Soon, the faint outline of the fifty meter walls came into view. Hanji let out a gleeful whoop, but Erwin's face stayed solemn. For, the hundred of men they lost rest heavily on his shoulders.
Levi snuck a glance at his commander. His eyes were creased with grief. Levi let out a sigh and allowed his horse to continue trotting to the now opened gates of wall Maria.
There was not the usual hubbub of insults thrown every which way. Most of the civilians were asleep soundly in their beds. Erwin was grateful. He didn't have to answer to the thousands of questions from the grieving civilians and nobles alike. For now at least.
They arrived at headquarters and dismounted their horses. They tied them back up in the stables and some went to their respective rooms swiftly while others lingered. Levi was one of the ones to linger. He didn't necessarily talk much, he just knew there was no way in hell that he would be able to sleep properly after a mission like this. So he leaned against the stone walls and looked up at the stars.
Erwin gave a few pained smiles to his subordinates before heading inside to his office, to hopefully finish the stack of paperwork that he never had a shortage of.
About 3 am is when a knock at the office door sounded. "Come in." Erwin called politely, not taking his eyes off the paper. No one other than the captain opened the door.
"What the hell do you think you're doing, Erwin?" He looked up,
"Oh, hello, Levi. Why are you still up at this hour?"
"I could ask the same thing, blondie."
Erwin chuckled good-naturedly, "I'm doing paperwork. I thought I should get some done since there's bound to be an avalanche of it tomorrow."
"Have you eaten since we came back?" Levi asked abruptly. Erwin shook his head and turned his head back down to his work.
Levi rolled his eyes, "Soon enough you're going to starve yourself which would be a pretty shitty way to die after all this."
Erwin chuckled again, "Ah, I forgot."
"Bullshit, Erwin." Levi left the office and came back with a loaf of bread and some butter on a small dish. He set it on top of the paper Erwin was working on, "I don't care if I have to stay up all damn night, I'm going to watch you eat this bread, blondie." Levi sat down on the chair in front of the commander's desk and stared piercingly at him, "Eat." He instructed.
Erwin set aside his papers and cut a slice of bread and smearing some butter onto the one side. He took a small bite. "How are you doing, Levi?"
The raven man shrugged, "Meh. I'm alright." Erwin nodded his understanding and the silence fell between them again. He was about halfway through the loaf when a distinct noise came from Levi.
"Tsk." he muttered, "This place is a pigsty."
"Haven't had much time to clean."
"If you wouldn't do paperwork and planning shit every waking hour, then maybe you would have time." Levi shot at him.
Erwin fell silent once again and Levi sighed, "Why do you always board yourself up in here?"
The commander gave the smaller man a puzzled look, "What do you mean?"
"You're never outside, Erwin. You're always in here. Doing paperwork or perfecting the formation or other shit. I'm worried about you." A pink blush rose up Levi's cheeks on the realization of what he had said. "Fucking workaholic." he added
A soft smile formed on Erwin's face, "You're worried about me?"
Levi glared at him, "Shut the fuck up. You know what I meant. The cadets are going to think we don't even have a damn commander anymore since you don't ever show you're face."
Erwin chuckled, "Then I will have to get out more." Levi nodded his affirmation and stared at the thick piles of paper around Erwin's desk.
"You know, I could help you, get all the paperwork done. Because there's no way in hell that you'll get it finished on your own."
"As you wish." Levi moved his chair to the corner of Erwin's desk and grabbed a handful. "You can only do a little, Levi. I don't want you to lose sleep."
Levi snorted, "Look at you telling me not to do much paperwork and get some sleep." Erwin chuckled and they started on the paperwork together.
