I'm having a debate with myself, and I'm wondering when to include all of you in it. I have like… 10 chapter written past this and whatever decision I make won't change anything for like… another 5 chapters at least so this won't affect anything for you guys for quite a few more chapters… But just know that there WILL be a poll coming up soon. :D

Once again, I own nothing… Like a loser.

HEY! See if you can spot where I got pissed off at these fucking page breaks! :D

Chapter 6: But They Will Also Want to Help You

It only took half an hour before Levi realized that he was only wasting what little time he had to work. After all, he had to make sure everything would be okay for the next week without him. Of course, he did that on Friday as well, but it couldn't hurt to make sure while he had the time. He was through with video chat, though. At least with emails, he could just delete them as they came.

The next two hours were spent deleting Hanji's emails, reading Erwin's emails, responding to them, and watching Eren while he waited for Erwin to respond. During that time he'd seen them play two card games using playing cards, another card game involving black and white cards, Eren and two tone race up the tree (a race that Eren won), and some really weird mix of hide and seek and tag that seemed way too unnecessarily violent.

Levi had just finished a response to Erwin's last email when he glanced outside, only to see the group of friends heading inside. A twinge of apprehension sparked inside Levi.

No. There was nothing to worry about.

The brat wasn't going to do something stupid was he? Like, oh, maybe try to bother Levi?

The ever increasing sound of other people, loud other people, proved Levi wrong.

They had stayed downstairs for a bit, seeing as Levi couldn't hear them for a good long while, but he could hear them coming up the stairs and talking, even through the thick walls of the house. How loud they must be… If this was how they actually talked then Levi honestly wondered how Eren- scratch that, how none of them were deaf yet.

"This is the second floor. It's mostly just bedrooms, but there's a library down the hall over there," came Eren's voice.

"Eh?! A library? No way! Can we go see it?" Levi didn't know whose voice that was. But apparently they liked books.

"No, I brought you on a house tour just to tell you the rooms that were here. Of course we can go see it!" Eren laughed. Weird. Levi hadn't heard Eren laugh yet. It sounded nice, and left Levi with this yearning to hear more.

So he was giving them a tour of the house, huh? Levi let his shoulders drop in relief, but despite how innocent it seemed, he still couldn't shake the idea that Eren probably had something planned. It wouldn't be like him to pass up such an opportunity as this.

Levi blinked in stunned realization at what he'd just been thinking before sighing, crestfallen. Great, he was already assuming that Eren would do anything to make Levi's life hell. It was becoming instinct to prepare himself for a fight every time he encountered Eren. Levi didn't want to fight with Eren. In fact, all of this fighting was starting to get old. But Eren wouldn't let Levi close enough for him to figure out how to stop it.

"This is my room," he could hear Eren say. Looks like they were done with the library.

"Dude! It's huge!"

"That's so cool!"

"Is that your closet? Is it a walk-in?"

"No, that's the bathroom. The walk-in is in the bathroom." You know, for someone who seemingly hated being here so much he sure sounded pretty damn smug.

"What?! The bathroom?! You get your own fucking bathroom? And a fucking walk-in?! Fuck you, Jaeger."

"You wish, horseface."

"Which one is Levi's?" Oh no… Oh please don't…

"That one there." For the love of God don't even try.

"Can we meet him?" Just go about your silly little tour and leave Levi alone.

"I've told you a thousand times that he was fucking busy!" … Huh… Was he actually being considerate of Levi? That was a first. "I'm not going to drag him out here to meet you ungrateful lot only to be killed later on. I don't have a death wish." Well, even if it was only out of self-preservation, it was still a first.

"Maybe we should knock?"

"Don't you do it, Connie!"

"Do it, Connie!"

"You're going to get me killed if you knock!"

"I'm gonna do it~…."

Jesus fucking… Levi stood up and strode towards the door. Like hell if he was going to listen to Eren's uncouth friends bang down his door for the rest of the day. Better just get this over with…

Levi flung the door open, startling everyone in the hallway. The boy who was about to knock, a little baldy (and Levi took great satisfaction in the fact that baldy was shorter than him though he would never admit to anyone), literally jumped back in fear. He glanced over everyone else until his eyes met Eren's startled but defiant ones.

