His Wounded Heart Beats For One (Levi x Reader Fanfiction)

10: The Scouts Arrive, Him Among Them

Everyone agrees to clean up an hour later, to which you raise no objections. You're anxious to get a roof over your head, wishing for some protection from the judgmental hawk. Empty bottles are discarded, and used dishes are washed and returned to the supplies. There's a slight dent in the food for the Scouts, but you and your friends have enough faith that nobody will question it. The fire is doused after a nervous Emma expresses fear of forest fires, and her sister eventually relents to her wishes. Oscar gives a hearty good night before escorting Henrick to the men's cabin, and soon your group migrates to the women's house.

Spears of sunlight fight to enter your cabin window, barely winning against the thick trunks of the giant trees the sun is obscured behind. One ray javelins your face, serving as a natural alarm clock to make you stir. You hear soft footsteps patrol the space around you, and you crack your eyelids open to find they belong to Ruth. She's up first, already taking a small bag to the communal bathroom to get ready.

You sit up, blinking awake after your first night in the cabin. Your friends have decided to claim the beds in the back left corner of the room, staying out of the way of the soon-to-arrive troops and careful to group together. The corner bunk belongs to Lisa on the lower and Emma on the upper. Against the back wall, you take the bottom bed of the bunk next to theirs, Thea sleeping above you. On the left wall, Ruth sleeps on her own.

Emma is awake next, unlike her comatose sibling. Lisa's face is shrouded in her blonde locks, half-sunken in her pillow.

"Good morning," you whisper to Emma, and she nods. Maybe she's still tired, or just unable to function without her sister.

Clambering out of bed, you stoop down to drag out the saddlebag you shoved under your bed. Fishing through its contents, you find a decent outfit made up of loose pants and a cleanly button-up, a mix between casual wear and professional attire. You'll wear something like this until you have a better idea of the expected dress code. It's not like they gave you a uniform or anything, after all.

You wake Thea up before heading to the bathroom, passing Ruth at the sink and entering the shower room against the back wall. Showerheads are flanked by wooden dividers, though there's no curtains or front panels. Not the most private accommodations, but you weren't betting on any luxury anyways. Welcome to the army, you have to tell yourself as you strip and leave your nightwear on a shelf.

You face the showerhead as you stand in its downpour, soaking the washcloth you brought and scrubbing yourself down. Smoke from last night has sunk into your skin, and you want to expunge the odor before work.

You hear an exhausted Lisa stumble into the shower room, her clothes left on the floor as she slips into a distant stall. Thea soon follows, scolding Lisa for her mess before deciding to clean it up herself.

"Oh, geez. Are you okay?" Thea's asking this question to you, and your brow knots in confusion as you glance back at her.

"Um, yeah? Why?" You clutch your opposite shoulders, keeping your back turned.

"You have a bruise," Thea says as she takes a step closer to you, reaching out a hand to press the contusion. "Right here."

You wince as she gently prods at it, the hotspot dully reignited. It's in the exact same spot you were struck yesterday, Levi's projectile thrown severely enough to discolor. The asshole. He actually injured you with his taunting attack. It's a tolerable injury, but the fact of the matter is still insulting.

"I didn't know," you admit. "I fell off Cyrus at one point while riding. I must've hit the ground harder than I thought." The story is completely made up, but you don't want to explain Levi's secret attack.