A Matter of Stature Chapter 8 [ Levi x Reader ]

A Matter of Stature

Chapter 8: Interrogation Conversation

After dinner, you finished helping with the dishes and returned to Levi's room, exhausted. Dinner wasn't so bad, the food wasn't as pretty and decorated or as tasty as Artie's, but it was ok. You could hope that tomorrow's menu was better, but for now, you were just hoping that Levi's bed was soft. He went into his room along with you, making it clear that he wasn't about to let you go straight to sleep. "We need to agree on our story."

"Now?" You dropped across the bed, your legs dangling over the edge. "I'm so tired." You moved to lie down properly and let out a little squeak of surprise when Levi grabbed your ankles.

He pushed your legs back down and scolded, "shoes off."

"Alright, alright!" You removed your shoes and lay down, ankles crossed, hands behind your head. If they wanted you to act comfortable around Levi, then you might as well start practicing. "I'm listening."

Levi sat on a chair, expression serious. "Tell me about your past."

"My past? Ok..." You thought about what you could say, there wasn't much to tell really. "I was sick until recently. I didn't do much except sleep most of the time. At Sina I lived with my father and the staff. My mother passed away when I was a toddler and I don't remember much about her. My father has always been very kind to me. My closest friends other than my father are Melinda, the seamstress, Artie, the chef, their son Tony, one of our younger maids, Mary Anne and Dr. Facio... Oh and I have a pink poodle named Fluffy, but she likes Tony best. I tried to play with her before leaving for Rose and she just barked at me." That had made you a little sad. Though Fluffy had never been too close to you because you didn't have the energy to play with her much, she had never been hostile towards anyone before. "What about you?"

Levi's explanation was more so about the Survey Corps than himself. He told you about the scouts, Eren, Mikasa, Armin, Erwin, Hange, who was crazy, or so he said, Sasha, Connie, Jean, Krista and the others. You tried your best to pay attention, but you knew you'd forget more than half the things he said by tomorrow, if not sooner. You would remember Eren, Mikasa and Armin, since you had met them, and of course, Erwin, but the others were still a mystery to you. Levi only gave you basic information and physical descriptions along with a few minor details such as quiet, loud, clumsy with a mop and so on. You didn't really feel particularly informed, but you did feel a little overwhelmed.

You realized that, thinking back on it, you never really knew the whole mansion staff. You could recognize the familiar faces and know that you had seen them before, but other than the chef, the seamstress and the maid assigned to clean after you, you had little occasion to cross paths with anyone else. On a good day, if you did feel well enough to walk around, you ended up going to Melinda and not really talking to anyone new.

You had a feeling that Levi knew more about the scouts that he wasn't telling. It was ok though, you'd just get to know them at your own pace and then... Then you'd get a divorce and leave... But nothing was to stop you from maintaining correspondence with the scouts if you made friends. You tried to be optimistic and were so lost in your own thought that you missed Levi's question.

"Are you even listening to me?" Levi woke you from your thoughts.

"Um... What was it?" You gave him an innocent look, there was really no use in pretending you knew what the question had been.

"I asked you to explain what the illness you mentioned was. If it had such a big influence in your life as you make it sound, I should have heard about it before," Levi reasoned.

"I don't know what it was," you admitted. "It killed my mother, it's some genetic failure I guess. Don't worry, it's not contagious and I'm cured anyway."

"You recovered when your titan abilities manifested?" Levi inquired. You shrugged and didn't voice a reply. "What caused you to change?" You didn't reply. Levi tried to maintain a patient attitude, reminding himself that this wasn't a military interrogation, but a conversation. "From what I understand, you must have become this way to save your life."

"Yes," you nodded, maybe more so to reassure yourself than anything else. "It was all done with good intentions."

"And good intentions aside, simply asking for help from the scouts was out of the question," Levi mused aloud, as if to observe your reaction.

"Well... I guess the communication between Sina and the Survey Corps isn't always the best," you reasoned. "Besides, why would you help? Wouldn't it just be troublesome for you to help me learn to repress this problem and get little in return? I mean, you could be paid, but my father doesn't know you, how can he trust you? He felt that he had no choice but to get something to hold over your head. He won't end the scouts though. I know he won't, he's not a bad person. This doesn't have to be complicated."

"Why involve the scouts at all?" Levi wondered. "Why not just hide you in your mansion and use bribery on the court if your condition ever became public? I'm not a titan shifter expert, I was simply put in charge of Eren because I can kill him if he gets out of control. Controlling his abilities is something that he's learning on his own, you might have been better off in the familiar comfort of your home."

