𝔇𝔢𝔣𝔦𝔞𝔫𝔠𝔢 (𝔏𝔢𝔳𝔦 𝔵 ℜ𝔢𝔞𝔡𝔢𝔯)

XCVIII - On Her Behalf

"You never told us this!" Eren exclaimed, and to no avail it seemed as though no amount of hushing the squad will have any effect. 

"I didn't think it was important," I shrug nonchalantly, catching the raven's eyes on me with a bored expression. I raise my eyebrows at him with a lighthearted expression, shrugging once again with a little more subtlety than before. He rolled his eyes before raising a singular eyebrow at me, flicking his gaze between Hange and I as though he asking me to shut her up. I screwed up my face a little, the squad still throwing questions around hoping for someone to answer them. I huff after a little moment, opening my mouth as i avert my gaze from Levi. 

"If you all behave for the next, say, two weeks, I'll tell you everything about Levi's capture," I suggest. I practically felt the wind from how most of their jaws dropped open at such an unbelievable offer, face suddenly burning from all of their eyes burning through me.

"That is the most unrealistic suggestion I've ever heard," Armin replies shortly after the words had left my mouth. I roll my eyes, a small grin creeping across my features. 

"It got you all to shut up for a few seconds, did it not?" I ask, watching his lips press together; a small indication he wasn't going to protest any further. I turn to face Hange, who only sat in her saddle looking all innocent, raising an unamused eyebrow. "And you know for a fact that Levi's capture isn't spoken of so lightly," I remind, her hand rising and waving at me dismissively. 

"Yes yes, but they're the Levi squad! They were going to find out sooner or later!" She whined. 

"My old squad didn't know," Levi muttered, almost like he didn't want anyone to hear. Hange's gaze snapped to him, mouth falling open. 

"You never told them?!" She exclaimed and the raven rolled his eyes. 

"Why would they need to? Why does this squad need to know?" He countered with a bored tone. It was Hange's turn to roll her eyes before she turned to face forward again. 

The conversation continued to be that of a carefree one, but in those sapphire eyes an ache remained. 

***

Headquarters was quiet later in the evening. I found myself sitting at my desk two hours after dusk, staring blankly down at an empty report lit by flickering candlelight that I needed to fill out regarding the mission in Trost earlier that day. My eyes read the same words over again, a section below the question I read but couldn't process staying empty. Hand tightly holding a pen, fingers quivering with an edge I couldn't shake. Levi's expression played on my mind more than I'd like to admit, and to say it bothered me was an understatement. 

The pen fumbled from my fingertips and clattered to the wooden desk, the heels of my hands reaching up and burying themselves in my eyes before my fingers raked through my hair. Something so supposedly small such as that shouldn't play on my mind as much as it did, almost like I needed to share whatever emotion he was feeling himself. A way to say he wasn't alone. 

"What are you doing to me?" I mutter aloud, forming a wall made of my forearms on my desk and dropping my head on to them. I let out a low groan of irritation, soon hearing the doorknob twisting without a knock to acknowledge an incoming presence. With a huff, I look up, resting my chin on my forearms, my figure staying hunched over in my chair. The door swung open, revealing the very man I had been worrying about for however long now. I straightened up a little in his presence, pushing off the desk minimally as my gaze trailed after him. Stepping into the room, he made a point to close the door and then turn to face me, though his eyes remained glued to the ground below. 

"I..." And yet, his voice trailed off. I furrow my eyebrows, obviously concerned for whatever he was trying to say. "I didn't tell you everything," he mumbled, raven locks falling over his eyes as he tipped his head forward a little more in defeat. I try humming, a coarse breath rumbling through my throat in a weak attempt to concede.