Passive Aggressive - L. Ackerman

Ch. 2

I averted my gaze from the trees to meet the eyes of the small man who stood above me, leaning over ever so slightly. My eyes narrowed in annoyance.

"The hell do you want?" I snapped sharply.

"Erwin's not so lousy he'd forget to tell you what's going to happen. I'm training you." He looked down his nose at me, dark eyes glittering in irritation.

"Well if he's not as lousy as you say, then maybe he would've also not forgotten to tell you that I don't want to be trained."

"He told me that as well. You don't have a choice in this."

I let out a growl, he was really pissing me off. "Ok so?"

"I'm still gonna train you."

I let out an exasperated sigh.

"You can't be serious," I muttered. "Why can't you all just leave me alone?"

"If you went out of your way to join the Survey Corps, then you must want to fight the titans, and yet you can't use the gear."

".. I'll learn the ODM gear by myself. I don't need you."

"Go ahead then. Show me you can teach yourself."

"Ok then, I will."

I turned away from him towards the frame where I would begin my aptitude testing, a slight hint of fear on my face, though even if I was facing anyone, they would have to be extremely sharp to notice.

"You're nervous, aren't you?" he said with a slightly mocking tone, noticing my hesitation.

"N-no! I'm just- I'm new to this, remember?" I said, stuttering.

I heard a quiet sound come out of his mouth, infuriating me. He... laughed at me. I know he did! That's when I became determined to show him up. No one laughs at me! No one will ever make me feel inferior!

I assembled everything to how I thought it was correct. I remember briefly studying some blueprints of the gear I found floating around back home. I never thought they could be useful, but today, those blueprints are gonna be how I kick dirt in the faces of the people I hate. The satisfaction to see them in agony as they see me succeed. If I ever had a goal in life, that would be it.

I readied myself, taking a deep breath, before calling Levi over.

"Ok!" I shouted. "Lift me up!"

He sighed and walked over, turning the pulley, the steel ropes beginning to grow taut as I was lifted into the air.

But something wasn't right. It didn't feel right, anyhow.

Maybe it's just because I'm new to the gear? I thought, hoping desperately I wasn't going to make a fool of myself in front of the enemy.

But I knew that wasn't the reason. I mustn't have assembled something properly, because I soon found myself tumbling in both directions as I tried to keep myself steady, finally falling forwards.

I grit my teeth. I had stopped myself from painfully hitting the ground by stopping myself with my hands, but now my lower body was hanging embarrassingly in the air. I gasped softly as I felt myself being lowered, refusing to look as Levi walked over, slightly red-faced.

I gasped and shouted at him, mouth agape in shock as I felt him tinkering with my gear.

"Hey! Don't touch me, you pervert!" He gave me an unimpressed look.

He removed the gear from my body and walked in front of me, kneeling down with the gear in his hands, looking almost disappointed. He clicked two objects together, then removed them, his expression not changing at all as he did so. Disappointed. In what? Me? I muttered inaudible words to myself.