"I thought," he drawled. "That I specifically said that you could whatever you want with the only catch being that you would not disturb me." He narrowed his eyes threateningly. "Was there some part of this that you simply didn't understand, or do I need to stamp it on your forehead for your incompetent mind to comprehend?"

Eren snapped out of his startled state, only for a glare to take its place along with traces of slyness. The bastard had planned this, just like Levi's originally gut feeling had told him. Maybe his plan didn't include directly disturbing Levi, but Eren had wanted to disturb him nonetheless.

"How are we disturbing you? I was just taking them on a tour."

"Yeah, well it's a loud as fuck tour. Did you ever think about toning your voices down a notch or several?"

"I thought you said these walls were soundproof."

"Practically. They're practically soundproof. Surprisingly enough, soundproof and practically soundproof are not the same thing. The latter meaning that I can still hear your annoying ass voice while I'm trying to work." Never mind the fact that Levi had only been half focusing on his work in favor of watching Eren. "Now, leave me alone. Unlike you, I actually have work to do." Eren glowered for a moment then turned to his friends.

"There, are you guys happy now? You got to see Levi. Now can we go do something else?" Eren hissed quietly, probably hoping Levi couldn't hear. That's why he bothered Levi? So his friends could meet Levi? Was there no intention of bothering Levi to begin with then? No, Levi was sure that Eren did want to bother Levi, but used it as an excuse for his friends to meet him.

"But, Eren-" A glare from both Eren and Levi shut the tall, well-built blond guy who had spoken, and the group started heading back downstairs with Eren leading the way.

Just as the group was about to walk out of sight, Levi caught sight of two toned and made a split second decision.

"Oi, two tone!" The guy looked back, questioningly and slightly offended. The boy next to him, the one that had held him back during his fight with Eren, and Christa stopped as well. Thankfully, they were in the back of the group so no one else really noticed. "Come here for a second."

"My name is Jean," he informed, walking back over. The black haired boy, who Levi now noticed had a plethora of freckles adorning his face, and Christa, after saying something to someone out of view, both followed.

"Yeah, well I didn't know that before."

"So what did you want?"

"What's your relationship with Eren?"

"My relationship? Why do you ask?"

"Curiosity." When Jean still looked unconvinced, Levi continued. "Humor me."

"Uh… well, he's a jerk and an asshole and an idiot and we hate each other's guts."

"Don't listen to him," Marco chuckled lightly, waving Jean off with a smile.

"Marco!" Marco only laughed more.

"I'm Marco, by the way." He held out his hand. Levi contemplated it for a moment before grasping it firmly with his own in a friendly shake.

"Levi. It's nice to meet you, Marco." Levi held out his hand to Jean as well, who took it nervously. "And you as well, Jean."

"Yeah… "

"They'll never admit it under normal circumstances," Marco continued. "But they're really the best of friends. They'll yell and fight with each other to no end, but if either was in trouble the other wouldn't hesitate to help. Not to mention that they've teamed up on a number of occasions to prank others." Marco gave Jean a pointed stare. "Even if not all of them are necessarily legal."

"Okay, first of all," Jean began indignantly. "There is no reason for you to be bringing that up! It's long in the past! And secondly, it was all Eren's fault! So don't you point fingers at me."

Marco laughed at Levi's confused face. "If you're ever on better terms with Eren, just ask him about the fire truck incident. It's a great story. If not very illegal. They almost spent a night in jail because of it."

"It's true, though," Christa spoke up. "About Eren and Jean helping each other, I mean. Remember when those guys from Trost were ganging up on Jean? And Eren immediately ran over to help? And with his help you sent those guys packing?"

"Oh please," Jean scoffed. "He probably just wanted the glory of beating those guys." His tone might have suggested indifference, but he couldn't stop the flush of embarrassment from rising to his cheeks. He was apparently one of those tough guys who tried not to show his feelings.

"It was five against two, Jean. And both of you got the crap beaten out of you in the process. Eren had a sprained wrist, fractured ribs, and both of his eyes were blackened. It was obvious that all of the odds were stack against you two from the get go, and you want to say he only did it for the glory?" Levi had a sudden possessive need to go find whoever they were talking about and personally kick the living shit out of them (after all, it was much easier to like Eren when he wasn't fighting with Levi at the moment), but shoved it down. It was in the past so there was no point in worrying about it.

