The Butterfly Effect | Levi x Reader

Chapter 8

"What is it?"

You looked up from your phone to see Levi, tea towel in hand, regarding your expression with narrow eyes. Some of his onyx bangs had fallen over his eyes, and you found yourself wondering how soft they would feel if you were to reach out and brush them away.

"It's nothing. My ex is just pestering me," you sighed and glanced down at the little bubble of words on your screen that was making your ears flush with anger. You waved your phone around in your hand to indicate to Levi that he was using your phone to talk to you, recalling the talk you had with him earlier in the week about what phones were. Explaining rudimentary technology was not as easy a task as you had expected it to be; every question answered just raised more questions from your guest. It took the two of you a few hours to nail down the subject of phones and basic technology, at least enough so that Levi didn't feel alienated by you checking your phone. Every question that fell from his lips had you spiraling further into confusion about who he was and what his story had to be.

'It was a mistake Kat, please. She didn't mean anything. I know you. You can't be by yourself for more than a few weeks. It's time to come back.' It read.

The words infuriated you. You told yourself you weren't going to scroll up and reread the fight the two of you shared not two weeks ago followed by his many unanswered apologies, but your finger was already dragging itself mindlessly over the screen. You felt the familiar prick of hot angry tears behind your eyes, and immediately started blinking them away until your vision returned to what it was earlier. You had already cried in front of Levi once, so you steeled yourself and decided he wouldn't see you in a moment of weakness again.

"Seems you've got quite the fan club," Levi's voice pulled you from your thoughts. His soft monotone timbre plucked you from your anger as if a bucket of ice water had been poured over you. You glanced up from your phone and found those ever-guarded eyes scanning your face under hooded lids.

"Guess so," you chuckled, sniffled once, and ran the back of your hand across your nose to catch the small drip threatening to escape. "Anyways," you stood up and clasped your hands together, forcing a light cheer into the tone of your voice, "I think it's time we got you some clothes."

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"What kind of music do you listen to?" you asked as you started the car and fiddled with your phone and the frayed aux cable. Levi simply looked at you with a disinterested expression and blinked. You suppressed a long sigh and scrolled through your music until you settled on a song that always put you in a better mood. You happily sang along with the song, fingers tapping the steering wheel rhythmically and bangs swaying ever so slightly with every small head bop you performed. You figured that Levi would be eyeing you with one of his classic looks of pure skepticism; however a glance out of the side of your eye revealed a very different scene.

"You like this song, don't you?" you asked, a slow grin lighting up your features. To your utter surprise, the man was actually sporting a slight smile. You decided to ignore the tiny flutter your heart made when you observed how soft and angelic his features were when he looked at peace, or when your eye caught his long vascular fingers just barely tapping on his thigh to the beat.

"Tch," he rolled his eyes at you, seemingly embarrassed you had caught him enjoying himself.

'No, he's just as impartial as ever. The feeling I had just now was a fluke. That's all.' You told yourself, but even the voice in your head didn't sound very convincing.