It had been the right thing to do, right? It had been better for you that he wasn’t your captain and your lover. It had to be better for you not to be torn between love and duty, heart and mind. It had to be the right thing, so why did it feel so wrong?

*Levi leaned against a pillar towards the edge of the mess hall. He was waiting for the last member of his squad to finish their meal before they left for patrol. Even so, he found himself lost in a trance at the sound of your voice from a table away. *

He could your voice telling those around you that you were fine, that you weren’t down and out about the situation, but he could see more in the way you held yourself rather than the words you told those around you.

“I’m okay,” you’d say. But Levi knew better. Your posture was slouched, your eyes weren’t as bright as they’d once been before, and your smile was more fake than the news of Interior reports fed by Military Police lies. You were miserable, and it was all his fault.

He watched as your eyes glassed over at the mention of his name, and how you’d all but stopped breathing when you saw him standing there, eyes on you. He knew the second you’d seen him, and he knew the second your heart stopped beating. It was like a blade to his heart to know that you could look at him with such…terror.