"And don't forget those times when you talked Eren out of several of his episodes even though you knew that you'd get hurt every time." Levi didn't like the sound of that. Could he ask? Or would that be delving too deep into something he shouldn't know yet? Would they even tell him?

"Yeah, and it wasn't fun taking care of all those injuries, you know," Marco joked.

"W-Whatever…" Jean blushed even harder and stared at the wall.

"Episodes?" Levi asked, almost scared to hear the answer. The three of them exchanged glances. They were such deep and meaningful glances that Levi was almost positive that they'd just had an entire conversation simply by looking at each other.

"First," Jean started. "We want to know what your intentions are towards Eren."

"We're not going to give out information about our friend to anyone, especially if we think they're going to hurt him." Christa nodded in agreement, but said nothing. Levi sighed. Great. He was being interrogated by a couple of teenagers. Although, he did ask a personal question.

"I don't want to hurt him. If anything, I actually want to like him. I have to spend my life with him, as you have probably already heard a dozen times." Levi leaned against the door frame. "I just want to understand him."

They shared another glance, and Marco scratched temple lightly. "Well… and don't tell him we told you about this cuz he would probably freak out if he found out that we told you, he's not exactly fond of you, you know." Levi nodded in understanding. Oh yeah, he knew what Eren's feelings were towards him. "And we're not going to tell you a bunch of specifics about it. If you want to know more then you'll have to ask him yourself." Levi nodded once again. "…But, he wasn't exactly a happy child at the beginning of high school."

"He would have these psychotic episodes every now and then where he was completely blinded by rage. Most of the time he didn't even realize he was doing it. One time he tried to kick in an entire row of lockers, they were metal though so he only dented them, but they were pretty deep dents. By the time he'd snapped out of it, he was handcuffed to a chair in the principal's office with four policemen holding him down and he couldn't remember a thing." Christa nodded at Jean's words.

"Thankfully it was after school and the principal didn't let it get out that Eren had done those things. But it always seemed like something was constantly bothering him and he just sort of took it out on everyone."

"Yeah, then you mix in raging hormones and obligatory teenage angst and bam! Psychotic episode."

"Oh, but don't worry! He got help for it. With it, he got over it during sophomore year and he hasn't had one since. And recently he's been a lot happier," Christa reassured Levi. Apparently he must've look pretty worried. Who wouldn't be, though, after learning that their fiancé had been detained for nearly destroying an entire row of lockers in a fit of uncontrollable rage and that those fits of rage were normal for a while?

"So it probably was just the weird hormones and teenage angst," Jean added.

Silence fell over them as Levi contemplated this.

"… Could it have had something to do with the arranged marriage?" he asked thoughtfully after a moment. Levi actually hadn't intended to say that out loud, and only realized that he had when someone responded, but nothing could be done about it now.

"Now that I think about it…" Marco thought out loud. "It's possible."

"Yeah, it would make a lot of sense. He never told us though. So we wouldn't know. You'd have to ask him that yourself."

"If he ever starts to like you that is," Jean joked weakly.

"Well," Levi sighed. "I've kept you here long enough. Thank you for answering my questions, and enjoy your time with Eren." Jean and Marco gave him shy goodbye smiles and left, but Christa lingered behind.

"Hi," she said, smiling.

"Hello, how have you been? I hear your father's been doing pretty well," Levi remarked, polite yet friendly.

"Very well, thanks! And yes, he's found a new business partner and is excited for it."

"That's good. So, was there something you wanted?" he inquired curiously.

"Oh, yes! I know you're busy, but I just wanted to say… Please don't hate Eren," Christa pleaded.

Levi was speechless. What?

"I know you two aren't exactly on the best terms… and you probably don't have a very good image of him… especially after what we just told you… but he's really not a bad guy! He's actually really nice and genuinely kindhearted, if not the tiniest thickheaded and really stubborn. In fact, his nickname at school is "suicidal bastard" cuz he just never gives up." She laughed at the name, obviously remembering some story related to it.

Suicidal bastard, huh? Interesting name. Levi could bet that the original story behind it was probably a good one.

