Beyond the gates [Various x reader] Part 14

Waking up earlier than you were used to, you strode to the backyard and made some morning exercises. Stretching, some strength training and some relaxing yoga-poses as well. You wanted to be ready for your training, you knew that the Military Police had gained itself a bad reputation lately and you wanted to prove them wrong.

Straighten your legs you bended over and tried to reach your toes with your fingertips. Dressed in your casual sportswear you could feel how the hem of your pants decided to travel south.

"Stupid pants.." you mumbled as you pulled them higher.
"Oh I wouldn't call them stupid."

Turning around you faced a pretty small soldier, even smaller than Levi.

"What do you want Connie? It's not time for breakfast so why are you already awake?"
"I'm always up at this hour. When Berthold is sleepy in the morning he oversees me easily and I won't end up overran twice."

You snickered at his remark. It’s not like you had spent a lot of time with him until now, but you were one who never had anything against new friendships.

"Since you are already here, wanna join me? The exercises are pretty easy and if you need help, I'll help you"

You smiled at him as he strolled towards you. Scratching the back of his bold head, he put on a sheepish smile as he came closer to you and tried his hardest not to blush. Though you knew why he felt nervous, you decided to simply ignore his little embarrassment for your and Connie’s gladness.

"So how do we start?"

After you showed him some different poses you were positively surprised to see how well he did all of them. He had some troubles at the beginning, but got better after each exercise he had finished.
Well, he had troubles with the last pose. No matter how hard you tried to show it to him, he couldn't do it. Slightly frustrated that he couldn't manage your favorite pose, you decided to help him and so you straightened your back and silently waltzed over to him.

"C'mon, let me see." you whispered in his ear while you pushed your bangs behind your ear.

You stood behind him and bend over to grab his hands in your own, your fingertips brushing along the back of his hand until they intertwined with his.
Slowly leaning down,your chest pressing against his back, you brought his right hand behind his left calve and laid the other hand on his right shoulder to press his arm further down. Gently pressing your weight on him his body bent down.
You shook your head to get the few strands of hair out of your face and placed your head on his shoulder.

"See? It's not as difficult as it looks like."

Stepping back, you eyed him and snickered to yourself.

"Hey what are you laughing at?!"
"You look like a perfect triangle right now."

Grunting at your previous remark, Connie got back to his normal stance, rolled his hurting shoulder and glared at you.

"I'm not a triangle."
"Maybe", you said as you grabbed his hand and ran away,"let's go get breakfast before Sasha has eaten everything."

-Time skip-

"Well you little pieces of shit, I have to check your 3DMG skills, there are 30 dummies in the forest, who killed the most of them after 10 minutes is the winner and now go." Levi informed all of you. He was nice as always as he explained you your task, not caring that he called you 'a piece of shit'.

How long had it been since you last had these handles in your hands. Feeling strange because of the uncomfortable position of your fingers, you silently hated yourself for not repeating what the different triggers were here for.

Ackerman was the first who shot her wires, followed by Reiner and Berthold.

'Of course the top 10...'

Shooting your wires you flew up in the air and wobbled a bit. Yep, you totally forgot how to use the 3DMG.
Trying to steady yourself, you shot your next wire and tried to get to the closest 'titan'.
Aiming for his neck you propelled yourself towards it and cut out a piece of his nape. Another thing that you had forgotten to do before you use the 3DMG was to tie your hair back into a ponytail. With this little problem, all your (h/c) strands managed to get in your eyesight which handicapped your stance in air more than you would have liked. Landing on the nearby branch you glanced at your cut, only to notice that it wasn't deep enough to kill a real titan.

"Oi (l/n)! I thought that the Military Police has the best soldiers." you heard a deep, grumpy voice hiss from somewhere in the woods.

Glaring at Levi you shot your wire and flew away to the next so called titan.

Trying to do better on the next one, you used as much gas as possible and aimed for his neck again. As the blade cut through the fake flesh you felt how your wrist bend backwards and pain shot through your body.
Distracted by the pain in your hand you didn't notice the tree in front of you and crashed into it with full force.

'F*ck'

With a hand held against your head to let the dizziness fade away quicker, you looked back at the titan, noticing that your angle was completely off. You could virtually hear the other soldiers laugh about you as they flew by.
Before you could embarrass yourself, and the Military Police any more, you jumped off the branch and decided to walk back to HQ. It was a shame to leave like this but, it was better than killing yourself when you hit another tree.

"Oi (l/n) is that all what the Military Police can? I thought you were one of the stronger ones!"

You didn't pay tribute to whatever he said and kept on walking, hoping that your friends had made a better performance than you.

As you felt the dizziness increase you shook your head and raised your pace, trying to lay down as quickly as possible.

Trying to blink away the giddiness you didn't acknowledge how your vision got covered with small little black dots until there was nothing of the scenery that surrounded you was insight.

Titling forwards, you fell over.

