Shorter Than Me

15 Levi

At dinner time, I walk to the dining hall. I know something is off. It just feels different. Sure enough, when I open the door I see an explosion of a mess: Hanji's decorating style. A huge banner says this is all for me. I turn around and start to walk away. Commander Erwin steps in my path. I look up to meet his eyes.

"Levi, I'm ordering you to go in there and stay there until everyone has finished celebrating. And you have to act like you're enjoying it."

I glare at him. I could take him out right now. I'd just swipe his legs and he'd fall like a boulder. "Fine." I turn back around. Is it even legal for him to command me to attend a party?

Thousands of tiny pieces of paper crash onto my head the second I walk through the door. I turn to see Hanji standing on a table with an empty bucket. She gives me a nervous smile. I start to take a step toward her, but Commander Erwin gives me a little push from behind.

"There's your seat." I see the seat he's talking about. It's decorated with balloons and has a birthday hat on the table in front of it. I walk slowly to the chair, glaring at everyone. When I sit down, Hanji holds the hat out to me.

"No."

"Please?" She begs.

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

"Hanji, he doesn't have to wear it if he doesn't want to," the Commander says.

Hanji pouts. "Fine." Her unhappy mood doesn't last long, unfortunately. She turns around to see a giant two-tiered cake. It has a bunch of candles stuck in the top. The icing is white and a Wings of Freedom is decorated onto the side.

"Levi, you won't tell us your age, so I guessed and said thirty. Is that alright?" Hanji looks at me innocently.

"No."

She just ignores me and leads everyone in singing "Happy Birthday." Then she tells me, "Make a wish and blow out the candles."

I glance at Commander Erwin and he gives me a small nod. I sigh and blow on the candles. Two go out and I blow the rest out one at a time.

"Awww. You don't get your wish." Hanji looks genuinely sad. But suddenly, she perks up. "Let's have dinner! Levi, I think this is your favorite but I'm not sure. I thought I remembered Petra saying something about this being your favorite meal..."

"Anyway, you get in line first," the Commander interrupts.

I heave a sigh and get up. The food is steak- which is my favorite, but only when it's cooked a certain way.

I take a bite and it is good, but of course I won't let anyone know that.

As usual, I don't join in any conversations, but people are actually trying to have a conversation with me. It's actually very annoying. Apparently Hanji is in charge of everything- which doesn't surprise me- because when almost everyone is done eating, she stands on a table and announces that it's time to play games. Everyone gets happy at that except me. Hanji instructs everyone to get in a neat line for "Pin the Nape on the Titan." They stand in front of a large sheet of paper with a picture of a titan on it. Now I know what it was for. I watch a little paper "nape" get stabbed into the titan's eye, arm, stomach, leg, everywhere. Hanji almost stabbed it into a person. The person who gets it the closest is Arlert- not that I care.

Then they have a piñata shaped like a titan. The stick is made to look like a titan blade. They make me take the first hit. I refuse the blindfold, however, and hit the titan as hard as I can. It explodes and collapses. I hand the stick back to Hanji and go to sit down again.

As it turns out, they have another identical one, and everyone takes turns getting one hit. When it's Hanji's turn, everyone takes multiple steps back. She starts swinging it around uselessly. By the last person, all that's left is half a head. Everyone runs in like three-year-olds to grab the candy. Then we eat the cake. It's not that bad. The inside is white.

I hope it's finally over, but it's not. Apparently people got me presents. Two boxes are wrapped in colored paper. One is large and the other is small. I carefully remove the paper from the smaller one, which is from Commander Erwin. A white cravat sits in the box. I set it to the side and grab the other present to get it over with. This one is from Hanji. Once the paper is removed, it's just a box with holes in it. I lift the top off and look inside.

Hanji got me a ferret.

It's brown and has a little pink nose. Its head has white stripes on it. It peers up at me, blinking in the light.

"It's a boy," Hanji informs me, as if I couldn't already tell.

"May I leave now, sir?" I ask the Commander.

He sighs. "Say goodbye to everyone as they leave and thank them for coming. Then you can leave." I follow him and Hanji to the door. They wish everyone a good night and thank them for celebrating while I just lean against the wall with my arms crossed.

"Why did you make everyone come?" I ask when everyone has left.

"No, Levi. Everyone came because they care enough about you to come, even if you are the rudest person ever," he says.

Maybe he meant for that to hurt me but it doesn't. I just grab the box with the ferret and the cravat and walk out the door.

Where did Hanji get a ferret? Why would she even get me a ferret? It's probably going to be messy and eat a bunch of things.

I set its box on my desk and decide to deal with it in the morning.

This whole thing was the idea of one of my good friends.

Tell me what you think Levi would name his new ferret. Picture to the side or top or wherever.

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Thank you all so much!!!