"And even though people at school think he's a bit of a doofus," Christa continued. "He's still really popular. He never dated anyone because he always said he couldn't, and now I know why, but he always felt bad so when he turned them down he'd offer to take them out for ice cream. And then…" she smiled fondly. "He was one of the few people who liked me for who I was and not what I had. He made friends with me even though he didn't know who I was. He said that I "looked far too sad for someone who refused to be friends with anyone." And I can't thank him and Connie enough for that day, because if they hadn't talked to me then I wouldn't have as many friends as I do now."

"You better not be falling for him," Levi teased gently. "He's a taken man, you know."

"I know," she laughed lightly. "Besides, I'm a taken woman and very happy about it."

"And I don't hate him," Levi said firmly, shaking his head somberly. "I just don't get him, is all. And he refuses to let me in close enough for me to ask. Both physically and emotionally. I don't suppose you'd have any advice for me?"

"Appeal to his interests."

"And those would be…"

"Well, he's not too much of a reader but he loves to write. And he's big on video games, computer games, handheld game, games in general and movies. He's basically a child on the inside." So it looked like Levi was right, Eren was a brat, though not necessarily in a bad way. "Oh! And he loves being outside!"

"Thanks," Levi said, thankful that he actually had something to work with now. Christa placed a cautious hand on his shoulder.

"Good luck."

She waved happily, and then she was gone, leaving Levi with his thoughts and the beginnings of his plan to get Eren to break out of his angry shell. He had more pieces to the puzzle named Eren, but there was still so many more he needed before he could piece them together.

THERE'S SUPPOSED TO BE A PAGE BREAK HERE BUT FANFICTION FUCKING SUCKS RIGHT NOW

Eren's friends were supposed to leave at 5 that day. Carlton would be back at 5:30 and then dinner would be at 6. Plus it took about three hours to get to the lake house so leaving at 5 would be best all around. But four hours were honestly not enough in Eren's opinion. So he tried to drag it out for as long as possible.

By any means necessary.

"Eren, please let go of my leg," Armin begged at his pitiful friend. Eren had wrapped both his arms and his legs around one of Armin's legs. He didn't care if he looked stupid, just so long as his friends wouldn't leave him here all alone.

"No."

"Eren. Get up," Mikasa commanded. "You look ridiculous."

"Actually, I'd say he looks more like a dog whose masters are about to leave," Jean taunted. He walked over to Eren and kneeled down beside him, ruffling Eren's hair. "Aww," he mocked. "Don't worry, little puppy. Your masters will be back soon to pick you up."

Eren growled (in a completely un-dog like manner mind you) and snapped his jaws at Jean's hand. Jean stumbled back, startled, and fell on his ass.

"What the hell, Jaeger?!" he yelled.

"Horses don't have pet dogs," Eren stated simply. Jean glared.

"You wanna say that again, bastard?!"

"And here I thought horses had great hearing."

"Fuck you! But the joke's on you!" Jean laughed, pointing a finger at Eren.

"What?"

"You admitted to being a dog." Eren gawked at Jean, blushing.

"Go suck a dick!"

"Already have," Jean responded smugly, to which Marco blushed a deep red.

"Jean!"

"Dude… TMI…" Connie muttered, put out.

"Don't think you have room to talk, Connie." Sasha hit the top of her boyfriend's head with her elbow, not letting his previous comment from earlier go.

While everyone laughed at Connie, Armin managed to pull his leg out from Eren's iron grasp. Eren whined and put forth his most pitiful looking face, whimpering the tiniest bit.

"Holy crap! He looks like a kicked puppy! Jean, for once you were right!" Reiner gasped.

"I don't care!" Eren cried, still sitting on the ground. "I'll act like a fucking monkey if I need to! Don't leave! Or leave and take me with you! Just stuff me in the trunk and kidnap me!"

"Eren." Eren stopped bout of self-pity and pathetic pleading and stared at Jean, who was oddly serious. "You should give him a chance."

"Huh?" Now Eren was really confused. Give who a chance? He wasn't talking about Levi was he?

"How about you actually try to get to know him. If you do, maybe you'll find that he isn't as bad of a guy as you're making him out to be." Eren could only stare, open-mouthed and dumbfounded, as Jean talked. Looking around, Eren found that everyone else was just as shocked at Jean's strange burst of wisdom.

But, regardless of that, it was already past 5, and they had to leave. Eren stood and his friends all said their goodbyes and climbed into the three cars. Mikasa gave Eren a firm hug.

