Stay Beneath Him (INCOMPLETE) (Levi x Reader Fanfiction)

22: Neutral Ground

  You found yourself boarding the airplane a couple hours later, Levi following behind you with both your suitcases. He was surprisingly complicit about carrying them, choosing to stay quiet and begrudgingly obedient.

  You stepped through the hatch into the cabin of the plane, greeting the flight attendant. You joined the line of professors filing through the aisle, picking whichever seat they preferred after stowing their luggage in the overhead compartments. It was a small plane, booked only for the Paradis faculty. A bit over a dozen rows of seats filled the cabin, separated into pairs on either side of the aisle.

  Near the back of the plane, you chose a seat. "We'll sit here." The wide foot room was spacious enough to easily slip through to your seat, and the overhead compartments were so lofted there was no need to uncomfortably duck down below them.

  "(Y/n)." Levi remained in the aisle, holding your cases.

  "What?" You stopped, eyeing him.

  He shot a glance above him, at the compartments. You looked at them, then back at him. He can't reach them. Not easily, anyways. They are insultingly high.

  "I'll take care of them," you promised. "Take the window seat."

  "Thank you," he whispered as he traded places with you.

  After you hoisted the cases into the overhead container, you took the seat next to Levi and mindlessly watched the other professors shuffle through the aisle. The cabin doors closed soon after and the airplane eventually began making its ascent.

  "Levi, I want to ask you something." You took the armrest between you two, leaning closer to him. The hum of the plane engine and the murmur of conversations was loud enough to ward off any potential eavesdroppers.

  "What is it?" He kept his voice down.

  "Well, I don't really know how to phrase this, but...why were you so aggressive to me? At the start, I mean."

  "Is this really the place to talk about that?" He glanced across the aisle, where Erwin and Dr. Nile sat.

  "Nobody can hear us," you reassured. "Just don't get heated or anything."

  He rolled his eyes. "I was aggressive because you were a brat."

  "Ignoring the fact that that reasoning is completely nonsensical, it isn't even true. I was nothing but polite when we first met. What did I do back then? Helped a student? Requested a more fulfilling internship? Neither of those are out of line in the slightest."

  His lips pursed, but he didn't break his gaze on you. It seemed like he didn't have an answer.

  "I don't want you to just chock this up to sadism, either. Surely you don't just attack anyone on a whim, right?"

  "I don't," he said as though that was obvious. 

  "So why me? What made you detest me so much?"

  "It's not something that's simple to explain," he confessed. "I haven't figured it out yet."

 "Why did you choose to accept me as an intern and keep me in the program, then? I heard you rarely accept interns, so why did you decide to hone in on me?"

  "I couldn't say."

  "You must've seen something. Not only did you immediately take me in, but you continued to show no hesitancy in attacking me. Why was I different than any other intern?"

  Levi failed to disguise the fact that he had an answer that he didn't want to share. His face scrunched with hesitancy, reluctant to express his feelings. "I don't know."