"...you want me to...what, exactly? Spy on him?" Mikasa leaned back in her chair. She tilted her head to the left and squinted distainfully at the man across from her.

Levi sighed. "No, not spy on him. You're his...friend, there's nothing wrong with keeping an eye on him...for me." Okay so maybe he was asking Mikasa to spy on Armin. In his defense, there was no way he would leave him alone at all times with that outsider. He still didn't completely trust him, even though it had been weeks since he's arrived. The boy had become far too comfortable in his situation for Levi's liking. In that time, Armin's behavior had changed drastically. The boy rarely spoke to him anymore and had recently began to refuse eating any of the human meat he normally consumed without issue. "I don't know what Jean is telling him, but it needs to stop."

The woman sharply chuckled. "So, you're losing control and you want me to fix your mess? Is that it?" Mikasa's expression suddenly hardened. "Yes, I'll keep an eye on him. Not for you, but for him." In all honesty, she wasn't too fond of Jean herself. The way he tailed behind Armin like a lost puppy whenever they left the house was pathetic. Not to mention how he mooned over her when he thought she wasn't looking. Jean couldn't hunt (even animals), he refused to do anything when new captives were brought in, and he had the nerve to give whiny excuses whenever he was asked to help with anything. In her opinion, Jean has become nothing more than a burden on their community.

Mikasa wasn't the only one who thought that either.

"That's all I'm asking." Levi pushed back his chair, waving his hand towards the front door. "Go. They'll be back soon."

Armin hadn't believed Jean at first. Naturally, he was skeptical of anything that came out of his mouth for days after he'd tried to escape. But slowly his curiosity had drawn him back, eagerly soaking in the wonders that Jean told him of. Knowing very little of the world outside his books and town, Armin was fascinated by the stories Jean shared. Amusement parks, museums filled with ancient things, vast oceans, sprawling cities; all things he'd heard little of and had never seen himself.

The fact that cannibalism was considered a heinous crime was new.

"So...people only eat animals for meat?" Armin asked as he sat crosslegged on the floor. "That's so stupid! There's so many of us. People see nothing wrong with hunting to lower deer population, but hunting people to do the same is wrong?"

"Well yeah. That's murder. Which is illegal." Jean explained for the hundredth time with a bored frown. "You just think it's okay because you grew up with it. Seriously, it's a really fucked up thing to do. No sane person would ever try to eat another person."

Armin rolled his eyes. "But war is perfectly acceptable? You kill so many people anyway, why would you waste them like that?" The blonde yawned and stood, stretching his arms over his head. "I guess I see your point, kinda...but it's stupid." He walked over to the open window in Jean's room and closed it, turning back to him with a grin. "And kinda hypocritical."

It was dark out now. Levi would be returning home soon which meant Jean's door would be locked until morning and Armin had to go back to his own room downstairs. But that wasn't going to be the case tonight.

Jean said he was going to take him to the city while everyone was asleep.

Oh sure, it was risky. If they were caught by anyone it wasn't going to end well for either of them. But both of them were just itching for something new.

"Alright, you just...I don't know, pretend to sleep and I'll be back once father is asleep." Armin shrugged. "You sure your truck is still going to be there?"

"It should be. It's not like people go out there often and no one knew exactly where me and mar- ...my friend were going." Jean took a deep breath and closed his eyes for a moment. It still hurt to say his name.

Armin didn't seem to notice how Jean's tone had changed. "Well that's good then. I'll be back soon, be ready." The blonde smiled as he shut and locked the bedroom door, trudging down the stairs just as Levi walked through the front door. The two shared a moment of awkward eye contact before Levi grimaced and moved past him to kick off his shoes at the base of the stairs. Armin stiffened and quickly ran off to his bedroom without a word.

"You know, you can't keep this up forever. You'll have to get over yourself eventually." Levi called after him as he turned to carefully place his shoes nearly on the bottom step.

Armin paused in his doorway. "...I could say the same to you." He replied shakily, slamming the door.

AIGHT GUYS I KNOW THIS CHAPTER IS SHORT BUT TRUST ME SHIT IS GONNA GO DOWN AIGHT I FINISHED THIS AT 4:06 AM IF GRAMMER IS FUCKED UP OR IT SEENS ODDLY WRITTEN THEN THATS WHY