"If that shorty hurts you in any way, you just let me know and I'll kick his ass," she assured. Eren hugged her back wholeheartedly. For once, Mikasa's constant babying of him was much appreciated. She gave him one last comforting smile before heading off to the little blue Prius that was her ride to the lake house.

After her, Christa, all alone since Ymir was waiting by her truck, placed a gentle and comforting hand on Eren's shoulder.

"Good luck."

And off she went, climbing into the passenger's seat of the truck.

They all shouted their goodbyes once more from their cars as they drove away, those who had the hands to, waved. Even Jean.

Eren didn't know how long he stood there, staring off where he'd last seen his friends with a confused expression.

Why would Jean of all people say something like that? Didn't he see how terrible Levi actually was? Besides, he would have expected Armin or Mikasa to say something like that. Hell he thought Connie would be more likely to say that then Jean! … Okay, maybe that was pushing it, but it was still surprising. Jean didn't often spout serious words of wisdom all that often. The only times he did were when…

Beep, beep.

"Eren!" Eren jumped at the sound of the car horn. Carlton had come back. His head was hanging out of the window and his car was idling in the driveway, a nice Mercedes Benz. "What are you doing staring off into space on the porch?" It took few seconds for Eren to realize that Carlton had actually asked a question and was actually waiting for a response.

"O-Oh, well… uh," he stumbled. What was he supposed to say? How long had he even been standing there?

"Ah, no matter," Carlton brushed off good-naturedly with a smile. "Why don't you head on inside and get Levi for dinner? I'm a little late so it should be ready soon."

Eren nodded vacantly and walked through the front doors and up the stairs. His movements felt robotic and precise. He didn't even flinch when he had to knock on Levi's door. Levi opened the door for the second time that day for Eren, looking less than pleased but not necessarily mad or upset.

"Haven't you bothered me enough today?" Eren heard Levi ask. Eren stared off to the side.

How about you actually try to get to know him…

"Your dad is home," Eren started, indifferent. Hey, it was better than hostile. "He told me that dinner would probably be ready soon and that I should go and get you."

Maybe you'll find that he isn't as bad of a guy as you're making him out to be…

"Whoopdi-fucking-doo," Levi whooped sarcastically. "I had no idea that dinner would probably be ready by 6 like it is every night. Thank you so much for telling me!"

Eren clenched his fists, but said nothing. After all, he was trying to make this work. Right? Wasn't he?

Levi studied Eren between narrowed eyes.

"I'll be down in a minute," he informed, this time with much less sarcasm. Maybe… it could work? Maybe Levi wasn't going to be such a jerk? "You better hurry, you might miss dinner." Levi gasped in fake horror before shutting the door in Eren's face. Eren felt anger simmer inside him.

No.

There was no getting along with Levi.

No matter how hard he tried, every time he tried to be semi-agreeable, Levi would always be a complete jackass! This marriage would never work!

But… Even so… Eren couldn't find himself feeling too angry about it. He didn't have the energy right now to even think about fighting back. He felt rather defeated overall and tired- no, exhausted. Like all he wanted to do was lie down on the ground and sleep.

He felt the same way he'd felt after Grisha left him on the porch, just like his friends had done. Plus he was physically tired now from the lack of sleep. So, Eren dragged his feet down to the dining room in hopes that dinner would be short tonight.

"So how was your day, Eren?"

"Fine."

"Your friends came over today, right?"

"Yes."

"Did you have fun?"

"Yes."

"What kind of things did you do?"

You know how when you're really upset and don't want to talk to anyone, but everyone seems to want to talk to you and just won't take the hint? Yeah, that was Eren and Carlton during dinner. No matter how many hints Eren dropped and how many short answers he gave, Carlton just kept asking questions.

Eren sighed.

"We hung out it the back yard." Levi rolled his eyes.

"That's specific." Great, even he wanted to talk to Eren. This was just not his night, was it? "You know, usually when someone asks what you did, they want to know more than "we hung out"." Eren only had the energy to give a weak glare, and boy was it weak. He was pretty sure he could see Levi laughing at it on the inside.

"Hey now Levi," Carlton reprimanded, though not very sternly. "If Eren doesn't want to share then he doesn't have to. He's probably tired from his friends coming over today and therefore doesn't want to talk as much."

