Jean

"What the hell, Levi? What are you?"

Jean knew at that moment, whenever [F/N] let loose a cuss word, whether it be a varied use in a sentence or one simple burst, she was either in pain, or extremely fed up and pissed.

At the moment, she was both.

His head pounded. He probably should've left. He probably should just leave Levi tied up in the chair, and flee for his life; although [F/N] was more on the chill, laid-back side, whilst Levi was completely the opposite, it was fire against fire. Whenever they fought...it didn't end well. Of course, that was only temporary; everything went back to normal after a couple of days, at most a week. Even in training, things like this were common.

"So," he cleared his throat, eyeing [F/N] and Levi. "I'm...going to leave."

"No," Levi replied almost immediately, cutting him off clean. "Hurry up and untie me...so I can beat some fucking sense into her."

Jean widened his eyes, a cold sweat breaking out in his palms. "What the hell," he muttered, getting back to untying the ropes. His fingers were weirdly very unstable, earning him a look of disapproval and impatience from Levi. God, he hated working under pressure.

He kept his wandering eyes focused on the ropes; they were tight, they were rough, and the tips of his fingers began to redden. He gasped a little when he felt a stinging pain arise from his fingertips, and spots of blood began to show on the nylon. Jean cursed inwardly.

"Hey," [F/N] spoke up again. Jean did not dare look up at her. "Hey! I know you have ears. Answer me!"

She banged her fist against the old wood, trying to get Levi's attention; but he did not budge--instead, he just hung his head low, so that his hair would fall into his eyes.

Jean sighed, shaking his head in disapproval. Although the day had just begun, he knew that it was going to be a long day.

-

"Jean," Eren waved. "What took you so long? Where's [F/N] and Levi? And who's that girl behind--"

"Oh my god," Connie interrupted Eren; he writhed out of Armin's grasp, pushing Eren and Mikasa out of his way. He staggered towards the girl, who gasped loudly in shock.

"Oh my god," Sasha covered her mouth with a hand, tears brimming her eyes. "Oh my god! Connie, you're--you're alive!"

"Oh god, Sasha--!"

As they embraced, the others just looked on in awkward silence. Jean nodded absent-mindedly, feeling a little concerned for the two that were still inside, still arguing over something dumb again. "Um...I'll just fetch [F/N] and Levi now, then. They were, uh, talking about something, and they wanted to be left in private."

"Like how many kids they are going to have?" Eren scoffed. "I can see the chemistry between them already, I don't understand why they won't admit their feelings--"

Actually, it's quite the opposite, Jean thought. He sighed, before picking up a light jog towards the shelter.

He approached with cautious steps, softly walking towards the entrance before he heard something within earshot.

"...I told you, Petra is gone, okay?"

Petra? Jean frowned. Who the hell was Petra?

"No, Levi, you're obviously going to go after that Petra girl again--and nearly get yourself killed. Again. Just how important is finding this girl? She's your ex, Levi! Grow up--you're not sixteen anymore! If she's gone, she's gone--and she made the right choice in doing so."

"Are you saying that this was all for nothing?" Levi growled. "Are you saying that I shouldn't be able to think of myself for once? Can I not be selfish for at least once? Is it so bad to go after someone just because you wanted to?"

Jean flinched, growing a little more paranoid as Levi's voice escalated with each word he spewed. Levi was usually of a collected persona, and this wasn't very expected from him--in Jean's point of view anyway. Jean swallowed nervously, hesitating whether or not to go inside and stop them from arguing.

"Yes--it's bad! You worried all of us; you put yourself in danger, and we put ourselves in danger to rescue you! When will you mature?!"

"It was because she was important, okay? This was a once in a lifetime sort of thing, now that we are caught up in this dumbass Purge or whatnot--and so what if I get myself killed? It's not your life that I'm messing with, is it?!"

"Levi--!" [F/N] hissed. "Stop it--!"

Jean chose this moment to break in, lips slightly agape when he saw that the both of them had each other's collars in their hands. [F/N] was the first to let go, looking down at her feet; maybe she was feeling shameful--she should be. As the leader, she wasn't acting appropriately, and neither was Levi. He slowly loosened his grip from her, before huffing loudly, pushing roughly past Jean and to the outside.

