spite || levi x reader

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"How the hell," you utter, "did you manage to come to that conclusion?"

Armin's silent for a moment. He's gauging your reaction, you realize- trying to see if you're genuinely pissed off at him and if it's worth pursuing. A light breeze moves through the porch and you sigh, swiping some of your hair out of the way. You glance back at the blond kid; he's thinking.

"Well?" you say dryly.

"Well," Armin repeats softly, glancing up at the sky. "Somehow, for some reason, you always seem to... know more than us and less than us at the same time."

You raise an eyebrow at him.

He takes the hint and continues. "Um, like when we spar," he says quickly. "Or the ODM gear. Or knife handling. It all comes so easy to you and you can never really explain how you know it. But then we go to talk about the king, and the whole system within the walls, and you always seem more lost than the rest of us."

"Stalking me in the classroom?"

"No! No, nothing like that, just..." Armin trails off. "It's what I've noticed."

You kick your boots against the ground, scuffing up the dirt. "You're a smart kid," you say. "What else?"

He straightens up a bit. "Your answer for a lot of questions is that you don't know, or that you don't remember, and it doesn't really sound like you're lying. You've had a couple moments where it looks like something has... something's shaken you to the core." His voice drops. "Eren gets like that sometimes," Armin murmurs. "When he remembers something. Back from... that day."

From what you know about Armin, Eren, and Mikasa, they all grew up together and hailed from the same town. You've heard rumors that they were all in Shiganshina when the wall broke down- you can only bet that they all saw some horrid things.

"So originally I thought you might've just been through something traumatic as well, something that you didn't want remembered," he continues. "But when... when people ask you about anything, your answers sound like you aren't confident in them. Like you don't even know yourself. So I thought maybe you repressed a traumatic memory to the point where you just couldn't remember anything from it anymore."

He's a smart kid. Too smart. "Any other theories?" you ask.

He shrugs. "That you're just messing with us."

"That's entirely plausible."

Armin laughs. "Yeah, it is."

He goes quiet. The two of you sit in silence, listening to the low hum of the mess hall. You're trying to debate your options in your head, but you're still replaying Levi's kiss over and over again in your head. How could he do that? Just... grab you and kiss you?

You banish the thoughts from your head. Right now, you need to focus on the stupidly smart kid sitting on the porch steps next to you.

It's sort of tiring, keeping up the charade. And at this point, could you really laugh it off? Sure, you don't think Armin would push you any further if you wanted to, but it might be nice to talk about it. 

You sigh. "You're close. I lost my memory, right around... I think they told me it was just before the fall of Wall Maria. I was in a coma for a while, I missed it. I didn't repress anything, I just hit my head."

Armin inhales sharply. "Really?"

"Only took you almost two years of training to catch on," you joke.

He flushes. "Well- well, I've suspected for a while, and then you left tonight and didn't come back in, so I wondered if you were alone, so maybe I could ask..."