The Undetermined Outside

Chapter Twenty Five

*Levi's POV*

The look on her face tells me that she's messing with me. The way her smirk was showing on her face and her stance she was taking. She's trying to play cute, but I'm dead serious when I say that I won't tolerate that behavior. I saw my mother get treated that way when I was younger, and I won't allow it to happen in front of me ever again.

She looked shocked at my response, and I will admit it hadn't come out exactly as I wanted to phrase it. "If you're going to act like this then I don't know if I want to be in your group." She threw her arms across her chest as a defense mechanism. She stared at me but I don't have anything to say to that. That's not how I meant to sound. My anger is twisting the words that my moth releases.

The defeated huff that came from her after she remained silent, probably hoping for a response, made me want to recoil and hold her at the same time. As if she was too annoyed with this conversation, she walked back into the pub and I saw as her figure through the window makes it way back to the private room.

I groaned to myself as lowly as I could. I wanted to say something to get her to stay here with me, but words usually fail me when they hold any worth to another human. I caught myself pacing near the entrance, just trying to get myself put back together. Appearances are important, but all I want is to smash every idiots face in right now. What the hell is y/n doing to me? Why does she have to act like I'm the bad guy in this situation?

The man put his hands on her when it wasn't warranted. She was looking at him with disgust and I knew that I could help her get out of the situation. All it had really took was one low kick to his bar stool and he was done for. He deserved much more than that if you asked me.

I ran my fingers through my hair, attempting to get it out of my face. I hate social interactions when there are so many unnecessary people around. I heard to door to the pub open up and I looked back over my shoulder to see who it was. None other than Erwin waltz his way over to me.

"Tch. If I really wanted to talk to you I would've come back inside." I could tell that I was still fuming from the event a few minutes ago. I stopped my pacing and turned to face my friend, knowing I don't need him seeing any more of my vulnerable side right now.

"I thought it best that I came out here so Connor wouldn't get the opportunity to say anything else to egg you on. You can't be starting fights with strangers just because you don't like how they talk to someone."

I gave him my darkest glare. "Connor? Even his name makes me want to vomit." I mumbled under my breath, because I couldn't help myself, "You know damn well he was being inappropriate with y/n and I saw an easy way to shut him up." I shrugged, trying to make it seem like what I did was nothing. When in reality I'm sure he had bit his tongue and probably broken his nose with the way he landed.

"Since when do you refer to cadets by their first names?"

She wasn't one of our cadets when we started speaking casually over tea. Is what I wanted to say to him. The attitude was boiling over, but I found the will to hold back a little.

"Why does it matter? I want her on my squad."

"That can be arranged, but first you should probably talk to me. Why do you care so much?"

I looked down at the dirt beneath my shoes, not sure of how to talk to Erwin about any of this. I don't know why I care. I saw the stone wall was only a few feet from where I stood so I shuffled over to lean my back against it. As soon as I was stable, I looked up at the sky. The sun had fully set and there wasn't a cloud in the almost summer night sky.

I risked a look back over to Erwin and saw he was still looking at me expectantly. I sighed long and hard, feeling as if I had been holding my breath. "It's probably just because I know her father now and I know that he would be looking out for her if she wasn't coming back to the Scouts. She has a whole squad of her own, furry monsters waiting for her to come back home, but she still wants to come stay in an obnoxious castle and fight Titans instead. She deserves better."