"Y-Yeah. I'm just tired." Hey, if Carlton was going to say it then Eren was going to roll with it.

Levi rolled his eyes once again, this time with a barely audible "bullshit" to go along with it, but Carlton didn't hear it. That sort of frightened Eren.

Did he know? Was he able to read Eren so well? How was he able to read Eren, especially so soon? He was able to fool Carlton, but not Levi? Great… Fucking perfect…

"Oi!" Eren flinched.

"What?" Levi sighed, exasperated.

"Pay attention will you? I asked if you were alright. You've hardly touched your food." Eren's brow scrunched in confusion. Why was Levi asking him that? He didn't care about Eren's wellbeing.

"What? Yeah… I'm fine. Just tired, like M-Carlton… said." Eren would probably never get used to calling him Carlton rather than something like Mr. Voclain. It felt too informal for him.

Levi didn't say anything but sent him a look that clearly said "don't feed me the same bullshit that you're feeding my dad." The look made Eren feel weird. How could Levi know if Eren was lying or not? Why was it that Levi could read him so easily? Sure saying he was just tired was old and cliché, but it's not like it wasn't a plausible excuse…

Man, why was everyone acting so weird today?

"I think I'm going to go to bed," Eren stated, setting his fork down and getting up from the table. He'd only eaten about half of his food, but he couldn't find it in him to eat anymore right now. If he got hungry, maybe he could just nibble on some midnight snacks later.

"Oh… alright."

Eren jogged up the stairs and into his room. His too big for him room. He sat down on the floor by the foot of his bed, his usual spot, and let his head fall back against the frame of the bed.

Why was everything so weird and complicated right now?

Why was everyone so strange today? Jean spouts off some unlikely wise bullshit, Christa offering him a "good luck" that seemed to be weighed down with this overwhelming sense that she knew more than she let on, and Levi has apparently completely figured Eren out to the point that he knew when Eren was lying.

And none of it made sense.

Knocking at the door and a surprisingly sincere voice pulled Eren from his thoughts.

"Oi, Eren. Open up." Oh god no… Eren shut his eyes tightly in the hopes that closing his eyes tight enough would just make Levi go away. He so did not want to talk to Levi right now. "Eren." It was a command.

Against Eren's better judgment, he called out, "It's open, you can come in!"

And open it did, revealing Levi in all of his short assholyness if that was even a word. Eren didn't think it was.

"What's going on?"

"What?"

"You heard me."

"No, I know I heard you. I meant what are you talking about?" Well, really he meant how are you able to tell there's something wrong when your dad couldn't notice anything worth shit? But yeah, he wasn't going to ask that.

""I'm tired" my ass. You think I'd believe that for a second?" Levi scoffed as if that excuse was the most offensive thing Eren had ever done to him. And, considering that they hadn't really interacted all that much, it probably was.

"Why wouldn't you believe it?" Come on, just believe it will you? Eren didn't want to deal with this right now.

"Because from what I know about you, you're not the type to be tuckered out from a simple play date. Plus you're not that good of a liar." That ruffled Eren's feathers. That arrogant asshole.

"You don't know anything about me!" Eren yelled forcefully.

"You're right, I don't!" Levi yelled back just as intensely. It looked like Levi was about to say more, but Eren wouldn't let him.

"Well then don't make fucking assumptions about me like that! You don't know who I am! You don't know how I work!" Eren clenched his fists and felt the anger inside him begin to boil. This guy managed to push all of his buttons, and that was bad news. Familiar feelings from years ago began to resurface, coming back quicker than he imagined due to his lack of sleep.

Fuck.

"Then tell me!" Levi emphasized. "For fucks sake, how the hell am I supposed to know anything about you when all you do is avoid the fuck out of everyone here and fight with me whenever we happen to interact?! And for the love of fuck don't you ever say something like that again. You sound like an angsty middle schooler who just discovered Fall Out Boy. And really, if you haven't grown out of that stage yet then you really need to rethink your life."

"Maybe I don't want you to know anything! And fuck you! I'm not a middle schooler!" Breath. Deep breaths. Damn it, this was not what he needed right now. This fight was quickly getting much more heated than any of their other fights, which was probably why these feelings were showing up again.

