Hand in Hand

14. Secrets

(Y/n) waited outside Levi's office with her forehead pressed up against the closed door. There was no telling what he would be like when she walked through the door, he was a different person every time she talked to him. Would he be kind and protective or aggressive and irritated?

She thought back to the night they had traveled to Ermich, how she had been packed in the carriage so tightly and forced to sit next to him for an hour. The memory of them arguing surfaced. Yes, she had started the argument, but he was so easy to annoy. She had really ticked him off that night. (Y/n)'s eyes traveled to her boots as she thought about how swiftly his hand had crept up her neck and tightened, pulling her head back so that his lips were inches from her ear.

"I suggest you don't bite off more than you can chew," he had whispered angrily.

The tips of her ears began to burn. 'What the hell, am I some kind of masochist?'

"Oh god," she quietly groaned, pounding her fist on the door a little too loudly.

"Who is it?" Levi's shouted from inside the room. His gruff tone caused her to jump back in surprise.

"It's (y/n)."

Levi's head sprung up from his desk and frantically looked around his office. After leaving the meeting, he had thrown his paperwork off his desk and let it litter the floor in a moment of anger.

Sighing, he walked to the door and placed his hand on the cold knob. He hesitated. They had not spoken in a month. It isn't as if they had regularly talked before, but the memory of the night he had spent talking to her, holding her as she cried, and watching her rest, had been something he now held dear to him, whether he realized it or not. One wrong word from him could make that memory worthless.

"Levi?"

He slightly cracked open the door, just enough for her to see he was there.

(Y/n) raised an eyebrow and took the crinkled letter out of her pocket. "Erwin wanted me to discuss Eren's letter with you."

Levi inched the door open again. "Weren't you going to his office?"

"He changed his mind. Erwin said to look over the letter with you while he and Hanji would look into the government families."

The door was now halfway open. "I can look over the letter myself." Levi extended his hand.

"No, it's fine Levi," she said, sighing. "Erwin told me to look it over with you so-"

"If you're only here because Erwin told you then you might as well just hand over the letter and be on your way," he snapped.

"I don't do things just because Erwin said so! Could you just let me in?" (Y/n) gripped the door frame and swung it open angrily. She took in the trashed state of his office and smirked. "Gosh Captain, I always took you for the neat and tidy type."

Levi's mouth hung slightly open, completely ignoring her words. She wasn't repulsed by his untidy room or by his disheveled emotions. No matter what he said or did, she wasn't going to walk away like he thought she would. He liked that.

Levi reached forward, grabbed the front strap of her harness, and pulled her into his office. "Get in."

Stumbling into the room, (y/n) whipped her head around and growled, "What the hell is wrong with you? Every time I talk to you, it's like you're a different person."

He turned around to face her. His lips slightly parted, the faintest smile on his face. Looking up at her, he asked, "Does that really bother you?"