You took in Levi's words. Why were you sent away? Was your father worried that he wouldn't be able to keep you under control? Why didn't he accompany you to Rose? Was he actually afraid of you? How could he be? You would never hurt him or anyone dear to you. "I don't know," the situation was difficult and hurtful. You felt your eyes water again.

"If that not knowing bothers you, then ask about it. Ask for an explanation, even if you don't share it with me, ask for your own sake," Levi suggested.

You nodded, "ok..." albeit you guessed he wanted to get that information out of you. You also wondered if the explanations would be denied to stop him or Erwin from making you talk. They couldn't harm you, or openly pressure you, but they could gently get you caught up in conversation. There was more than one way to interrogate someone, and you had a feeling that they knew plenty. Even so, everything was so overwhelming you were just about ready to snap. You looked at Levi, then turned your head to stare at the ceiling, his eyes were so piercing you didn't know if you wanted to look more, or look away, so you settled for the latter.

"So..." Levi continued as if this was just a casual conversation between friends. "How did we meet?"

You thought the question was odd. You met when you went to sign the marriage document. But then you realized he was referring to your fake story. "At Sina, I suppose... What might have made you go there?"

"I could be picking up supplies for the Survey Corps, or going over a supply contract," Levi suggested. "Usually, Erwin takes care of that, since he's the commander, but I could have filled in. You could have been present because your father's business alliance sometimes supplies the scouts."

"Right," you nodded, the story sounded believable so far. "Maybe you had to stay in Sina to see to other business and since you had some free time between meetings we talked and looked around." You just hoped they didn't ask for too many details about Sina, you didn't go out much due to your past state of fragility, so you weren't exactly an expert on your home town.

"Then we saw each other whenever I could take a break from the scouts..." Levi mused. "Which wasn't often," he recalled.

"We wrote to each other and made every moment count," you added. This was sounding like a cute little love story, even if it was a lie. It was kind of fun to invent things like this. "What kind of dates did we go on?"

Levi paused for a moment... "Shopping for cleaning supplies together?"

You laughed, then realized it was an actual suggestion. "That's not very romantic," you admitted. "How about shopping for jewels, jewels are romantic."

"How about just looking around the city? On the subject of jewels, here," Levi pulled a little box out of his pocket and tossed it to you. You failed to catch it and it landed on your stomach. It was a minor annoyance, but the box was small, so it didn't hurt. "That's supposed to be your ring. Don't ask me how I managed to get my hands on a diamond that big."

"It's beautiful," you put the ring on an admired it. You knew this was purchased by your father, for the sake of your fake marriage, but it was still pretty. "Taking a walk around the city and just relaxing sounds like a good date," you agreed, still mesmerized by the large diamond.

"Don't you have a whole collection of other jewels?" Levi asked with some level of annoyance that he seemed to be trying to hold back.

"I guess so, I've never had much occasion to wear them though," you mused.

"They didn't really pack much for you in the way of jewelry," Levi observed.

"Oh..." You shrugged. "I don't mind. I guess it's better if I don't stand out too much. So..." you continued, "what other dates did we go on?"

Levi shrugged, "where would you have wanted to go?"

"A ball? Balls are always so pretty and exciting in stories!" You smiled dreamily.

"Ever been to one?" Levi inquired.

"No," you admitted.

"Lucky you," he replied.

"How come? Have you been to a ball?" You shifted your position on the bed to rest at your side and look at him.

"Unfortunately yes. Some merchant was trying to get a good reputation by participating on a charity event for people who were still struggling after the loss of Maria. The Survey Corps needed representatives to be there, so Erwin, Hange and I got dragged into it," the memory was clearly not a good one for Levi.

Even if it was evident in his voice that he had not enjoyed the ordeal, you eagerly asked, "was it fun? Was it pretty? Did you have a date? Did you dance? Did you eat cake?"

"No, I don't care, no, against my will and a little," Levi replied.

You went over the order of your questions and his replies in your head. Fun, no, pretty, don't care, dancing, unwillingly, cake, a little. "Tell me about the dance," you smiled widely. The unwilling dances were always the most interesting in stories, because the unwillingness was always a pretence.

Levi frowned, "I don't see how that's relevant."

"Aw, cmon!" You whined.

"Just some stupid merchants trying to show how kind they are by dancing with the scouts," Levi elaborated.

"I've never danced," you pouted. "I want to try it, at least once in my life." You paused, realizing how silly you sounded. You had more energy now and were awake enough to be sufficiently coordinated, at least in theory. "I guess I can now that I'm healthy. It's funny, thinking of these simple things that I couldn't do before, but now they could become reality." Dancing with your prince charming, going on real dates, your first kiss... "So... um... When was our first kiss?" Levi shrugged, letting you decide for yourself. You thought about it, trying to come up with something exciting. "In the middle of a battle field with titans all around!"

