that and learn to thrive on it.

Lately though, Levi was beginning to notice something abnormal about his behavior. His stomach flopped oddly when she brushed against him; his chest tightened when she was left sweaty and breathless from a hard days training, clothes sticking to her in an appealing manner; his hands twitched in jealousy when other men approached her. Levi didn't necessarily dislike these feelings, they were abnormal yes but not entirely distasteful. He simply passed them off as lust, after all Mikasa was unquestionably beautiful and he was a healthy man with needs that was frequently in her immediate vicinity. It was a natural development, and did their entire relationship not revolve around them accepting whatever came about? Impulses would be impulses, they would most likely fade. He would never dare act on his desires, lest he ruin this current comfortable lifestyle he shared with her. Not to mention she seemed to only have eyes for that fool Jaeger.

However he was often left to sleepless nights, Mikasa dancing seductively in and out of his dreams when he awoke sweaty, bothered and needing a kind of relief that only she would be able to provide. After nights like those he was never quite able to fully meet her gaze the next morning. It was shameful if he was being honest with himself, but then again Levi had never claimed to be a saintly person. Erotic dreams were natural, and it was natural he would dream about someone he was close to who happened to be very attractive. At least, that is what he would try and continue to delude himself into thinking.

Today's conversation was relaxed, centered around nothing in particular. Mikasa gracefully helped herself to another cup of tea and Levi couldn't help the arrogant little jab that easily slipped out as he tried to coax her into one of their infamous verbal spars.

"Am I such an awe-inspiring figure that you've even picked up my preferred beverage choice?" He smirked slightly as he said it.

"The only thing you inspire is for kids to eat their vegetables, shorty." She retaliated easily as she sipped at her brew, not quite in the mood to start angrily shouting on such a pleasant day.

"Tell that to Springer, I swear that idiot was painting the damned table with his food instead of eating it. Shitty brat." He grumbled. The light, easy-going chuckle that reached his ears made his chest swell and he frowned thoughtfully at the sensation.

"Don't worry Captain Clean, I'll make sure he doesn't make a mess next time."

"Thank the heavens I have you." He drawled out the sentence sarcastically but Mikasa easily picked out the sincerity and truth behind it. She graced him with a small, radiant and gentle smile and he was momentarily stunned by the simplistic beauty of it. White and even teeth just barely peeked out from behind plump lips while glossy black hair framed her lovely pale skin. Beautiful, stormy grey eyes were open windows only for him and he could see the warmth and comfort she took from the moment. Taking her face in and committing the sight to memory as he had done many a time before, Levi came to realize that he was probably the only person to ever see Mikasa Ackerman so pure and unguarded. His chest swelled with masculine pride and a strong wave of possession overtook him. He wanted her smile for his eyes only, he wanted to cherish every moment they spent together, he wanted to spend every day like this with her, and most importantly he wanted her to stop thinking of Jaeger all the time.

He blinked a moment, feeling conflicted. This was just all part of that natural advancement in their relationship right? It seemed to be the logical solution at least.

Levi was by no means a shitty emotional sap but he felt like he might spontaneously combust if he had to keep repressing these impulses and feelings. On any other day he would have rolled his eyes at the absurdity of it all, he probably would have mocked himself as well.

Yet it was in that exact moment on that seemingly insignificant day that the Lance Corporal realized that he might possibly be in love with this woman worth a hundred soldiers.

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