It Started With Cadet Training (Reader/Levi/Erwin/Hange/Mike)

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She helps you carry over both your and her food, letting you carry the tea tray so that you didn't spill it. She was much stronger than she looked, even beating you to the table. Mike looked down at her, mouth half-full as he took the tray from her so that it wouldn't spill.

She scoots up on the bench next to him, letting him pick her up and place her in his lap so she can reach the table as well. You settle down across from him, sitting next to Levi with the tray in the middle of the table.

"Ready to try this?" you ask, pouring Levi a cup of tea.

He nods his head, picking up the cup of tea from the tray and raising it to his lips. You're about to stop him before you remember he does in fact drink tea at burning temperature. Patiently, you watch his face, waiting for a reaction. He takes a small sip, pulls the cup back and stares at it for a moment, before taking another, holding the cup in front of his lips to hide the smile on his face as he closes his eyes.

A small, satisfied smile spreads across your lips as you dig into your meal. You knew he wasn't going to speak out loud how much he enjoyed the tea - not until the five of you were alone - but he did offer Erwin, Hange, and Mike (as well as anyone who passed by the table) a cup until the tea was completely gone and he'd had two cups.

You took your time eating and drinking. You had to admit you outdid yourself, both with the tea and the stew. The Scouts seemed to agree as Gelgar and Lauda rolled up their sleeves and got to work on the dishes, assisted by Gunther and Nifa. The dishes were done in record time.

There was never a Scout base in Shinshaga, but there was a place where the Garrison used to work out. Thanks to Pyxis's guidance (he stayed with a few Garrison members in Trost) you were able to find the large building easily. During the time that dinner was cooking, a few Scouts had been sent to survey the inside, deeming it a "fixer-upper" but useable to sleep in for the night.

Despite Levi's protests, you tucked the kids in for the night in the spare rooms that weren't occupied by Scouts and found your way to the Commander's visiting quarters. It gave him enough time to clean as much as he could before you finished, stepping in and collapsing on the bed. The others looked around as Levi did some last-minute cleaning. Your attention turning to Mike as he exclaims something muffled by the wall, returning to the room.

"I found an old guitar!" he declares, holding up an extremely dusty yet intact guitar.

"Can you play?" you question, pulling your boots off with a relieved sigh as he settles down on the bed next to you.

"I used to before joining the cadets. We never had the budget for one and I could never justify the purchase, so I might be a bit rusty," he admits, cringing as the strings wail from simple plucks as he tunes the strings.

"I'm sure you're still just as good as you were," Erwin says, shrugging off his jacket and hanging it on one of the hooks.

"I doubt it, but, any requests that you want to hear me butcher?"

"Oh! Can you do 'Till Forever Falls Apart'?" Hange requests, crashing down behind you onto the fresh sheets that Levi had placed on the bed.

"I'll try," Mike chuckles, ghosting his fingers across the strings as he recalls the notes.

It's like listening to a brand new record. Crystal clear and near perfect. It draws you in, especially when he starts to sing and Hange joins in. The two of them harmonizing together as the song carries throughout the room.

His playing manages to lull Levi into a state of calm, ceasing his cleaning and undressing to join the others in the bed as Erwin settles down behind you, resting his head in the crook of your neck. Mike carries on until the song finishes, a bright smile on his face as you cheer when he plays the final note.

"See? You're still a master," Erwin points out, smiling against your skin.

"Because I know that song by heart," Mike argues stubbornly.

"Okay, how about 'halcyon'?" you request, challenging his guitar skills if he was going to be so negative.

"By BLÜ EYES?"

You nod your head in confirmation, patiently waiting as he forms the first few chords.

He plays as if the music was something he made himself. Letting you sing the lyrics with him and forming a quiet duet in the late hours of the night. You didn't know how long he kept playing after that, it was well into the night before he put the guitar down and curled up on the bed with the rest of you.

The rest of the month followed the same pattern. You'd get up in the morning, make breakfast, and then listen to Erwin's agenda for the day. Then you'd lead your squad through whatever was necessary for the day, sometimes it was fetching building supplies or workers from Wall Rose, other days it was assisting in building Shinishaga again or watching the kids. You didn't particularly mind any task, simply happy to be around your family and friends.

You'd take a break to make dinner with a few of the scouts and a couple of kids who'd volunteer to help. Your favourite were the days when you had all the kids so they could help set the tables for everyone. Once dinner was cooked and you called everyone over, you'd settle down with your family to eat.

Dishes were done by Scout volunteers, a rotating pattern emerging without the need for anyone's planning. Sometimes you had dessert, usually when someone had fetched people from the inner walls as they usually picked something up.

After everything was eaten, you'd find your ways towards the fire for broken supplies, sitting around on benches as Mike played his guitar. They managed to find other instruments in the wreckage, a couple of violins, a banjo, another guitar, and a drum set. Most of the instruments were left and lost to time, forming an odd band around the fire that lasted late into the night.

You'd usually sneak away to put the kids to bed, using it as an excuse to drag Erwin from his paperwork so that the kids could say goodnight to him. He rarely went back to work after that, allowing you to drag him to the fire and share a few songs and drinks. When the night finally wound down, you found yourself wrapped up in their arms in bed again. The comforting feeling of their heartbeats letting you know you were there and loved.

This pattern actually carried out for quite a few months, eventually leading to all of the houses being repaired or rebuilt. A few Scout members moved out of the command center and into houses together, ones that were abandoned or rebuilt with their owners deceased. You stayed in the castle, preferring to be able to walk into the next room and drag Erwin to bed, and urged by the kids with exclamations of "we love the castle!".

During the time of construction, Erwin did disappear with Levi for a week, going overseas to Marley. When he came back he had a full copy of the peace-treaty he'd worked out with them. Entailing the freedom of all Eldain people, which included the remaining ones being brought over to Paradis at the end of the year. Upon his return, plans were immediately drafted for a city outside the walls for the Eldians to live (they would have the option to move inside the walls as well).

After a full year had passed since the construction, your routine changing in a few places but not many, you finally brought people back to live in Shinsihaga. Construction workers were the first to be brought over, as well as farmers so that they could start colonizing the fields outside the walls and start work on the city beyond the walls. It would be an extension of Trost for now, with hopes of actual cities beyond the walls.

As you collapsed into bed on the anniversary of your arrival, tipsy from alcohol, a bright smile shone across your face. As you fished out your ring around your neck, you smiled to yourself. You'd been engaged for a year, in secret. It felt like the worlds most special secret, one that no one knew but your favourite people (including a few of the kids). You couldn't imagine telling your younger self about the world today, you wouldn't want to spoil the ending.