Lights Out || Levi x Reader

Lights Out

The yellow light from the lantern flickered and danced across the page that you were reading, obscuring some parts for just a second before allowing them to become visible again. You chewed on your lip as you concentrated, your eyes glued to the paper in front of you. 

Reading had always been a hobby of yours and you began to appreciate it more-so after joining the military. Time to yourself was rare and you spent most of it with your nose buried in a book. It was your escapism. 

Tonight's book was a romance novel about a travelling man and a quiet, reserved lady who he met up on his travels and immediately fell in love with. You were curled up in bed next to your lantern, and you did not know how long you had been reading. All you knew - it was probably after lights out. Throughout the book so far, the man has been trying to convince the woman of his affections. You roll your eyes, a small sigh coming from your lips.

"Shit like this doesn't happen in real life."

Just as the words left your lips, you heard footsteps down the corridor. Your eyes widened and you quickly hid the book under your pillow before swinging your legs over the side of the bed as quietly as you could to reach out and extinguish the flame of your lantern. You found yourself shaking; what if you got caught again? A bead of sweat rolled down the side of your face. Your hands reached to the lantern but - shit - it was too late.

You heard the familiar squuuueak of your bunk door as someone from the other side pushed it open. You instinctively began chewing your lip, your eyes pinched closed as you knew that now you had done it. Your hands dropped down from the lantern and onto the bed either side of your short-clad legs. You did not even have to turn around to know who was at the door of your room. You could almost feel his annoyance radiate off him.

"Cadet. I see you still feel as though lights out - which was over an hour ago - does not apply to you."

The voice was monotonous, tired, and ground out of its owners throat in barely more than a whisper. The hairs on the back of your neck still stood on end. Your teeth chewed over your lip even harder.

"Tell me, Cadet. What gives you the right to ignore a superior when they address you?" the voice continued, this time sounding annoyed. You quickly stood and turned to face him, your hand automatically raising in salute. A few strands of your hair fell over your face, into your eyes and they tickled your nose. Your lip felt warm, slightly throbbing from having chewed on it. 

"I was not ignoring you, Corporal", you explained in a quiet voice. You looked over to the man briefly, but regret it was your saw his grey eyes narrowed towards you. Your own eyes immediately dropped to the floor.

You felt him shift slightly as he moved to close the door of your bedroom and lean against it. You held in a sigh at this. Shutting the door usually meant you were in for a lecture.

"Were you reading again?" he inquired, his voice slightly softer than before. Your hands moved to the bottom of your sleep shirt where they tangled into the material in a nervous fashion. You slowly nodded before flopping down onto the edge of your bed and retrieving the book from under your pillow. You looked up slowly at him. You had always found it difficult to look into this man's eyes, so you always glanced around his eyes or at his nose, hopefully giving the illusion of eye contact. You held the book towards him so that he could look at the cover.

He surveyed it slowly, taking it in one of his hands. He turned it over to read the back before opening it up and flicking through a few pages.

"Why do you read this shit?" he mumbled, pressing the book back into your hand. You shrugged as your finger traced the words of the book's title. He obviously was not satisfied with that answer as you felt the mattress dip beside you as he sat next to you.

"Come on, Cadet. You know why you like reading those books."

You turned over the book in your hands, playing absent-mindedly with the back cover before giving a resigned sigh. You peeked at him through the corner of your eye.

"Nothing like this will ever happen to a military girl. We spend our days training for a war that we'll probably die in. Why not just... imagine?"

Your voice was husky from its lack of use over the last few hours and you noticed how it trembled as you spoke. You swallowed audibly, your fingers tightening around the hard cover of the book so hard that your knuckles turned white. The room was incredibly silent for what seemed like an eternity.

"There's nothing wrong with imagining," came a soft voice. You looked up at the Corporal in surprise. You were expecting him to scold you like normal, to tell you to "forget about fucking breakfast because you're running laps all morning." Instead, he answered you as if he was almost trying to... comfort you?

He snapped back from his reverie as your head lifted, almost as if he was only just aware of what he had said. He cleared his throat, standing up straight, not before flicking the top of your head as if to make some kind of point. A hand went to the spot he had flicked as you looked up, your head tilted in confusion at his action.

"There is something wrong, however, with imagining after lights out. Go to fucking bed," he spat out. You slowly stood to place your book back in its shelf and turned to the Corporal. He was about the same height as you, so you could look him dead in the eye. However, you definitely did not want to do that. You did glance at his face though. It looked... flushed?

No... it was probably just the light.

You gave one last salute at the man in front of you, a small, polite smile on your lips.

"Goodnight, Commander Levi," you said quietly before flopping down onto your bed. You would not get in until he had left.

Levi grunted in response to you as he strode towards the door. He opened it slowly and turned back round to face you.

"Just... do as you're told for once, Cadet."

His deep voice was barely audible, but you heard it. As you heard him close the door, you sprawled out on top of the covers, thinking about the encounter you had just had with this man. The edges of your lips curled into a smile before you could stop yourself. Slowly, your eyes closed and your body felt weightless before everything turned to black.