Author's Note: This story is mostly told from Zeke's point of view, but there's a good reason, I promise. :)
Zeke sat on the same old log in the center of camp, reading the same old book for the fifth time.
It had been like this for weeks – imprisoned in this forest with nothing to do, guarded by no less than thirty soldiers. Of course, that included Captain Levi, whose face still made appearances in Zeke's nightmares. For the moment, he didn't have to worry about Levi trying to kill him, but he almost wished that the captain would make a move, just to save him from his boredom. As it was, the only break in this monotonous existence was the occasional arrival of a message or a supply wagon – always brought by the same two men.
However, today, when Zeke heard the pounding of a horse's hooves and looked up, the new arrival was someone he had never seen before. It was a woman – a very beautiful one, at that – who was quickly greeted with salutes by the other soldiers present, so she must have held a relatively high rank. Zeke also surmised that she must be the elusive third person he had heard his guards talking about – one of the soldiers who was trusted to bring supplies and information to this site, who was trusted to know his highly classified location.
"Section Commander!" one of Zeke's female guards called – revealing the woman's title. He found it interesting that someone of such a high rank was playing messenger. "Could you show us that dance again? I tried to teach Lina, but I can't remember how it goes."
"Sure, sure," the woman replied kindly. "Let's go over there. We'll need some space."
"Hey, I want to try!"
"Me too!"
"Please!"
The woman held up her hands placatingly as she was bombarded with requests from all ten of Zeke's female guards. "Okay, calm down. You can all join in. Emilia, do you still have your flute?"
They followed the section commander to a clearing not far off. Zeke observed them, if only for something to do. However, he was surprised when a few of the male guards sat down next to him.
"Man, I can't believe we get a front-row seat," one said to another.
Zeke found himself agreeing with that sentiment once the ladies started to dance. Of course, he wasn't interested in any sort of romantic endeavors, since such things would be pointless if he achieved his ultimate goal. All the same, he had to admit that the women were...quite attractive...especially the section commander who was leading them.
"Say, Valis," Zeke muttered to the soldier closest to him, "who is that woman?"
"Huh? Oh, that's the captain's wife, Section Commander (f/n)," Valis replied nonchalantly, keeping his eyes on the spectacle. "She was trained as a dancer before she enlisted, and she still does it as a form of exercise. She's gotten a lot of the female soldiers into it, too."
Zeke found himself doing a double-take. "Wait..." he gasped. "You said she's 'the captain's wife'. Surely...you don't mean Captain Levi?"
Valis shrugged. "Yeah. Who else?"
Zeke's jaw dropped so hard that it nearly hit the ground.
Given the captain's short stature and unsociable disposition, Zeke had always assumed that he wasn't popular with the ladies – or anyone, really. He supposed that Levi must have done something right, if he managed to put a ring on that beauty. But no matter how hard Zeke tried, he couldn't fathom how such a seemingly kind, energetic, and...dare he say, sexy...young woman had fallen for someone like Levi. Perhaps opposites attract?
"So...even though she's the captain's wife, you still...ogle her?" Zeke asked tentatively, trying to wrap his head around the image of her and Levi together.
"What? Oh, no! No one is that stupid!" Valis assured him. The soldier blushed as he added, "Personally, I'm here for Emilia. And Hans, he likes Giselle. I'm also pretty sure that Finn has a thing for Lina. There are a few others, too."
"Huh," Zeke mused as he returned his attention to the dancers. It wasn't like they were doing anything overly seductive, but even so...they were mesmerizing. Clearly, (f/n)'s years of training had paid off.
"Well, I'll give him this," Zeke uttered, still in a state of shock. "Captain Levi is a lucky man."
"What's that, Beardy?"
Zeke nearly jumped out of his seat. He quickly turned around, only to be met with a glare that he, unfortunately, knew all too well.
"Ah, Levi," Zeke chimed nervously, rubbing the back of his neck.
Of course, Levi had probably been nearby the entire time, enjoying the show as well. Who wouldn't want to watch their wife dance like that? Then again...Zeke had a hard time picturing the stone-faced captain as someone who experienced those types of feelings.