Armin and Jean flew nearby your slowly unconscious getting figure and stared at you as they were zipping through the forest.
As they saw how your body neared itself the ground, both of them turned mid-air and tried to catch you before your face would hit the ground. Jean, being the more skillful soldier than his blond friend, passed Armin and catched your body. Carefully lying you on your back Jean checked your pulse.

"It's weak...what do we do now?"
"I can help her."

Armin knelt down beside you, grabbed your chin and opened your mouth, locating his index finger and thumb on your nose and gently pressed them together and closed your nostrils.

"Armin, do you want to kill her?"

The blond smiled up at him and blushed slightly as he thought about what he was going to do. He carefully placed his lips on yours and breathed out, letting your body get more oxygen than it could provide itself.

Slowly removing his lips from yours he side-glanced you, checking whether you opened your eyes, but nothing happened.
Returning to what he was doing earlier he pressed his lips again on yours and tried to steady your pulse, but as he noticed that you weren't going to open your eyes, tears began to roll down his cheeks as he set his lips on yours one last time.

-Erwin's office-

Hanji walked in with a pile of paperwork in her hands and a strange question in her mind.
Setting the pile of paper on the Commander's desk, she put one of her hands on her hip and furrowed her brows.

"What does (f/n) mean with 'people rarely miss me'?"

Erwin flinched at the mention of your name and looked up to his subordinate.

"Shouldn't you ask her this question instead of me?"
"I did, but she didn't give me an answer."

Erwin looked aside as he shut his eyes tight and leaned his head on his interlaced hands whose elbows were propped up on the old wooden table in front of him.
With a long sigh escaping his lips, he began to speak.

"She came to the military because her parents abandoned her. She was cold and distant to everybody, afraid of being left alone twice. It was more bearable for her to be alone than being left alone."
"How come you and her became a couple?"
"I promised her that I was never going to leave her side. Probably she thinks that I didn't miss her a sec because of my decision to become the Commander. If you want to have a better explanation you have to ask her."

The brunette looked at her Commander, smiling when she exited his office, leaving him behind in his lonely, large office.
The Commander leaned back in his chair, and turned his face to his window, furrowing his brows as the question from Hanji crossed his mind.

"(f/n), do you really think that I never missed you?"

-forest-

Slowly opening your eyes, you could feel how something wet slided down your jawline and how someone's lips were pressed against yours. Lazily raising a hand, you cupped his cheek and smiled up at the face that greeted you. Flustered and red like a tomato, Armin looked you in the eyes as he couldn't help but hug you.

"I thought you were dead!"

You brought one of your hands behind his head and slowly stroked his silky hair as you tried to sit up.

"(f/n) are you sure that you want to stand up now? You were unconscious moments ago." Jean stated, smiling slightly as he saw your shining orbs.

You smiled at the concerned Jean and reassured him that everything would be fine, at least you wanted to prove them that you were the best at combat-skills.
Raising to your feet a hint to quickly, you stumbled back as the dizziness returned for a sec, only for Jean to catch you by your shoulders.

"Calm down my lady, you don't want to spend another afternoon in the infirmary, do you?"

Smiling sheepishly at him you brushed off the few strands of grass that stuck on your uniform and thanked them for their help.

-Time skip-

"Combat training! You have to get the wooden dagger of your partner as quickly as possible, understood?"
"Yes sir!" you heard the trainees shout in union as they offered Levi a salute. Waving his hand, all of the soldiers searched for a partner.
Searching through the crowd you made your way to Berthold.

"Ready for round two?"

Berthold turned around and with a small nod, he tightened his grip around the wooden dagger and planted his feet firmly on the ground, observing your every movement.
Standing in your fighting stance as well, you brought your left fist in front of your face and the right one close to your right ear, glaring at the tower in front of you, trying to frighten him as best as possible.

Berthold pushed himself off the ground and dust began to swirl through the air. Repeatedly he tried to hit you with the wooden dagger only that you fend off each of his strikes.

Turning on your heel you brought your other leg up as high as possible and aimed for his stomach. The one moment you didn't face him was his opportunity as he grabbed your leg and tore it towards himself, making you lose your balance and fall on your back. A breathless gasp left your lips as the pain shot through your body. Berthold made himself over your body, feet on either side of your body as he looked down at you and brought his hand high above his head before he would slam the dagger in your chest. Metaphorically, just to make things clear.

Eyes widening, you pressed yourself up on your shoulder plates, brought your legs high up in the air and hooked them around his hip, then quickly brought your legs towards you. Now it was his time to lose his balance and fall on the ground.
Standing up you tried to kick the dagger out of his hand, but before your foot could hit his hand, his other one shot forwards and grabbed the ancle of your mainstay and squeezed your hamstring as painfully as humanly possible. Screaming in pain, the tautness of your mainstay loosened abruptly and he grabbed your ankle, pulling you down on the ground again.
Bewildered you looked in the sky as you felt how a tall figure sat itself on your hips, catching your wrists with one of his hands above your head and looked at you.
Sweat dripping down his forehead, the drops leaving a trace in the dusty ground below you. Your hair sticking on your forehead you tried to think of a plan to get out of this situation.