"Did you get that from a novel? It's too unrealistic," Levi pointed out.

"I know, I know," you laughed. "I was just kidding. How about on the rooftop of my home under the stars?"

"Sounds reasonable. Is there anything else you think they'll ask?" Levi inquired. He wasn't really expecting the story to need to many details other than how you met and a few dates.

"How did you ask me to marry you?" You hoped his reply was at least a little creative.

He shrugged. "Will you marry me? Like that."

You rolled your eyes, "we went for a walk in the underground city and you asked me there, okay?"

Levi gave you a curious look, but quickly regained a neutral expression. "No one goes there."

"I want to go," you eagerly shared your enthusiasm. "I know most if not all of the urban legends about the underground city are fake, but it'll still be interesting to see the real life place where all those legends were inspired. What do you think it's like down there?"

"I wouldn't know," for some reason, you got the feeling that he was lying, even if it was such an odd detail to lie about.

"I guess that's it then... Unless you can think of something else?" You yawned, hoping that it really was over. You were very tired from the busy day, but at least you managed to have a civilized conversation with Levi and that somehow felt like a victory.

"Not really..." A knock on the door interrupted Levi from speaking further. He was surprised by it, but quickly went to see who it was. His guess was that it would be Erwin, but instead he found a woman with glasses and a large box in her arms.

"Could you take this? It's heavy!" Without waiting for a reply, she shoved the box into Levi's arms. "Well, it's early so I hope I'm not interrupting anything. That box was left in the basement, good thing I noticed it." You had finished sitting up when she spotted you and rushed over. "Nice to meet you (Name), I'm Hange," she took both your hands in greeting. "Has your husband told you about me? I research titans."

"And the grape vine," Levi added.

"You were going to introduce her tomorrow anyway," Hange reminded, showing that she was indeed well informed. It's not like Levi had told Eren, Mikasa and Armin that this was supposed to be a secret, and who knew how many people had heard about it before you were even introduced to them. Seeing Levi making out, as they had assumed they did, was irresistible news that begged to be shared. "Are you interested in titan research?" Hange's eyes shone as she asked.

You never really gave it much thought beyond the heroic tales of fiction, but you did have a titan problem of your own. It was supposed to remain a secret, but even ordinary people sometimes got curious about the titans. Yet Levi was shaking his head. Would it really be that suspicious if you showed a moderate amount of interest? "Um... well..."

Hange suddenly looked in Levi's direction. "I saw you," she pouted. "I get it, you think I'm going to chew her ear off with my research. I did stay up all night talking to Eren that one time. I think he very much enjoyed our chat and it was very interesting." She took a few steps towards the door. "I get it, I can take a hint, you want your bride all to yourself. Don't worry (Name) when Levi burns enough energy to bear the thought of sharing your time, we can have a nice long chat about titans. Good thing I brought your books, that should give you some inspiration to tire him out faster," she giggled.

"Get out," Levi growled. Giggling nonstop, Hange retreated out of the room and Levi locked the door behind her. "I should have burned your stupid books. I don't want the scouts getting a hold of them, especially the new recruits."

You curiously examined the box Hange had delivered, confused by her words. "What are these books anyway? And what did she mean by tiring you out?" You picked up one of the books at random and instantly dropped it in realization, as if it was made of fire. "Don't answer," you blushed bright red. "These are not my books," you defended. "These are Melinda's, she used to read them to me because I was bedridden and would probably never have the energy to go on a date, let alone get a husband. I didn't pack them, they're not mine. It's not like I asked her to read them. She's like a big sister to me, she was just trying to... I don't know, make it so I wouldn't entirely miss out on this aspect of life? Please don't tell my father, I don't want to get her into trouble. There's no way he knows she packed these for me." Your face kept turning a deeper shade of red as you recalled listening to Melinda read the explicit romantic novels. Often, Mary Anne would join in to lend an ear. While Melinda tried to paint a pretty picture in your life despite your past limitations, Mary Anne was more frank. "Just so you know, my favorite parts were the action scenes with sword fights and stuff like that."

"What you read in your spare time is none of my business," Levi informed. He indifferently approached the window and used his ODM gear to climb out.

Great, just great, Levi thought you were a pervert. You knew Melinda was trying to cheer you up with this little joke delivery, if it even was a joke on her part. You certainly hoped it was, because there was no reason for you to ever kiss this man, let alone do more. This was only a pretend marriage, even if that fact was to remain a secret.

To be Continued