"That's irresponsible. What? Do you plan on spending the next 60 fucking years with me as complete strangers? Did you really think that would work? And from your temper tantrums, I would have believed it if someone told me you were a middle schooler."

There was a short period of time where neither said anything. Levi watched Eren closely while Eren diverted his gaze to the floor in front of him.

"Go away…" Eren mumbled quietly, breaking the silence. Levi needed to leave before Eren's anger got the best of him.

"What? Can't think of anything to say because you know I'm right?" Levi taunted, unaware of Eren's struggles.

"Leave me alone…"

"And speaking of which," Levi pressed onwards, he was not going to let it go this time. "Why don't you talk to me, hmm? Why is it that you avoid everyone here? Why is it that you're always fighting?"

"I said leave me alone!" Levi jumped back from the retaliation, clearly not expecting such ferocity. But Eren had had enough. He was getting too close to the extreme feelings of anger he'd had long ago, and that scared him. Levi needed to leave and now. "I don't want to talk to you! Especially not right now! You're not getting anything from this pointless arguing so just fucking leave will you?!"

There was another several moments of silence as Eren panted, trying to regain his breath from his outburst. He couldn't read Levi's expression as the elder's hair covered and shadowed his eyes.

"You're right," Levi said finally, his tone dead. "This is just a waste of time. And I refuse to waste my time on some worthless shit like you." The door slammed on Levi's way out.

Eren resisted the urge to scream.

Give him a chance they said. Maybe you'll like him they said!

Fuck that. Levi was a terrible person and there was no way that he would ever be able to get alone, let alone like, that bastard.

Eren felt tears of anger and fear well up in his eyes. They spilled over without his permission and ran down his cheeks. Eren sobbed quietly.

He was so angry. Levi had been nothing but a complete dick the entire time he'd been here. He was constantly insulting him and yelling at him. The entire world may love Levi, but none of them knew what he was really like. He wouldn't be able to do this if it was going to stay this way, which it probably was.

But he was scared too. Scared because suddenly, feelings he'd managed to control and suppress back in his early high school years were showing their ugly heads again. Why were they showing up now? He thought he'd locked that anger deep inside with a cage strong enough to contain King Kong or the Hulk. This wasn't good. As much as he hated Levi and this stupidly large mansion, he didn't want them to have to deal with one of his rampages. Hell, Eren didn't want to deal with one of his rampages. Especially not with his friends so far away and unable to help.

And finally, he wanted to sleep. He really did. Sleep sounded like the best thing in the world right now, but that ever present feeling of his kept him alert and the walls that like to close in while Eren wasn't looking kept him from closing his eyes.

So Eren cried instead.

On the other side of the hall, Levi braced himself against his door, trying to comprehend what he'd just seen.

It wasn't what he was used to. Eren's voice at the end wasn't the same kind of anger he'd seen from the boy before. This one seemed stronger and was mixed with something else…

Fear.

What was Eren scared of? Why was he so angry? He'd never gotten that angry with Levi before, even when Levi was pressing him on his behavior. Hell, the last time Levi brought up Eren's behavior, the boy didn't even get angry. Not even a hint of anger. What was going on?

He would have these psychotic episodes every now and then where he was completely blinded by rage…

Do you think it might have had something to do with the arranged marriage?

It's possible…

Levi shook the thoughts from his head.

They said he got help for it, right? And lately he'd been happier, right? But, then again… If it had anything to do with the marriage, it's highly possible that Eren could relapse since the marriage was so much more real now. It was just an idea before, but now he's actually met his fiancé and is currently living in his house…

Levi sighed. There was no reason for him to jump to conclusions like that. It was an extreme that was unlikely to happen again.

But… Levi kept it in mind, just in case.

Did you guys find it? The part where these damn page breaks pissed me off? Like really? Just ONE didn't work? JUST ONE?! AND IT HAD TO BE RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE STORY?! Fuck you all.

So I just wanted to thank everyone who's been reviewing, your reviews mean a lot to me. I don't respond even though I probably should… but nevertheless I still really enjoy reading everything you guys have to say, and I'm glad you're all enjoying the story too :D

If you haven't reviewed yet, it would be much appreciated :D So yeah, you should totally review. Totally. Do it. Now.

I hope you all enjoyed this chapter!

:)Puppy-Chan(: