Unspoken Norms | Levi Ackerman ✔️

Chp 19 ~ The Enemy's Motives

Fun Fact: Amongst Levi, Hange, Erwin and Mike - Levi is the best at hand to hand combat. 

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Your POV

Reality hit hard as camp came to an end.

The most memorable events were the outdoor activities, the lowlights being the "study" sessions where professionals educated us on future careers and learning tips and what not. For the entirety of the weekend, I slept. But even that wasn't enough to satisfy my needs.

As Monday stretched on into exhausting hours, sleep weighing heavy on my lids, I found myself longing for my soft duvet and pillow. Maybe if this pencil case became my bed...

Jean's hand hit the back of my head again. I bolted upright and whirled to the side, infuriated by his method of waking me up. "Can you stop—"

I caught a glimpse of the white folder, the meticulous uniform, the raven hair and I knew who I was addressing. Fuck.

Levi regarded me with his aloof stare, the ice in his eyes cold and yet totally unreadable. "Stop what."

Instinctively I went to rub my scalp, the blow he'd landed much more ruthless than Jean's lighter ones. "Never mind," I mumbled, beginning to gather my equipment. Everyone else was heading out for Period 5 now, but Jean lingered by the doorway, expression somewhat shameful.

"I wasn't going to get all the blame, was I?" he said sheepishly as I followed him out the classroom, Levi trailing closely behind. "I mean, someone else had to do it..."

"And so you asked him," I hissed, voice low. A crowd of students enveloped Levi, dragging him away from us. Popular indeed.

Jean adjusted the straps on his bag. "I didn't ask him, I just left you alone to see who did the job. To my surprise, he did it."

I felt a blush creep upon my cheeks. "I-I thought we weren't meant to associate, like you said."

These days, these months... all those 'rules' and 'ranks' seemed to blur. It had been clear throughout the first semester, reminded of in the second, even on camp with the dining hall incident... But somehow for me I didn't see the point in keeping all these barriers.

"We aren't, but ever since you came, you really did disrupt all of it. Which is good I guess. But I am confused... why did you decide to sit with them on that day?"

Oh, that. I just wanted to make Petra jealous. To see her reaction when I stole her seat. That wasn't the main reason though. I didn't like the idea of seeing Petra and Levi together, especially not on the same table, next to each other. It made me jealous.

Envy... that was it. That dark, twisted, foreign emotion when I beheld the two of them speaking by the hall's washing station. Not fury, but envy.

And so, with this newfound realisation, I merely shrugged. No way was I exposing my feelings. "I wanted to try something different."

***

Levi's POV

I didn't want to do it. But when I looked around the room, almost empty, seemingly no one was willing to wake (Y/N) up. Not even Jean, that idiot, who had lurked outside the doorframe.

"I mean, someone else had to do it..." Horseface was saying as they headed for Period 5.

I tagged along behind them, close enough to hear their conversation, but far enough to seem like I wasn't eavesdropping. Not that I wanted to. Their words just happened to reach my ears.

Before I could hear (Y/N)'s reply, a swarm of bodies closed around me. It was an onslaught of swishing ponytails, feminine squealing and perfume-saturated air that struck me blow after blow. What in hell—

"LEVI! We haven't seen you in ages!"

"My god, how do you look so good even after camp?!"

"Hot, handsome, hellish hot, even the letter 'h' sounds hot!"

The urge to roll my eyes was tempting, but somehow I managed to maintain my blank guise. What petty brats.

"Everyone, please! Give my boyfriend some space!" The high-pitched voice declared Petra's arrival, who pushed through the horde to reach me. When she slid a hand—possessively—around the inside of my elbow, I didn't react.

Boyfriend. Since when did we start a relationship? When did I permit this?

I tore my arm from Petra's grip, glaring accusingly at her. "Don't touch me."

Free of the trailing mob whom I assumed were her friends, I stalked down the hallway, feeling their eyes on my back.

Right as I turned left, Riverko decided to conveniently appear so I could run into him. We both crashed into each other, the impact almost bone-cracking.

"You bitch—" the dark-haired boy ended his sentence by spitting on my shoe. On. My. Shoe.

I was done. First it was Petra and her minions, then it was this guy.

A flash of limbs, a drop of my folder and I had Riverko pinned against the lockers, hands yanking at his collar. Students were either scuttling away or staying to watch the scene while there were no teachers around.

For now though, without the staff's supervision, I could let go of all pretence.

Riverko struggled in my firm grip, his body tensing. He was at least a head taller than me, but that didn't change how strong I was. Leaning in so that we shared breath, I hissed;

"Listen, you filthy pig, don't you spit with that mouth of yours. My shoes are now tainted in your shit—clean it up."

The boy stopped resisting, a smirk curving his wicked lips. "How are you going to make me? Hit me?"

My fingers tightened around his collar. "I will if I have to."

From the way his umber eyes widened an inch, I could tell there was raw, unyielding ice in my stare. Enough coldness that made one hell of a cocky guy think twice.

And then Riverko did something even I didn't expect. I would've anticipated further taunting and smirking—or maybe even cowering—but definitely not this.

He tapped my hands to release him, in which I obliged, and knelt before me. Fishing out a handkerchief from his pocket, he began wiping the spit off my once-pristine shoes.

I stood there, absolute stunned. To think this guy would do such a servile thing... Unless there was some ulterior motive behind it.

Riverko coiled to his feet, folding back the cloth into his chest pocket, and smirked a smirk that was purely demoniacal. "Well then, I guess things are settled between us," he concluded slyly, hooking a thumb around his bag strap. "Until next time, Levi."

With that, he continued down the corridor, passing onlookers with gaping jaws. As if they, too, couldn't comprehend what just happened. And neither did I.