#can't lie i already had this one started when i did the poll lmao

[marleysfinest]

levi x y/n, fluff! no content warnings. as always, characters aged up to 21+

ever since introducing connie to the wonders of a facemask, you've inadvertently become the scouts' personal physical therapist. for a fee, of course, you've become accustomed to helping an aching solider relax their muscles, minds, and come out smelling great in the process. many scouts have never had the luxury of a pamper session, and it was only through sheer privilege that you had. despite coming from a wealthy family inside wall sina, you chose to join the scouts through an obligation to help humanity. it's tiresome and gruelling work, but that didn't mean you couldn't help out your comrades where you can.

jean is a fan of a head massage. reiner enjoys some gua sha. hange finds some relaxation with the help of a foot rub. even erwin hasn't been able to resist investigating the rumours, and lets you carry out some light eyebrow threading one night - while sworn to secrecy, of course. everybody has sought the help of your relaxing touch at some point so far. all except one.

levi scoffs at connie's repeated suggestions that he relaxes, even for twenty minutes, and has taken to physically rebuking hange's suggestion of a foot rub, grimacing at the thought. his argument is always that as long as he can sleep, he can relax, and that's enough for him. no amount of arguing over the physical benefits of acupuncture was going to change that.

one night following a particularly gruelling day of training, wherein you'd all been subjected to cross-country stamina tests, sparring, and riding, you cause grief among your comrades by declaring your services closed for the evening, feeling simply too weak and needing to rest yourself. the force needed to satisfy jean's desired pressure for his massage would be too much on its own; they'd all have to wait until tomorrow. you collapse into bed in your now private bedroom - your roommate had been granted furlough to attend a family funeral - and relished sleepily in the silence for a few seconds. that was, until a gentle knock at your door stirred you back to life with a sigh. what part of 'no' didn't they understand?

"I told you, you assholes!" you bark, marching for the door, "I'm not doing anything today..."

you swing the door open and feel the blood run from your face, as captain levi haunts your doorstep. you stumble backwards and hastily salute.

"captain!" you stutter, "I'm sorry, I thought you were..."

"at ease," he mutters. silence falls between you both, as you notice something different about the captain tonight. he's without his usual air of distain, seeming much more... well, embarassed. he glances down the hallway before addressing you again.

"I hear... I hear you're good at getting knots out of people's backs..."

the way he speaks is laden with hesitancy, as if he hated that he was even there at all. he probably did; in a roundabout way, he's asking for help, which you can't imagine he's accustomed to doing. you raise your eyebrows before you have a chance to think.

"uh... yeah, yeah that's right."

you step to the side to silently welcome the captain inside, and with another glance down the hall, he obliges. when you make sure the door is securely locked, you turn to see him stood awkwardly in the centre of the room. how bad must he have been feeling to push him to come here? he clears his throat, and does everything to avoid eye contact.

"how do you usually do this?" he asks, arms firmly folded across his chest. you feel your mouth go dry as you realise what you're about to ask of him.

"well, for the back, I usually need people to, uh... remove their...y'know..."

asking levi to remove his shirt wasn't something you thought you'd ever do, and so actually coming out with it proves difficult. with a gentle nod, however, he unbuttons his shirt and removes it, folding it neatly before placing it on your bed.

"do I need to lie down?" he asks. you nod, still in utter bewilderment over the situation you find yourself in. remembering that you had a job to do, you quickly snap yourself out of your daze and go about preparing yourself. you wash your hands in warm water and make sure they stay warm, and you fetch your best massage oil from your cupboard - jean certainly never got the best stuff, he didn't pay enough. it smells of lavender and camomile; the best mix for relaxation. you pull up your desk chair to the side of the bed and massage some of the oil into your palms, still not believing you're about to touch captain levi's skin.

"this might be a little cold," you warn. levi turns his head away from you to face the wall, half burying it in his arms as he does so.

"it's fine."

with a deep breath you begin, unable to stop yourself from shaking just a little bit. with the gentlest touch you can manage, you begin, starting at his shoulders. as you get a feel for his structure, you reluctantly notice the canvas in front of you is peppered with small scars and bruises, some old, some new. his skin is surprisingly soft, but heavily flawed, revealing more about himself than he perhaps wanted. you tear your eyes away and turn back to the job at hand; he ha some intense knots that needed to be worked. his shoulders are painfully tight, and you discover a particularly large knot between his shoulder blades that makes him wince as you apply pressure.

"sorry!" you bleat, "that one might be a little painful to get rid of."

"it's fine," he reassures, "do what you gotta do. that's the thing that forced me to come here."

taking this as permission to proceed, you lay your hands back on his skin and resume working, melting away the smaller knots and softening the tense muscles. he winces again as you increase the pressure between his shoulder blades, but don't stop this time. you eventually finding yourself needing to get to your feet to find the right angle to apply the right pressure, and just as you start to break into a sweat, the knot begins to dissolve, and you stand in shock as you see levi physically begin to relax, released from the grip of tension. you ease the pressure and take your seat again, now simply calming his muscles with a gentler touch across his back and shoulders.

levi hasn't felt physical relaxion like this in a very long time. not ever, probably. it had taken everything he had to even ask, but he finds himself grateful that he did. the years of running, fighting, killing, torturing, had finally started to take a toll on him physically, and that damned knot in his back was what had finally forced his hand. he wasn't able to even sit at his desk without being in excruciating pain, and it was only a matter of time before it would start affecting the way he fought. he lay face-down on the bed, eyelids feeling heavy as they fluttered closed, absolutely melting beneath your touch. the experience wasn't all that unfamiliar. the smell of lavender was bittersweet as it soaked into his skin; he vividly remembers his mother using bags of the dried flower to ward off damp and moths, and so she always smelled of fields lavender. confident that you can't see him in the dark, he smiles gently at the memory, and decides that he doesn't want it to be over yet.

"listen, if you don't mind," he utters, "jean... said you do head massages?"