Blue and White - Levi Fanfiction

Ch. 09 - Towards Rock, To Stars

A Week Later:

Once more, Levi and I found ourselves in my room, sitting together on the bed and reading. When he said that he knew the lettering and basic words, he had meant it, and from that point it was an easy thing to help work him through more advanced words and reinforce what he already knew.

By the third evening of us working together like this, he was able to read on his own and we'd started to read the entirety of Caden's entries together. It was slow going at first, but now, on the seventh night of this becoming our new norm, we were nearing the end of it and soon we would have to go out and find new books to read together.

Before, our evenings were dedicated to relaxing, to speaking calmly by firelight after long days working. Now, we did the same, and Farlan would always join us for hours, but when he turned in for the night, Levi and I would stay up and head into my room. I had a sneaking suspicion that Farlan was unaware of Levi's past illiteracy, but if Levi insisted on not having these sessions in the main room or while he was around, there must have been a reason for that and that was all that I could come up with.

But I felt that if Farlan didn't know, it wasn't something that he would hold against Levi. It was normal down here for people not to know how to read. There was hardly a reason to. All people needed to know was how to take care of themselves and in a city where there wasn't even a formal school system, it was rare that people had someone in their life who could actually teach them. It would have to come from someone else, someone who lived on the surface. For me, it had been El. For Farlan, perhaps he had someone else in his life from his childhood. For Levi...

I knew nothing of his past, only that it had shaped him into who he was today: strong, tough, clever, intelligent, quick on his feet. Otherwise, I knew nothing. But no one had taught him to read, like so many others in this city. But... I was happy that he had allowed me to teach him. Me, of all people.

And actually, reading was not all that we did. After a bit of work, we would start talking, just... about anything. Really, it was more that I would speak and tell story after story while he would listen, but I didn't mind because he would really, truly listen. Occasionally, he would offer a comment or two or ask a question or chuckle of all things, and in this way we would just... I don't know, spend quality time together?

It was such a weird thing to think about but it happened so naturally and this habit was not one I wanted to break.

Even now, we were reading one of the last entries Caden wrote before his death.

Yesterday, he wrote, and I now read aloud, my finger tracing underneath the letters so Levi could follow along. Maya promised me that we would get to go upstairs one day. She said we'd get to see rain and snow and stuff, but I really want to see the stars. I've heard that they are really pretty. And there are like, a lot of them! More than anyone could ever count, that's what El told me once. But he also told me that I can count super high, so I think I can do it.

"The kid thought he could count all the stars?"

I laughed lightly. "Mm-hm. There can't possibly be that many, right?"

He didn't reply right away, at least not with anything other than a roll of his eyes. He picked up the reading, then.

I can't wait to go upstairs. Apparently the moon changes each night, and sometimes you can't see it at all! El told me and I just couldn't believe it, how could the moon get lost in the sky? The sun is always there, but the moon loses its way sometimes. It's weird. Maybe I'll be the one to find it, and I'll be the one to count all the stars, too!

"Ambitious kid," Levi commented.

"He was," I agreed. "I miss him."

"Maya," he said. "Your nickname?"