Touch Starved

7

Color them impressed, watching (Y/N)'s progress within the past three months was really exciting. She had really started to immerse herself in the language, but it was at the cost of Levi's diminishing sanity. At the beginning, it had felt like she had been avoiding him, but at some point during the three months, whatever had been bothering her had vanished. He couldn't get her to leave his side. The only time he could escape was when he had work to do outside the office. Which, due to recent events, he did.

She was always trying to practice with him, of course, this was only if Hanji wasn't around. Hanji was the only one to be super excited at the prospect of a new language and had devised at least 200 different ways she could teach the poor girl grammar, rules, and sentence structures.

Levi thought the new language was a little interesting, and he managed to pick up some words here and there, but she had come to their land. She was to be the one to worry herself on merging in to their society, not them to her.

If she wasn't trying to blab Levi's ear off with practice sentences and conversations or questions, her nose was almost always buried in the book. And when it wasn't there and she had nothing but herself and her thoughts, she would worry Levi. It seemed that this whole language business was her way of coping with whatever experiences she had had in the woods, Hanji had explained one day.

He could believe it. He'd wake up to her waking up, sobs coming from her room. He never went to comfort her. She needed to be able to comfort herself. Life was tough. It seemed the goal to communicate was what would calm her down and distract her. He didn't know why, but whatever worked.

He was sat at his desk, drinking tea, at the moment. He had finished the week's paperwork early. He would be a fool to not relish in the momentary peace he had just earned. But, alas, it was short lived.

Feet pounded down the stairs as (Y/N) came into view, her hair flying behind her. Hanji had bestowed upon her three new outfits yesterday, congratulating her for surviving this long. Erwin had presented her with glasses, which she was thrilled to receive those most. She also had received other essentials from Erwin, like pajamas and underwear. It seemed she had finally chosen which outfit to wear first. Finally.

"Levi, Levi!" She began, hopping into a seat. He was glad to see her ankle was much better, although he had learned now that she was heavy-footed. It always seemed like she was stomping.

"What." He sipped at his tea. He felt one of his eyebrows twitch.

"Hanji gave... this book." She presented, showing him the cover. She shoved her glasses further back up her nose. She was holding some children's book. "What this?"

Her broken English annoyed him quite often, and it didn't disappoint this time either. "You mean 'Hanji gave me this book. What is this.'"

She repeated it, happy to be corrected. That would alleviate his annoyance - he wished the soldiers were like that, it would make his life easier. She shook the book at him, trying to focus his attention. She pointed at the page. "This. What is this?"

He recognized the book. It was some book on a baby chick who got lost in the woods and a wolf finds it, trying to convince it to come home with it. In the end, the wolf is killed after the mother hen and her friends go to rescue the chick. Sad story, really. Levi empathised with the wolf. He wanted to just survive and feed himself, but yet he died a meaningless death and is marked inherently evil for such.

He sighed, leaning forwards. He peered at the page. A poorly drawn chick sat crying in a cage. "It reads, 'And I plan to gobble you up, feathers and all, little chick! It has been ages since my last meal, and you'll do fine. So sit tight and I'll drop you into my stew when the water is just right!' What words do you understand?"