"Tch," Levi hissed. "Don't stare at my wife, you stupid monkey."
"Oh, n-no! It's not like that!" Zeke stammered, holding up his hands in a placating gesture. "I didn't mean any harm. I...well, I only meant that your wife is very beautiful."
Those piercing eyes narrowed. "Don't talk about (f/n) that way," Levi snapped.
Zeke blinked in surprise. For a moment, he was too stunned to say anything. Did the captain hate him so much that he wasn't even allowed to compliment his wife?
The titan shifter opened his mouth to ask, but before he could, a female voice rang out indignantly from behind him...
"Yeah, don't talk about me that way!"
Zeke whirled around, only to find the captain's wife just standing just a few meters away, hands on her hips, glaring at him with such utter loathing that she looked even scarier than Levi. Still beautiful, but...terrifying.
Suddenly, it seemed that the couple wasn't so opposite, after all.
"Ah...I'm sorry, miss," Zeke stammered hastily. "I meant no offense."
Despite his apology, her expression didn't change. Neither (f/n) nor Levi uttered a word, and Zeke glanced back and forth between them, at a loss for what to do. He was met with unwavering glares on both sides.
"Um...would the two of you mind...not glaring at me like that?" he asked nervously.
No response.
On second thought, Zeke mused, maybe they do fit well together.
Finally, the awkwardness was broken by one of the soldiers who had been dancing earlier. She ran over to (f/n) and chimed, "Hey, do you want some wine? It's the good stuff that they normally only give to the MP's!"
(F/n) removed her gaze from Zeke and replied flatly, "I'd prefer tea."
Yeah. They're definitely a matching set.
"But in any case, I can't stay," (f/n) continued. "If I don't leave soon, I'll be late."
"Then you'd better say what you came to say," Levi muttered, walking over to stand at her side.
She nodded. "We should probably go somewhere else, since I assume you don't want him to hear it."
Levi nodded, and with one last glare at Zeke, the couple left.
Zeke watched them until they disappeared into the forest. It was too bad that (f/n) had refused the wine. Having the captain's wife under his control would have given him incomparable leverage, but in the end, it wasn't a huge setback. The original plan would work just fine.
Poor things, he thought. Well, I hope they enjoy their time together.
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As soon as they were out of earshot, (f/n) murmured, "How are you doing?"
"Fine," he replied. "You?"
"The same."
Levi hummed in acknowledgement, and they took a few more steps before he asked, "So, what's the situation?"
"Not much is new on that front either, I'm afraid," she replied, sounding a bit exhausted. "Do you have anything for Hanji?"
"Yeah," he grumbled. "Tell her to hurry up. We don't have time to just sit around."
"She knows that," (f/n) murmured. "But getting everyone to agree is harder than trying to herd cats. She's doing her best."
Levi sighed. "I know."
He glanced over his shoulder, confirming that they were finally out of everyone's sight. A wall of foliage loomed behind them, hiding them from the camp...and giving them privacy. (F/n) must have had the same idea, because a second later, she had him shoved up against a tree, pressing her lips passionately to his own.
Levi didn't waste any time – knowing that they wouldn't have much. He tugged her closer by the straps of her gear until her hips were flush against his, his body electrified by every point of contact. Before she even asked, he opened his mouth beneath hers, practically begging her to come inside. When she did, he released a needy whine that he would have been mortified to let his subordinates hear.
Her touch felt like a drink of cold water after nearly dying of thirst. Yet, at the same time, it wasn't enough. But it was all they could do right now.
Her hands rubbed gently at his chest before sliding upward to tangle in his hair. He groaned when she tugged on the strands – his scalp being a sensitive spot that she and she alone was permitted to exploit. Now that her hands were out of the way, every part of her from the neck down was pressed against him, and it felt exquisite.
Meanwhile, his hands moved almost on their own, having memorized which spots she liked best and wanting to give her as much as he could before they had to part ways. His fingertips brushed the nape of her neck, and he felt her shiver – hyper-aware of how vulnerable that spot was, and yet trusting him to use it only for her pleasure. His other hand moved across the back of her uniform, caressing the base of her spine, rubbing circles into her hips, and further down.