Your eyes began to water as you whimpered.

"It hurts, please stop."

His grip loosened instantly and you grinned at him, grabbing his head with your hands and bringing it down to headbutt him.

This probably wasn't the best idea since your head already hurt and you had been unconscious this morning.
Taken aback Berthold fell on his back and you used your last strength and sat on his chest and pressed your hands against his wrists.

Your sweat dropped down on the ground as your hot head tried to cool down and reach a normal colour.

As your strength left your body you leaned back and laid on Berthold's body.

"Ehm (f/n)?"
"Hm?"
"The position of your head is....it makes me feel uncomfortable.."

Eyes widening you stood up and offered him a hand. Your face red, from the fight and the embarrassment, you helped him up and pat him on the back.

"Good job Huber, but who won?"
"Let's say it's a drawn."
"Drawn is something for losers."

You winked at him as you walked to the other three Military Police soldiers, watching their performance.

Felix had his troubles with Reiner but eventually won against him.
Thoma nearly killed Jean as he was laughing like a lunatic, holding the dagger in his hand.
It was just like you had known them, but even though you loved them, sometimes you wanted to smash their heads against a wall, in this particular moment, Thoma would have been the victim.
And Angelique...well, she had to fight against Ackerman, and a harmed nose from the day before wasn't her only problem anymore.
Giving up, Ackerman released her grip around Angelique's neck and let her fall on the dirty ground where she could hear the laughter of the other soldiers.  

You were already tired like hell as the training ended, but when you heard that there were still chores you had to do, you wished you could have slammed Levi's head against a nearby wall.
Interesting how quickly you changed your victims.

"What do you have to do, Angelique?" Felix asked when he eyed the paper.
"Stall duty?!!" she yelped, grimacing her face into a very...VERY angry expression.

You couldn't suppress the small laughter that escaped your throat when you looked at her disgusted face.

"And you?" he continued with the same bored voice he had used for Angelique.

Felix turned around and looked you in the eyes, impatiently waiting for your response.

"I have to..." you finger was drawing meaningless circles in the air while you searched your name on the piece of paper.
"I have to clean the kitchen"
"At least it's better than Angelique's chore"

Felix winked at you and both of you began to laugh loudly as Angelique stomped away, obviously pissed off about the chore she had.


You tied a white cloth over your hair and mouth as you put your hands in the cold, soapy water to take out the wiping cloth.
Frustrated that the Scouting Legion didn't had something like a broom or anything like that, (or a certain midget just didn’t hand it over to you) you knelt down and began to scrub the whole kitchen floor.

"I like the pose you are in."

You turned around to face the only soldier who was brave enough to say something like this. Reiner smirked at you and how your mouth hung agape.

"I like this position too."

You threw the wet cloth in his face without a second thought and watched with amusement as it hit his face, slowly peeled of his skin and landed on the floor.

"You know that you can't win."

He grabbed the cloth and threw it back at you. Landing and sticking over your eyes your anger boiled while you peeled it off, dipped it in the bucket and threw it back.

Slowly he made his way towards you until he was mere inches away from you. With a gentle kiss, Reiner closed the distance between you and smiled at you.

"I want to apologize for yesterday."
"No probl---"
"This is not what I call cleaning!"

Your time with Reiner got interrupted just like the day before, but this time by Levi. He glared daggers at the taller soldier while Reiner slowly retreated your figure. In comper to yesterday, he did it a lot stiffer and more afraid, probably, no, most certainly, because Levi was now the one standing in the door frame, and not Mike.
Mouthing a 'sorry' he went out of the kitchen, leaving you and Levi behind.

"How's your wrist?" Even though you heard the usual monotone voice of him you could sense a hint of concern.
"It's fine, it doesn't hurt anymore thanks to Hanji and her weird slime....what about you and Erwin?"
"Fine too.... I guess, now should I punish you for skipping duty?"

Your cheeks flushed a dark red as you saw the miniature smirk on Levi's face and immediately went back, scrubbing the floor.


Your hands were sore when you finally finished the torturous chore and went back to Hanji's room to change your outfit. Your sweaty uniform replaced with a comfy dress, sounded great!

When you opened the door you could see Hanji in civilian clothes too, and cocked an eyebrow.

"AHH~there you are. Tonight we are going to my favorite tavern, wanna join?"
"What does 'we' mean?"
"Mike, Erwin, Felix, Thoma, Me and You! Ah, almost forgot, I convinced shorty too."

When you heard Levi's ridiculous nickname and Erwin's name you gulped hard, but agreed to join her nevertheless.

"Ah, you are the best, now go and change your outfit."

She shoved you into her bathroom and waited patiently for you to return.

The boys already waited for the two of you and when you finally joined them, you made your way downtown to Hanji's favorite tavern.
This was going to be a long, interesting night....