~from (y/n)'s POV~

You hesitated before getting up to find Levi. He had saved your life, after all. A simple "thank you" would perhaps lessen his temper.

Or so you hoped.

It took you a few minutes to find him, but eventually you saw his lanky figure stretched out in the empty Ferris Wheel cart.

"Hey, Levi?" you asked cautiously, approaching him slowly like you would when nearing a fawn. He didn't respond. "Levi?"

"What?" he snapped, not even bothering to look over at you.

"I just wanted to say-" What do I want to say? Thanks for saving my life - again? Sorry that I keep making everyone worry? Sorry that when you see me, all you can think is "I can't let her become Hanji"? Or do I want to ask if the warmth I felt was his? Whatever you wanted to say, none of the words came close to expressing quite how you felt. Your gaze was shy, apologetic, but you couldn't help feeling thankful. Along with that gratitude rode a sense of burden. Maybe Levi didn't want you around. You'd nearly died on at least two separate occasions while in his care. Not only were you a risk to everyone, but you were trauma waiting to happen. You couldn't blame him though.

"Why are you still with him?" Levi asked, saving you the trouble of finding words to express yourself, which had never been a strong suit of yours.

The problem was - you had no idea what he was talking about, much less where that question had come from. "Excuse me?"

"Erwin, that asshole. You know that he's been sneaking off to screw around with Annie, and he's not even trying to hide it. He doesn't care about you or what you feel or even if you know. Hell, Annie's probably not even the first one. His phone is probably full of bitches who have been screwing him all the time you and he have been dating. Do you want to take a look at his messaging archives? His contacts? His calls? That's probably why his battery drains so quickly, because he has so many apps open devoted to playing around with other girls who aren't his girlfriend-"

"And that bothers you because...?" you asked, trying to keep your voice as even as possible. Be distant. Be aloof. Don't let his words get to you.

"Because I hate it when assholes like him screw over girls like you!"

"Girls...like me?"

"Yeah, innocent girls like you who-"

"Hold the phone, who said I'm innocent?" you challenged, trying to throw a bit of intimidation behind your voice, but Levi just scoffed.

"(Y/n), you're the type of girl who blushes just when someone says 'sex'. See?"

So you were blushing. What did that prove? "Fine, whatever. Tell me more about the stereotype I represent."

"You're the 'nice girlfriend' type, the girl guys bring home to their mothers for Sunday dinners, the girl who doesn't swear often and who is intelligent and driven and kind. I'll bet you play a musical instrument on the side. You're a writer at heart, but you know it will never become a reality for you. You dress modestly, send cute 'miss you, baby' texts when you're lonely and bored, and go to church on a fairly regular basis. You're not huge on exotic foods, but you feel pressured to please other people so you'll try whatever someone makes. You get your homework done with slight procrastination at most, you like flowers-"

"Okay, okay, I get it," you huffed, cutting him off, but you swallowed, trying not to let him see how much his psychoanalysis had gotten to you, because...sadly...most of what he'd said was true. "And what does my...type...have to do with anything?"

Finally, Levi turned his head towards you. His eyes reflected little else but a deep-driven fatigue, the same tiredness that had likely propelled him to seek solitude in the cart in the first place. "Because girls like you are the ones who always get taken advantage. You know the saying, 'You can't have your cake and eat it too'?" He didn't wait for you to nod, but you did so anyway. "Yeah, well, that's the type of girl you are. Guys hang on to you for certain benefits while doing anything they want with anyone they want on the side. Then they play off your insecurities and pressure you into sleeping with them because if you don't, they threaten to find someone else to warm their bed, and while you're submitting, he's still sleeping with every other whore he can find. That's why I'm pissed off-"

"But why does it bother you? You're not the girl in my shoes," you said, struggling to figure out why Levi was taking it so personally.

"No, he said after a moment. "But maybe I've been that guy before."

Well - that was not at all what you'd expected to hear. You thought that maybe he'd have some girl he knew, a sister, a cousin...but with him sitting in front of you, looking at you, you thought for a moment that maybe he wasn't tired because of you, maybe he was tired because of himself.

"I changed," he added, a quiet afterthought, as he ducked his head away, avoiding eye contact. "I didn't care what I was doing, but I grew to hate myself. So I stopped. Stopped dating, stopped talking to girls, stopped fooling around with girls, just...stopped. But I was there for long enough that I can see the signs in other people. And...(Y/n)..." He sighed. "Why haven't you dumped him?"

Now it was your turn to sigh. "What good will it do? We're all stuck here together. If I break up with him now - well, who knows how long we'll be trapped here? Everyone would be tense and-"

"Who ever said you had to sacrifice your happiness for everyone else's? Nobody else does that. It's a kill or be killed world, (y/n). Nobody else is looking out for you, so you don't have to look out for everybody. That's just how it works."

You smiled sadly at him. "Maybe that's just the flaw of my 'type'. You said my type of girl is kind, right? Well maybe you should have added 'foolish' to the list." And with that, you walked away, your heart heavy and your throat tight with all the words you wanted to say that had never made it out.