Too soon, they had to pull apart to catch their breath.
As they panted against each other's skin, (f/n)'s lips quirked into a smirk, and she released a small chuckle. "Are you sure there isn't another reason you want Hanji to hurry up?" she purred, referencing the eagerness with which he had responded to her advances.
"Tch," Levi hissed out of habit, but he was currently too dizzy to put any sharpness into his tone. On top of that, he rather enjoyed (f/n) teasing him like this – although he rarely allowed himself to admit it. "You know I miss you," he stated.
Her smirk softened into a genuine smile at his words. "And I miss you," she whispered.
Absentmindedly, he stroked his fingertips up and down her spine – no longer in a heated way, but a calming one. It was instinctive for him to cater to her needs, even though he wanted nothing more in that moment than to offer himself to her against the tree or on the forest floor. They both had jobs to do, and she needed to come back down to Earth, so Levi would bring her there.
He felt her fingers petting his hair, calming him as he calmed her, while simultaneously fixing the mess she had made of it. Levi felt his eyelids fluttering at the familiar sensation, and he only managed to keep them open because he knew that he wouldn't have much longer to look at his wife's face. He had missed this, too – the quiet moments when they could just hold each other, exchanging gentle touches while their heartbeats fell into sync.
He took a deep breath, then forced himself to mutter, "We should be getting back."
(F/n) nodded, yet she made no move to let him go. Her hand slid from his hair to his cheek, knuckles stroking tenderly across the bone. "I know you know this," she murmured, "but...don't let your guard down, even for a second. Please."
Levi tilted his face into her hand, rubbing his cheek into her palm before brushing his lips lightly against her skin. God, he loved how she held him. "I won't," he promised, understanding that she wasn't saying this out of a disbelief in his judgement, but because she couldn't bear to have anything bad to happen to him.
She released a quiet sigh before leaning in to kiss the cheek she wasn't holding. "Be safe," she whispered, as though it were a wish, or a prayer – an appeal to some higher power to watch out for him, in this world where anything could happen.
"You too," he replied, returning her kiss with one of his own.
Too soon, she pulled away. They walked back to camp with a professional distance between them, fighting the urge to reach out and take each other's hands, regardless of who saw. Things like this never got any easier.
Levi walked her to her horse and saw her off without a word. Just before she left, she looked down at him from the saddle, their shared gaze conveying everything they couldn't say in front of the other soldiers. And then she was gone.
Everyone else in camp pretended not to notice the lovers' silent goodbye. They also didn't comment on his and (f/n)'s excursion into the forest, though they must have had some idea of what went on. In fact, they probably imagined more than what had actually occurred.
But they also knew what it was like to miss someone, in one way or another.
Perfectly composed, Levi returned to his usual spot around the campfire, his eyes never leaving Zeke.
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"Do you really have to glare at me like that, Levi?" Zeke asked, keeping his eyes on his book, even though he clearly wasn't reading it.
Levi said nothing.
Zeke sighed before marking his page and closing the novel. He met Levi's gaze and remarked, "You know, I'd be careful about letting your young wife go off on her own, if I were you. It's a dangerous world out there."
"Oh, don't worry about (f/n)," Levi replied flatly, in much the same tone he used when describing how he would savor Zeke's death. "She can handle herself."
Just then, one of the soldiers called out for Levi, and he went over to consult with them about something. A second later, Valis sat on the log next to Zeke.
"He's not kidding," Valis muttered, keeping his voice low. "Why do you think none of us are brave enough to stare at her while she dances? She'd rip out our intestines and feed them to us."
"That's an...interesting way of putting it," Zeke replied. However, after enduring just her glare, he fully believed that she was someone you wouldn't want to cross. If he wasn't so personally traumatized by Levi, it would have been difficult to tell which of them was scarier when angry.
Zeke shuddered. Yes, it seemed the happy couple truly was made for each other.