"Hey..." Jean tried to initiate the conversation. "Is--Is everything alright?"

"How much of that did you hear?" she asked quietly, completely neglecting his inquiry.

"I--I didn't hear much, nothing important," Jean swallowed nervously again, pressing his shaking hands on his thighs. "Let's--let's go, [F/N]."

"Fine," [F/N] sighed subtly, following Jean out the door. Jean frowned, unable to get the conversation out of his head; especially the name. It was like a dirty feeling he couldn't get rid of.

Petra Ral.

"Hey," Jean heard Mikasa yell. "Jesus christ, Levi, what the hell is wrong with you?"

"It's none of your goddamn business," Levi bit back, climbing into the back of the truck without looking back. Jean rolled his eyes, and [F/N] sighed.

"He's being a little kid again," [F/N] muttered. "It's dumb."

"I can tell," Jean replied, staring blankly at Levi. Apart from being the oldest in the group, he could be a little immature sometimes--and it got on his nerves, if he had to admit; but he wouldn't dream of telling Levi how he felt about his tantrums firsthand.

"Hey--Jean."

Jean looked back at [F/N]. "Yes?"

"Uh, I got in contact with Erwin a while back," she confessed. "Like, this morning, when I was in the car. And, uh, he wants us to meet us in Austin."

"Austin?" Jean scoffed. Was Erwin serious about this? "It's nearly four hours away. I don't know if we have enough gas for that."

"Dunno. Orders," [F/N] shrugged. "Ah, damn. My ankle still hurts so bad."

"I'll get someone to look at it for you," Jean replied, taking notice of her limp. "I'll get Mikasa or something. I don't know. It'll be fine, I swear. You didn't break it, right?"

"I wouldn't be walking on it if I did, Sherlock." [F/N] rolled her eyes, smiling a little. "I sprained my ankle a lot back in the trainee days--this shouldn't be a problem. It'll heal quickly."

"Glad to hear." Jean nodded.

Jean picked up several guns that had been left unattended and opened the car door. "Hey, everyone. Get in, we're going for a little road trip."

-

"Who's idea was it to drive all the way to Austin?"

"Blame Erwin," Jean replied, looking back at a very annoyed Eren through the rear view mirror. "I'm just as irritated as you are. It's so dumb, though. It's not like we'll do anything once we get there. It's just another makeshift building that they call 'the Headquarters', isn't it?"

"Hey, we all know that the main one is in Los Angeles, and I'm feeling pretty blessed that they aren't making us drive all the way there."

"Eren, It's literally three to four hours on plane, from Texas to California--of course they wouldn't."

"Hey. Are there any flights leaving? I'm sick of this place."

"Shut up, Eren. We don't even have any money. I'd rob places like I did in PAYDAY 2, but this is not a video game; most banks are completely robbed out, probably. We just gotta rob individual people."

"Eren, It's literally three to four hours on plane, from Texas to California--of course they wouldn't."

At the mention of 'California', Levi's gaze flickered, and Jean caught sight of it through the rear view mirror.

"Is Nevada close to California?" Levi questioned, after hesitating a bit.

"Yeah," Jean answered immediately. "They're like, right next to each other."

"Oh."

[F/N] rolled her eyes, slumping against the passenger seat. She muttered something like, what a dumbass, but Jean couldn't really hear her. He also didn't give two shits.

Awkward silence and tension enveloped the atmosphere, which left Jean's head aching and sore; he couldn't help but to steal glances every now and then, making it harder for him to drive.

"You know," he finally said, breaking the silence. "Y'all can talk."

"I don't want to," [F/N] replied almost immediately, closing her eyes. "I'm tired."

Oh, the immaturity.

-

[ word count: 1627 ]

》 published july 4, 2016

[a/n]: this was a filler-ish chapter oops ;; i'll try to have more frequent updates bc i'm officially done with killer & killer! thank you for reading/voting/commenting on the book if you have <3 it also got to #53 in mystery/thriller (now #23) so thank you for that! this book also reached #174 in action right when i put it in that category (now #105) so thank you so much for your love!