Unspoken Norms | Levi Ackerman ✔️

Chp 17 ~ Ruffled Feathers

Fun Fact: Levi is actually considered ugly in the SNK universe.

Me: EXCUSE ME—they do not know the definition of TRUE BEAUTY. The image above is an example of such. 

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Levi's POV

Fear wasn't the correct word to use when I beheld the ropes suspended perilously between three wooden poles. The giant swing.

Under the shade of the pavilion, I watched as Eren, Mikasa and Armin attached themselves to the wooden beam by their harness clips, where they merely hung by steel pulleys. Everyone else was belaying from a distance, faces drawn into harsh lines of determination.

No, it wasn't fear. Just mere doubt of the ropes' sturdiness—if it'd hold the weight of three growing adolescents. If it wouldn't snap when Erwin, Hange and I went on. I wasn't concerned about my own weight; it was Erwin. With his heavy, robust frame, I truly believed we would all meet ground before the belaying even started.

"Pull the cord! Now!" roared our camp leader, Owen. He led the belaying team, arms bulging with vein and muscle. As soon as Mikasa tore at the cord, the three of them swung down in a precarious arch, seemingly to sweep out from the harnesses themselves. I could've sworn my heart skipped a beat at the sight, Eren's feet barely missing the dirt.

Once they were done, it was our turn. My fingers worked expeditiously at my own harness, tightening straps around waist and legs. Owen assisted in hooking us by the beam's clips, where the wooden plank was supported by three ropes on three poles.

I hated it. Absolutely hated it. Being hung uselessly from the beam, with no other form of security other than the pulley. I could sense the eyes of those belaying, watching this all unfold.

Despite the loathed situation I was in, I managed to cross my arms over the plank, face void of any fear or doubt. No place in hell was I going to scream.

Erwin and Hange sandwiched me, excitement peeling off them in aborrent waves. How can they possibly be eager for this? This... this shitty torture.

"Okay!" Owen shouted. "Pull the—"

It already happened. Giving Hange the task of pulling the cord was unwise.

The world undulated in windswept currents, the ground swelling in size. Closer and closer. I snapped my eyes closed, teeth clenching as I waited excruciatingly for the momentum to stop. In my left ear, Hange shrieked from the top of her lungs; Erwin's unending yelps screeching in my right.

After what seemed like an eternity, the swing finally halted its motion, hanging us a few centimetres off the ground. Me to be exact.

Both Hange and Erwin could reach down with their toes and touch the dirt if wanted, but I was still a few inches short.

I was glad no one pointed it out. Otherwise they would find themselves breathing through an injured nose. Or perhaps limping with one leg. Who knew what my wrath could bring.

"Hey Levi, wasn't that soooo fun? You enjoyed it didn't you?" Hange squealed with enthusiasm, arms spreading wide as if to embrace me. I blocked her with an arm just in case.

"Tch, does it look like I enjoyed it? Use your goddamn brain for once and think," I snapped, removing my arm. After that humiliating event, I was not in the mood to play with words. But then, when was I ever in the mood?

***

Your POV

The first day of camp passed by in a blur. I recalled flashes of terror-fused swinging and abseiling, of near-death moments that I doubted I'd ever forget. But amidst it all, there was laughter and excitement, words of encouragement uttered.

I remembered seeing a humiliated Levi stalk away from the giant swing, all of a sudden tripling his usual spleen. He kept snapping at Hange at the faintest comment she made, eyes skirted with austerity.

"Didn't someone get his feathers ruffled," Jean had murmured wryly in my ear, but something within me cracked, making me bat him away with a hand. Whatever it was that made me like that...

For the rest of the night in the tent I shared with Sasha, I pondered at the thought.

It didn't help that the bread devil continued to snore extremely loud beside me, nor the mumbling she often generated about delicious breadsticks.

My mind flew back to the weekend at the very beginning of the year, an almost faded memory webbed in the corner of my thoughts. Of me about to press the send button to ask Hange for Levi's number. Why am I thinking about that now?

After two terms... I remembered it at this moment. And as the night dragged on, hour followed by hour, I caught not one ounce of sleep.