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Joining the Survey Corps was a life sentence. Either new recruits died in training accidents, disappeared into the mouths of titans, or they starved due to increasing budget cuts for the regiment. Or worse.
They could live long enough to serve in Captain Levi’s cleaning crew.
It had been more grueling than the three years in the training corps. Levi was meticulous, true to his clean freak reputation. He was fair but held very high standards that are usually met only after three rounds of sweeping, mopping, and hand drying. Add to that the recruits’ kitchen and bathroom duties, the recruits found a deeper respect for their superiors who have served under the Captain before.
So imagine the recruits’ dismay when Squad Leader Ness called all the weary newcomers to deliver one final duty that they must fulfill with utmost diligence and discretion.
“It’s the Cat Nap Patrol,” he said in a hushed tone. The recruits huddled closer. “You see, the Captain here suffers from insomnia and there are difficult times when his body gives up on him and he…well…Come here. I’ll show you.”
He led them into the stables with a finger over his lips. At the far end of the stables was Captain Levi’s mare, a dark beautiful creature, nosing something in a heap of disheveled hay. And in the midst of the hay was the unmistakable foot of a boot. A rather small one at that.
Ness gestured for Armin to come closer and the boy did, brows already knitted in confusion. When he peered over the pile of hay, his baby blue eyes doubled in size. He turned to his friends.
“It’s Captain Levi,” he whispered.
“Jaeger, Kirstein, come here,” Ness called. “So part of your job is to bring the Captain back to his quarters when he passes out in random places like this here.”
Eren and Jean froze. There was absolutely no way they can lay their hands on Humanity’s Strongest and keep their hands. They were better off punching Eren in the face until he shifted into a titan in the middle of the mess hall. Odds off survival in that situation were far higher.
“Relax,” Ness grunted as he hoisted the Captain up by his arms. “He won’t wake up. See?”
He shook the Captain to prove a point; the sleeping officer didn’t so much as snort or stir. Armin looked like he was going to pass out.
True to Ness’s words, Levi did not wake up when Eren and Jean struggled to carry the Captain all the way back to his quarters. The squad leader warned them to stay out of the busier hallways as the Captain will not be pleased if people saw him in that state. So whenever the newcomers were subjected to the Cat Nap Patrol, they had to carry Levi using longer routes in less visited hallways.
Eren and Jean always had to do it together because the Captain, despite his size, weighed so much. The boys would switch positions on who will carry Levi by the feet and by the shoulders.
Armin was clever and used a wheelbarrow with a blanket laid on it when he found the Captain passed out and slumped over his 3DMG in the supply warehouse, a cleaning rag still hanging off his hand.
The Commander once spotted Mikasa in the hallway with the Captain slung over her shoulder. She simply saluted with her free hand and left when Erwin nodded at her, too startled to really say anything about the situation. The Cat Nap Patrol was nothing new in this regiment but seeing a single soldier carry Levi was quite a sight.
It didn’t happen often though and the Captain never said anything about it. The recruits just hoped that the Captain thought he fell asleep where woke up. Not a word was said even when he woke up with a large bump on the back of his head. He did notice Eren looking particularly guilty that day. When asked what the hell he was fidgeting about, Eren apologized loudly and excused himself. Levi thought he was apologizing for spacing out in the public showers and blankly staring at Levi’s crotch the whole time.
But after the 57th expedition, sleep came by less frequently to everyone. They had been so close to danger. They had lost so many. It was better to stay awake exhausted than to wake up terrified and clammy from nightmares of a female titan sweeping them up and biting them off, limb by limb. Hange stayed up longer and longer, frantically taking notes, analyzing them and drafting more experiments until morning. The Commander was up at all hours, juggling the Survey Corps, the officials in the Capital, and a growing concern for Levi.
Levi had not slept for more than a couple of hours since the expedition. Erwin knew better than to offer a shoulder that the Captain will not take. Space. Levi wanted space and Erwin gave it freely. He held back on asking, reassuring, on comforting. He was stretched thin as it was and Levi was not one to seek those anyway. Levi needed more important things for the time being.
“You called?” Levi almost drawled as he closes the office door behind him. He was paler than usual, purple under the eyes, the bite in his voice completely gone.
Erwin turned to him from the couch. “Levi, come here.”
Levi looked too tired to question him so he sank to the spot beside Erwin. “What do you want now? I was busy.”
“Doing what?” Erwin asked as he laid out a soft, brown blanket over his lap and earned himself a confused glare.
“Taking a shit. What are you doing?”
“Come here,” Erwin patted his lap.
“Fuck no,” Levi huffed and moved to stand.
Erwin’s voice came out harder. “Levi. Come. Here.” An order.
Fatigue ate away at Levi’s resolve so he surrendered and laid his head on Erwin’s lap with a forceful thud that left the Commander’s lap throbbing. Levi stiffened when a blanket was laid gently on him.
“Your fat thighs are uncomfortable as fuck,” Levi grumbled. Sleep still did not find him. Only heaviness in his bones. A dull ache in his chest. He remembered the way Petra would always cover Oluo with a blanket when the man fell asleep during late night meetings.
“Be quiet, Levi,” Erwin said, voice so soft that it soothed the man. Even just a bit.
Several minutes passed and Levi was still wide awake. Less alert but increasingly awkward and warm under the blanket that smelled like musk. Must be Erwin’s. The blond, on the other hand, looked ready to sleep. His head lolled back to the couch and his lids dropped halfway.
“Oi, if you’re just going to sleep I’m leaving,” Levi said, getting up.
Erwin pushed him back down by the forehead. “Ssh,” Erwin cooed.
Before Levi can protest and choke the Commander by his bolo tie, Erwin started kneading his forehead, starting with the crease between his brows. His callused fingers massaged little circles up to the crown of Levi’s head. Then he opened his hand over Levi’s forehead and massaged Levi’s temples. Soon, Erwin combed through Levi’s inky hair in lazy paths and Levi’s lids dropped. He watched Levi's chest rise and fall in a slow, soothing rhythm.
There was a knock on the door.
Erwin hesitated to answer, worried to wake Levi again. It opened quietly and Mikasa peeked in. Their eyes met and hers dropped down to the sleeping Captain. Her sharp gaze returned to Erwin and, with a nod, she closed the door.
“The Commander’s got him,” Erwin heard her say in the hallway.
Erwin finds Levi on his office couch with a scowl, a few weeks later.
“Where have you been?” Levi crossed his arms.
“Attending to the Survey Corps,” Erwin smirked. “You know, as a commander should.”
“Shut up. Come here.”
And so Erwin did and Levi laid his head on Erwin’s lap, gently this time. Erwin had come to expect the Captain in his office every so often with dark shadows under his eyes, a softer voice, and a more tired expression. He would sit on the couch with papers on hand while Levi slept, still as the dead but warm as a hearth.
Except that day, Levi didn’t close his eyes. Erwin looked down on him and met an expression that’s not quite tired but oddly unsure.
“Something the matter?” Erwin asked, carding his fingers through Levi’s impossibly soft hair. That always put him to sleep.
Levi looked away and swallowed. In the end, he turned to his side, away from Erwin. “Nuthin’.”
“Go to sleep, Levi,” Erwin smiled and leaned down to touch his lips on Levi’s temple.