The Good Captain | Levi x Reader

Short: 'So ist es Immer"

The sun was warm as it set across the horizon. You dug your fingers in the sand below you and closed your eyes. It had been a long day.

You brought your knees to your chest and hugged them with your arms, taking a deep breath. You let your head drop against your legs. You could fall asleep right now if you really wanted to, but before you could drift away into dreamland, you felt the familiar presence of a body moving next to you.

You opened your eyes and turned to the right, where your lover had just sat down. He must be really tired- he never sits down on the sand without laying out a blanket first, let alone touches it with his hands.

No words needed to be exchanged right now, all you needed was the other's company. You watched his pupils as his eyes scanned the colors of the sunset before you. This had become somewhat of a routine for the two of you. Construction of the docks had begun only a few weeks ago, and you were spending every day in hard labor.

You breathed in the salty air and watched as the others scrambled inside to carry on working or retire for the evening. There were definitely some of them more committed to this than others, but that's always bound to happen. You felt like you used to understand most of what went inside your fellow soldiers' heads, but most of the time now you just felt like you were in the dark. At a time like this you could really use someone like Silva, who could read anyone after just a few seconds of talking with them.

You imagined what your friends would think of all of this. Mylius would probably be hesitant with all the new information, but you could see Renko and Silva being absolutely pumped about it all. You yearned for their company in times like this.

"Sometimes..." Levi spoke first. "I just want to walk away from all of this."

He looked like he had more to say, so you stayed silent and let him speak.

"It's all going so fast. We don't even really know what we're doing. We're taking advice from people we can probably trust. I know Hanji's all excited about every new piece of information we get, so that leaves me to be the skeptical one. If I walk away right now, I wouldn't have to deal with any of this crap." He started to draw circles in the sand with his fingers. His eyes flickered up to you in a sad expression. "But I can't do that. I... I'm a loyal person."

You joined him in creating designs in the sand. "Yes, you are." You said. "But that doesn't mean you can't have doubts. If we don't question authority, it would have no pressure to be better. I know it's exhausting, but you have to be the hardest one to convince. Hanji values your opinion; I know she does. If you don't feel good about something, she would want to know. She relies on you to be the one to catch things when her guard is down."

Levi poked his finger deeper into the sand out of frustration. "I hate that you're right. Why do you have so make so much sense all the time?"

You let your eyes linger on the shining sand, which was now illuminated by the moon. "I've got a lot of time to think. I'm at all your meetings but I don't speak, which means I can act somewhat as a neutral third-party. Or at least, I can pretend that I'm one."

He brushed the back of his hand down your arm, careful not to get any sand on your clothes. "Of course. You can pretend."

"Yeah, truth is, I'm probably just as skeptical as you. Which is weird, considering I'm usually more like Hanji. I guess you're rubbing off on me, Grumpy."

Levi scowled. "That's not such a bad thing."

You smiled. This was the perfect spot to sit when the sun went down- it allowed you to see the stars in all their glory. The sky was so clear at the beach. You could understand why Armin had been so excited to finally come here. It felt like a completely different world beyond the walls, even though you had been able to come out here for about a year already. It was still breathtaking every time.