bonds | aot x oc (levi's sister)

➝ blond hair, azure eyes

~ 𝖇𝖔𝖓𝖉𝖘 ~

"Do you have a while?" Annie asked, and I nodded. She led me out of the training grounds and we sat on the front steps of the cafeteria hut.

The sun dipped slowly on the horizon and caused the sand on the dry ground to glow a bright gold. A breeze washed over us and played with our hair, the underbellies of clouds showcasing an orange-pink hue.

There were a few moments of silence before she spoke again. "You're deaf, huh?" I looked at her. She was already looking at me. I nodded.

"Yeah. I can hear you fine now, but it's hard to hear farther than about a meter away..." I said stretching my arm out as a sort of visual representation. She hummed and looked ahead again. I lowered my arm.

"I saw the way you fought Bertholdt earlier..." She smiled. "You're pretty good." I smiled and looked ahead too, leaning against the banister of the steps.

"Thanks...  My brother taught me some stuff. I'm a bit rusty though - he'd probably be disappointed." Annie sighed in understanding.

"I've also had that look cast at me one too many times..." I hummed and decided not to push any further. We sat in silence again - a comfortable one - enjoying each other's presence. Sure, we were still only acquaintances, but you didn't need to know someone personally to feel comfortable around them.

Her voice broke the silence again. "You're a girl, aren't you?"

That caught me by surprise.

I gasped, my eyes widening unintentionally. "W-what?!" My voice raised slightly higher than normal. My ears were probably a light shade of pink - a thing that happened to me whenever I was caught out or embarrassed.

"Your reaction just confirms my hunch." She said looking back at me. "Earlier when you were fighting Bertholdt, I could see you holding your arms over your chest defensively, like you were protecting something. Am I right?" I nodded meekly. She continued. "It was also pretty obvious when you didn't scream in agony when he kicked you in the nuts."

I gasped. "P-pretty... obvious?" I cursed myself for stuttering.

"Yeah..." She paused, sensing my alarm. "But the others are probably too dense or too stupid to think into it like I did..." Her eyes then grew a little soft. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah... It doesn't hurt now." I said looking down at the wooden steps. "Thank you for asking, though." I added.

"Sure."

We stopped talking after that and spent, what was probably, an hour just sitting in silence with each other. It felt good to have relieved a slight amount of the burden I was carrying. Hopefully, I could get closer than just acquaintances with this girl.

I sighed contentedly, catching Annie's eye. I felt her eyes on me and I got shy, looking at her and then back at the ground. She laughed.

"You're ears are red." I snapped my head up, glaring at her playfully. She nudged my shoulder speaking softly. "Hey, don't worry. I won't tell anyone. Just... try to work on your reactions."

I smiled and nodded thankfully.

-----next day

"ALRIGHT, PIPSQUEAKS!" Shadis bellowed. I was careful to stand a good 4 meters away from him as to not kill my ears. "NOW YOUR APTITUDE WILL BE TESTED!"

I could slightly hear murmurs of excitement from friend-groups scattered around the training ground. I was standing next to Annie, Reiner, and Bertholdt.

"THOSE WHO FAIL ARE NOT EVEN WORTHY TO SERVE AS BAIT !" There was a moment of stunned silence before he continued. "FAILURES WILL BE SENT TO THE RECLAIMED LANDS!"